Good morning, Petroville readers! While MommaK is busy making sure all of her bags and boxes are packed and arrive at her wonderful new home I came by to keep y’all company today. The BigRedCouch is normally where I can be found. Drop by for a visit sometime if you can.

Just thinking about the flurry of activity that keeps MommaK busy this week makes me tired. It is also exciting to think of starting new chapters in your life. Everything is clean and new and uncluttered. How do we manage to accumulate so much clutter? Why don’t we see it as clutter BEFORE we are packing up to move house?

The first time I moved into my own place I was a 17 year old self supporting high school graduate. Everything I owned fit into my little VW Rabbit. I moved into a little apartment and vowed never to go back home. Meaning I never wanted to be in a position to have to live in my parents house again because I came from the ‘in my house you will do as I say’ generation of parenting.

The next time I moved was from that apartment to a little place near my parent’s home on the very edge of the farm. In this move everything fit into the back of a pickup truck. I spent a good five years there.

The next time I moved it was to the house I grew up in. My parents had bought a new house and we in turn bought their old house. It took several truck loads and many hours but we managed to get everything to where it was supposed to be over the period of a weekend. We lived there about 10 years.

After I divorced, my kids and I moved to a smaller place but still on the farm. Again we moved ourselves and it took us a good two weeks to pack up a huge house and to set up housekeeping in a smaller house. I downsized more than I ever thought I could at the time. We lived in this house about 3 years.

When I met the man who is my husband now I moved myself and my children 600 miles north bringing with me everything my small Explorer would hold that my kids found to be essential to our lives. Later we went down and brought everything I wanted to keep back up in a small U-haul truck. Having downsized once already I never thought I would reach a place in my life where those things would mean even less and I would readily give it all up to be with another person. It was so freeing to be rid of so many earthly possessions. I said then I wasn’t moving again! Ha!

Fate has a way of playing tricks on us all and making us eat our words. A year later we bought the house we live in now and I promise you I do not plan to move but should something happen in the future than forces me to have to set up housekeeping in another place I have learned from the past and I have developed a plan of action. This move took two (2) full size moving trucks and a crew of 6 men plus us. Later a U-haul rental and several several several trips in the car and truck were used before we got all of our junk earthly possessions here. (Mostly because my husband is the type who cannot throw ANYTHING away.) My attic is currently filled with enough things I could open a museum of his life from early infancy to the present. Complete with vintage 1960’s toys. But I digress.

This is my plan for all future moves. Follow along you may need to use this yourself if you plan to move in the future.

Pack luggage exactly like you are going on a vacation for each person moving. This way you can be sure everyone has a weeks worth of clean clothing and everything essential to their person. If you roll and pack neatly you will be amazed by the amounts of items that can be fit into a large suitcase.

Pack one or two boxes from the kitchen with everything essential to prepare meals for 2 - 3 days. Plan a simple meal menu and pack the items needed for a quick but hearty meal. Maybe some pasta and jarred sauce. Pancake mix and syrup. Coffee for more than a couple pots. Don’t forget a sauce pot, frying pan, and cooking/eating utensils for everyone. You will thank yourself in the end that you have a couple boxes that you can go to and have things immediately on hand without having to form an expedition to hunt them down. Don’t forget paper towels, dish detergent and a few clean dish towels. And if you are like the people in my house make sure you now where the salt, pepper and ketchup are at all times.

Put together a box or two of bathroom essentials. Toilet paper is like gold in the middle of the night when there are boxes stacked everywhere and no one has begun unpacking them. Put together soap, shampoo, towels, toothbrushes and the toilet paper along with other toiletries the family might need for a day or two. Besides if you are the sole knowledge keeper of the toilet paper you will be the goddess of all things good when your family members dare to enter the throne room. Toilet paper can also be a good leverage tool when it comes to securing the first hot shower or deciding who will run to the store for the milk for the kids breakfast the next morning.

Do not hand over your most treasured possessions to the movers. Photo albums, jewelry, keepsakes and special things you keep hidden away that are important to your heart make sure those boxes are plainly marked and never far from your sight. Transport them yourself.

Important documents, paperwork and files. We all come with paper baggage. Personal documents, legal documents, birth certificates, insurance policies, financial records and the like should be packed neatly and carefully so that if you should have to have them at a moments notice you can out your hands on them. Don’t leave them to be in a pile of boxes or packed up midway in a moving truck. Because if you do this is most likely when an emergency will happen and you will need to put your hands on them.

Keep a little cash on hand. Make sure you have some cash available for last minute items. It comes in handy to be able to send someone to the store for something and not have to go yourself. I know how much I hate being asked to run an errand for someone and that person has no cash and the I’ll pay you back later turns into a I’ll pay you back if I remember or you nag me for weeks and then I might pay you back kind of favor. Don’t put others in that position. Besides it makes you look bad and can cost you a lot of help and friendships later.

And last but not least on my list of plans -

Other than a few odd and end pieces of heirloom/antique furniture and a few keepsakes I have collected over the years - sell everything else and buy what I need when I get to where I am going.

I hope you will find these tips helpful when planning your next move!

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