Moving Progress

The move is coming along nicely.  The only snags I've come across is my loving, yet over-concerned, friends telling me moving by myself might not be a good idea, and listing all the bad things that could happen.  Yes, I know it is loving concern.  But this girl is ready to spread her wings and take that leap of faith.  No regrets, right?!

Anyway, I've been packing.  Mostly so I can go through things and figure out what I want to sell at our garage sale at the end of this month.

There is storage space above my closet and it's filling up.

I cleared out an under-the-bed box and a plastic crate, and cleared off my bookcase.  Working at Starbucks, boxes are not in short supply.  However, some of them are awkward sizes, but I just pick the best ones.  When we moved to California from Tucson, we use primarily Starbucks boxes.  This time I discovered the boxes from the breakfast sandwiches- they are the perfect size for heavy things like books, china, etc.

I have my paternal grandmother's china.  My dad sent it to her from the Phillipines when he was in the Navy.  Then she gave it to my sister and I to split.  Well, I ended up with all of it somehow and it's just been sitting in boxes, collecting dust.  I'm going to try to figure out some way to display it, or store it nicely, when I move.  But, for now, it's in a box, or two or three.  It was in two boxes- one small and one large- then I had to split it up for ease of moving.

This box weighed a ton.  (When I got it out of our outdoor storage closet by myself, I almost died)

Isn't the china simple and pretty?!

Now, it's in these small boxes.  It makes me happy.  I can carry it more easily.  That other box it going to house something light in the move.

So, now I have two large plastic bins, seven small boxes (like the ones above), and that large box in my room.  I also have two boxes in my closet with nothing in them yet.

I'm hoping our garage sale at the end of the month gets rid of most of my furniture and the crap I really don't need to pack ever again.  That is going to make this all seem like much more of a reality.

I also was on the net looking at printables for my Home Organization Binder and found a Moving Kit from Pinch a Little Save-A-Lot.  I am now obsessed with printables to keep me organized.  And I'm making a Home Organizer for my sister.

Well, until next time.

DIY Home Organization Binder

I got this idea the other day, probably from something I saw on Pinterest, to make a Home Organization Binder.  I mostly wanted it to see a budget on paper, instead of jotted on a small calendar or spread out through various websites and emails from the bills.  Then I kept digging and I came up with quite a bit.  I'll list as many links as I can at the bottom of this post if you want to grab some of the printables yourself.

I covered the outside of a crappy old binder by, first, covering it with light colored paper (a large sheet kind of like tissue but thicker) so the black of the binder wouldn't show through.  Then I spray glued on the fabric.  Then glued on the ribbon.

In covering the inside with fabric, and then paper I covered up the pocket where I had put the pens, so I had to fix that.  I have a black pen, a pencil, a highlighter, and a colored pen.  And I glued on a clip for extra paper.

I didn't have any tab pages, so I just printed some plain titles for each page and put them in page covers.  First tab- schedule.

Second- finances.

My budget pages will seriously come in handy.

Third- shopping.

Four- housework.  Yes, I needed a schedule.  I'm terrible.

Fifth- lists.  This includes "to-do lists" and a media inventory list, which I filled out today and I have 70 DVDs, who knew?!

I perforated my "to-do lists" so I can easily tear them off.

Sixth- food.  I have a stock-pile list, and then some recipe pages.

Seventh- Medical for Dr's names, addresses, and numbers.  And space for notes in case I need it.

Eigth- Etsy.  It's an online income list for my store.

Ninth- WWW.  It's a list of all my usernames and passwords for various websites.

Tenth- ideas.  A sheet to list ideas and supplies needed for them.

Eleventh- Blog.  I found these printables to plan out my block each week.

I'm hoping this will help me stay organized, especially with the important things.  Let me know if you make one of your own with any cool ideas.  I'd love to see them!

Links:
Cleaning Schedule @ Evelyn Kate Designs
Blog Calendar @ Living Locurto
I got most of the tab ideas @ DIY Home Sweet Home
Stockpile List and What's In Season Calendars (schedule tab) @ About.com Frugal Living

 

Contact Info page for Medical @ I Love it All
Media Inventory List @ Pinch a Little Save a Lot
Monthly Budget @ SissyPrint
Binder Covering Tutorial @ The Creative Place
Blank Checklist (shopping list) and Online Shop Inventory List @ The Nest Effect

I think that's it!  I makes for quite the hodge podge of designs on the pages, but printing them from someone else saved me a lot of time.

Enjoy!

I'm Moving!

Like I said in a previous post, I'm moving.

November 1st my mom and I will be driving across the southern United States to the great state of Kentucky.  Yes, we're taking the southern route because I've never really been to the South and I figure I can start crossing those off the list.

I want to stop at all those cheesy monuments and tourist spots.

First, we'll stop in Tucson to visit friends and stay the night there.  Then we'll stay in Houston, TX, and then Mobile, AL.  It wouldn't take that long if we didn't stop in Tucson, but I have to see my friends.

I think I'm more excited for the road trip than the move itself.

All my furniture has to go.  Moving trucks are not cheap.  And yes, that means my apartment will be mostly unfurnished for a while.  I say mostly because my sister and brother-in-law are leaving their couch, coffee table, and dining room table.

Leaving them? you ask.  Why, yes.  The apartment I will move into will have been theirs for the past 8 months or so.  They bought a house and are moving into it the middle of next month, but the lease on their apartment isn't up until February, so it seems to work out perfectly to leave it empty for a month and a half until I get there in order for them to keep from terminating their lease early.  It takes a HUGE load off of me to try to find a place from 2,000 miles away.  I may be moving there sight-unseen.  Did I mention that?  Yeah, I know, crazy.

That's me: crazy.

I'm not really sure I care, though.  I welcome the challenge and the adventure.

I called a Starbucks there.  The manager wasn't in.  Then he called back.  I told him I wanted to transfer there.  He said yes.  He didn't even care it's going to be a couple of months.  He said put in the transfer form and it's a done deal.  He has a thick southern accent.  I couldn't understand him.  He's nice.  I'm excited!  Oh, and it's 1/4 mile from my apartment.  I could walk there.  I probably won't.  Ever.

Here's the apartment (pictures taken by my sister, with her phone):

That couch is staying.

That tiny dining room table is staying (possibly).

My sister does extreme couponing, that pantry will be full when I move in.

The shelf in the above closet is evidence of extreme couponing.

Now this is what I strive to make the apartment look like:

I'm going to do this in the hallway.  My grandma gave me my great-grandma's wedding dress from when she married her second husband.  And I'm going to hang pictures of all the great women in my life :)

Clearly, from comparing these photos I grabbed from Pinterest to the ones of the apartment currently, you can tell my sister and I have a little different decorating tastes (and that I don't have a man in my life to weigh in on decisions).

So, let's hope I can achieve some of this in my new place.  I will keep you all posted.

Check out my Pinteres board "my first apartment" for more ideas I have.