A Couch and A Dress

Jason went out of town to visit his folks a week prior to when we needed to turn in our keys at our apartment. This meant that I was left alone to move out our final belongings and find a home for our couch. The last day in the empty apartment I was teary eyed and feeling sentimental about saying good bye without him and locking the doors to our first home together. I was standing in the middle of the hollow living room with the couch, a furniture dolly, my wedding dress and a camera ... the artsy side of me wanted to capture the moment and I decided to try on my dress again before packing it away! 

 I set the camera on top of the dolly and used the automatic timer. 

The Moving Process

For a majority of the time the process of moving 30 minutes closer to campus was a smooth transition because of careful planning and lots of prayer! In order to hopefully save you, dear reader, some trouble I'd like to share some tips.  Feel free to comment with your own tips too, this is this first time I've moved an entire house!

OUR FAVORITE KINDS OF BOXES:

NOTE: We found Lowe's Hardware Store has the cheapest moving supplies such as tape, bubble wrap and paper (if you don't want to use news paper).

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BANKERS BOXES: from office supply stores and best for CHINA- perfect size, double card-board sides, handles, cheaper then fancy china boxes and there's no taping involved.

PRINTER PAPER BOXES: ask friends/family who work in an office to collect the boxes that bulk paper is delivered in, they are perfect size for BOOKS. They should have handles and a deep setting lid so you don't have to use tape to seal them!

WARDROBE BOXES: I didn't know these existed, a friend who moved gave us some and they were wonderful for moving our HANGING CLOTHES and SHOES!

BABY DIAPER BOXES: My sisters with kids had plenty and I like them because they have handles. I used them for EVERYTHING!

WE FOUND THAT THE FOLLOWING MADE MOVING EASIER:

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1.  Pack in small stages - we were both working full time but even though time was scarce we didn't rush and took time to properly pack boxes and purge.

2.  Don't be shy, ask around! If you can get connected with someone who just recently moved you will do each other a favor by taking unwanted boxes/wrapping off their hands. 
3.  At the end of the day go by the local news station and ask for the left over news papers from the day. The papers should be free!

4.  Don't skimp on the bubble wrap for breakables! 

5.  If able, designate one room for finished boxes. This helps you live w/o tripping over boxes.

6.  Label the box based on what room it belongs. Things will get closer to their designated home right off the moving truck.
7.  Even though you finish packing a box wait to seal it until you are 100% sure it's done. You might need something or add something last minute.
8.  Use tissue paper or something similar in between news paper and the item you are wrapping. This keep the item from getting ink smudges from the newspaper.  
9.  If using an open bed, pick up truck you will need a tarp or large sheet/blanket to lay over top of any box that has a lid that isn't taped. 
10.  Skate boards work great for moving mattresses!

TIPS FOR STORAGE UNIT:

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1.  Put everything you can in a box, things will stack better.

2.  Label every box side: This is time consuming but will save time if you need to find something later.

3.  Label where the box can be stacked (bottom, middle, top). In order to utilize a storage until space you need to stack high.

4.  Pack things in the storage unit last that you might need later. 

Move #1

Day one in our new place. It didn't happen the way we thought or when we thought but we are here and it's nice to have a new room and color on the walls! Our first apartment together for the last 2 years and 9 months was perfect for us, minus the beige walls we were captives to!

 I imagine we might live many places because of Jason's career in medicine, plus we might end up in the mission field one day (this has been Jason's dream and one reason why he decided to pursue becoming an MD) so I have decided to keep track of them, cherish the things we like about each and when it's time to move on allow them to become memories instead of reality. Sometimes memories are better then reality since we usually remember the good times. If I hold too tightly to each place and long for the past then I won't have as much room to embrace the present. Over time I won't have any room to embrace the present because my hands will be clinched full of the past.

What I love about the last place: THE MEMORIES. It will always be special because it was the first place we lived as a married couple and we made some friends with our neighbors who we will dearly miss. I liked that it was walking distance from downtown but we rarely walked there because we decided to have a tight eating out budget and it wasn't very safe to walk home after dark. Plus we almost never leave the house on time to arrive anywhere on time, we are notoriously 10-20 minutes late much to the frustration of some people. Besides this, I am happy to move on because it was difficult to make it feel like home/"us" because we had a lot of mix matched things. But this time around the new place feels more like home right away because it's Jason and my stuff together rather then mine and his, sorting out what made the cut and what go the boot!

Here at our new place we chose a light, sage green color for the walls after nixing a gray-ish blue color that turned purple after it dried. We are renting a room from some friends, John and Ashleigh,  and it will be an experience we may only have once to enjoy! Most of our things will be packed in a  storage unit since we won't need furniture other then our bed and dressers and Jason's desk that I refinished after a cheap find on craigslist.  I'm interested to see how much stuff we actually need to live off of this next year. Jason is a minimalist and I hate clutter and if we are going to be moving here and there throughout our lives how much stuff do I really want to keep packing and lugging with us?

Classes begin August 4th so we moved before then to spend some time settling in and figuring out community living. Jason and John met each other in Argentina both staff members with CRU and Ashleigh he has known for many years at our church. I got to meet them both after Jason and I started dating so they are fiends we know well. We are all pretty laid back so I think this next year will be a great experience and one that is a financial blessing!

Here we go! :D