More Boxes

Today we bought more boxes at Lowes. They sent me a coupon: $10 off a $50 purchase.

• 30 small boxes
• 2 medium boxes
• Roll of bubble wrap
• Roll of shrink wrap

My husband believes he won't need many more boxes for his stuff. I guess I have more stuff than anyone here.

The bubble wrap is for my little decorated chest of drawers. The covering is coated paper and I want it to get there with out damage.

We're going to sell most of our other furnishings.  Yesterday, I pulled all my little knick-knacks out of my little curio cabinet for packing. I'm hoping by the end of this weekend, we'll be ready to list some things and start selling them on CL.

The Unbearable Weightiness of Being

This move is making my head explode and we haven't even really started yet.

What do we do? How do we do it? How much is it going to cost? How will we pay for it? When do we give notice here? When do we load the Cube? When do we figure out the rest of it? How much is it going to cost? where will we live in the meantime? How did people do this before? Buy a travel trailer? Don't buy? Buy a tent? Don't buy? Where will we live? What will we do?

And it all runs together.

It's a nightmare I just want to be over.

Junk Travel Journal to California and Back

This free photo slideshow generated with Smilebox

Have you made a junk journal?

Boxes Returned for Cheaper Boxes

Getting those uhaul boxes created quite a stir in my daughter.

At first, she swore she would not buy any boxes. She would get hers for free.

Fine.

When she saw how nice my uniform boxes stacked up, all neat and organized, she decided that was what she wanted.

But she didn't want to spend $1.25/box. She went online and found cheaper moving boxes locally.

Yesterday we went to Lowes and got 16x12x12 boxes for .74¢.

Today, I took back the remaining 23 boxes I had bought at UHaul.

Now I've got more packing/sorting/purging to do.

Thanks to my daughter, the move just got a little bit cheaper.

When websites lie

We went to H D to pick up some small size moving boxes. The website said they had them in stock. The store did not. I got 2 medium size boxes ($1.14/each) for the taller books that won't fit in the book boxes.

I have to open the first and/or second boxes I packed to look for my birth certificate. Sometimes enthusiasm can short circuit my brain. At least I thought about it now, and not later when the boxes will be in a moving container.

Late last night, when I couldn't sleep, I went online looking at the area in California we are going to check out. I found a library, shops, 99¢ store(!), restaurants, bike path, and parks. Just all sorts of things we'd love to do.

I also found something that is a pretty bauble. The pictures make it look so appealing. But I'm thinking it must be staged. It looks too perfect. I'm wondering what the seller is not telling in the descriptions?

Going to keep my excitement to an minimum, and think with my head, not my heart.

Of Course We're Going to Check It Out First

We're going to California for a look-see. Check out the area, and see if we're going to like living there.

I made a junk travel journal for the trip.

 Front of Journal

Back of Journal

These are the raw materials. A freebie Office Max grocery sack, the cardboard from my Cricket cutting mat, the plastic sleeve, and mylar cover from the mat.

 I cut the cutting mat, which lost it's stickiness, in half. I used one side for the cover and then punched holes on each line.

 This is the large gift bag from the Dollar Store that inspired the junk journal desire.

 This is the side panel of the gift bag.

I decided the cricut mat was too flimsy and I wanted a harder surface for the back of the journal. I used the flap on the chip box for this. Cutting to the size of the cricut mat front.

Here's the front of the journal. I threaded ribbon through the holes and left them roomy so the book can lie flat and there's room for added travel brochures, etc.

Here's a view of the inside. The side panel of the gift bag became a journal card.

The back of the junk journal.

 

I cut the grocery sack up first. Just kind of followed the folds to make the pages. Then I cut the cricut mat a little larger than the pages. Then the mat cardboard became pockets and the plastic sleeve became picture windows, as well as the mylar cover for the mat. I used Hello Kitty duck tape to hold some of the pages and windows to the bag pages, and such. I have 19 pages in the journal. I used all of the grocery sack, and the front and side panel of the gift bag. I still have the gift bag's back panel for another project.

I hate packing

So far, I've got one box packed today.

I've spent most of the time figuring out how we're going to move our stuff, and talking my daughter down from the ledge because of the cost.

She was so panicked but then she rallied. We watched packing videos on u-tube. She sparked up when she saw someone holding a box for Home Depot. Then she went online and found out they have cheaper boxes than U-Haul. Lowes box prices were a few pennies cheaper, and that store is closer to our house, so we're going there tomorrow.

