Moving Day - Take 1 (Plan B)

As I stand here, writing this post.. yes stand.. all the chairs have been moved already.. I get more and more excited for my new home. I've been disappointed in a few things that weren't exactly as I expected, but I am reminded that we are moving to a home that is made up of 1000s of manmade pieces that have to fit together. It's not going to be perfect and I need to have a realistic expectation. That being said, our builder takes all my diva requests into consideration and his doing everything he can to make it perfect. Through this process of building, he has become a friend for sure.

So, yesterday was Moving Day #1. Due to weather delays (who could predict two FEET of snow in Arkansas), we had to wait past our closing date to start moving, so we didn't have the leisurely 10 days we had hoped for. This is forcing a slight change of strategy, but we are still culling as we pack and move. Instead of just cramming packed boxes into the house, we are moving everything to the garage and organizing into two piles: keep and sell. This strategy is giving us three passes to evaluate each item we decide to keep:

• Packing: Before something goes in a box, it has to pass a certain criteria "do we need it? does it fit? will we ever use it? do I even want this anymore?"
• Unloading: After being in a box for a while, my heart sometimes changes. Or, in the case of our  big leather couch, it didn't fit in the basement play room, so it has been relegated to the "sell" pile along with the matching chair and ottoman. I'm a bit sad about that, but will get over it now that I can justify some new furniture.
• Unpacking and Reloading: As we move from the garage to the house, we will have yet another opportunity to sift through the remnant and decide if we want to keep it. 

I have to admit my sickness here: I love movingI love how clean everything feels in a blank space.  There's no better time to organize every nook and cranny of a home. Random piles of paper got sorted this week. The outgrown clothes in the kids' closets transfered to the donate/sell pile. Dark corners of the deep freezer and even the bottom of the garage are rediscovered. Okay, okay, so maybe a little bit of my love for moving is because I get to supervise and tell men where to put things. Anyway you dice it, I still think it's fun.. or maybe it's just a sickness.

Adios Duplex Alley! ~ Plain & Simple as That

Tell me your moving tips, I'd love to hear them.. or share some garage sale tips. Looks like I have one coming up soon!