I wanted to know how many boxes would fit into a packing cube. Finally, I found an online calculator (2 actually) that helped me convert feet into inches and how many boxes will fit. 210 12x12x12 boxes will fit. I doubt very much we'll have that many boxes.

We're getting rid of most of our furniture. I'm keeping a craft cart/table, my shabby chic bookcase, the head and footboards and rails to my bed, and my decorated chest of drawers. Everything else, I'm selling on Craigslist or giving to charity.

Why a moving pod/cube/thing?

We won't have a residence to go into immediately when we get there. We want to take our time and find something ideal, so we won't have to move again. Having the cube in storage means we'll only move our stuff 2 times (In cube/Out cube) instead of 4 times (In moving truck/out of moving to storage/into moving truck/out of moving truck to dwelling). This may change though as the time to move gets closer, but right now, the cube seems like the best moving thing to fit our needs.

I'm glad we're starting to pack now, even before my husband starts his application for a transfer. When I feel overwhelmed, I can take a break and do something else...like blog about it. Then I can go back to the task of packing.

Every other move, it's always been a rush that puts me in a panic to the point of being barely able to function. Moving is overwhelming physically, but I think the mental jumping jacks one must do to deal with it is more exhausting.

Sunday

I got five boxes packed yesterday, afterall!

After dinner, I got a second wind, and went for it. My daughter says if I keep to my goal I'll have all my stuff packed before the end of August. I'm not sure about that. I have all the "important papers" to go through, and that's a chore I've put off for too long.

Flash backs to all the other moves I've been through, where I'm up until all hours of the morning, trying to get everything sorted and packed in desperation. Putting packing off until the last minute has never been a good idea, yet that's how I've always done it.

This time, I want it to be different. And I think it's going to be.

Today

Today was rough. Something I ate didn't agree with me.

I was able to pack 3 boxes though. My goal is 5 boxes per day. I had to take a break after the 3rd box. Now I need to make dinner. I might get those last 2 boxes packed tonight.

Thank God I've got time to get ready for this move!

Also: I'm not buying another magazine until after we move!

And so it begins...

Today, we picked up 30 12x12x12 book boxes from U-Haul. I want to start packing and I want clean boxes because we're going to have to live with those boxes inside our home for awhile. The book boxes are a good, manageable size. U-Haul has a policy that they will buy back any boxes that are unused. That's good to know incase we don't need 30 of this size and more of another size.


30 Book boxes @ $1.25/box.        Cost:$40.29

Then we needed packing tape. Staples sent me an email awhile back. It's a coupon for $5 off. No minimum purchase necessary. This week, they had packing tape on sale for $2/each. Also, 2 pack Sharpies are .25¢ each for the first 2 packs.

3 rolls packing tape, 2 pkgs of 2 Sharpies.     Total: $6.61 - $5.00 Staples coupon = $1.61 Cost

Today we spent on moving expenses: $41.90

The Heart Wants What It Wants

When I was 16, I took a trip to California from my home in Maryland. It was the second time I'd been to California. I loved it so much, and vowed it would not be my last time I saw California. I wanted to move there, and live there, for the rest of my life.

That was 30 years ago. ::gulp::

For 30 years I've had a longing inside to go back to the place where I felt I belonged.

But the course of my life went elsewhere. I got married young, had 2 babies, got divorced young, and got stuck in a place I didn't want to be. During that time, I was going to college and decided once I was done, I'd move to California.

Then I met my second husband.

We met online. Tres modern.  He lived in New Mexico,  and could not leave because he was taking care of his invalid mother.  When I was done with college, I packed up and moved 1700+ miles to marry him.

And here we are 7 years later...

During all this time, I'm still pining for California. It just won't leave me. As luck would have it, if there's such a thing as luck, my husband works for a company with branches all over the country. There is a branch in So Cal. Coincidence? I think not!

About a year ago, we decided to move to California. Yes, another year has gone by, and we're still not there. But that's about to change.

1 thing happened just now to set a fire under us. Our rent is going up. We could sign an 8 month lease, and just be marking time, or we could go month to month, and have the freedom to move when we want to.

We need that freedom because of the second thing.

My husband's company can relocate a person, when the transfer application is approved, in as little as three days.

Yes, you read that correctly. He could be told he needs to start work in the new location within THREE DAYS!

And that brings us to this moment.

We can only prepare for what we can. Since we know that when his transfer application is approved he may very well have short notice to move, we are going to be ready for that, as best we can.

Before he applies for a transfer in September, we're going to weed through everything we own, and start packing every nonessential thing.

This blog is about moving long distance, on a budget and how to relocate to an area mostly unfamiliar area without going completely off the rails.