Moving

I am moving on June 22nd. 

The first 23 years of my life I spent in 1 home.. my parents do not move!  They still live at that same place. 
I like to move...  In 16 years, this will be my 6th place.  I move for many different reasons...  but mostly becasue I want my home to fit my lifestyle...

This time I am moving because my son is off to highschool next year and the school he chosed is too far from where we live now.. and I want him to be able to use public transportation to go to school without having to commute 3 hours for a round trip.
Also, I always wanted to go back to that area... it's more in synch with who I am... but I'll let you know more about that once I move....

Now I am planning my move...  obviously, after a few moves, you learn stuff..  practice makes perfect!  or almost...

So now, when I sign a lease, I am always taking room lay out and measurement upon signature and I also like to take the current occupant email or phone number so I can contact them if I need some extra info... who better to answer them then people who live there?

This week end, in preparation to moving, I was trying to figure out what we bring with us and what we leave behind.. we are moving in yet a somewhat smaller place.. so some stuff may not have room....
So we layed out the rooms and organize furniture how we would like to have it and saw what would fit or not...  so now I am clear for furniture. 

 The next step will be going to the post office to make change of adress so that my mail may follow if I forget to advise anyone... Then make the list of where my adress needs to be change and comunicate this info to all those people.  I also send an email to my friends and family with my new adress and phone number a few days before.

I will also need to reserve my moving truck. Now that I know what I bring with me, I know what size truck I need.  And lastly continue making boxes...  I started them when we had the fire incident as part of cleaning up...  but I am not done...  When I do my boxes, I now clean up as I pack stuff...  instead of when I am unpacking... makes organizing new place faster but it means starting packing boxes earlier..  so I start doing that a month before... and get rid of stuff I have not use since I unpacked them! I label every boxes with the room they go into so we can bring them direclty there...

Another thing I do to make things easier is choose paint color ahead of time...  it save times.. and as I like to paint fearly neutral, it can be done before and I can always add dash of colors afterwards.  I get my keys a week before I move in, on the Friday night.  By then, my cleaning schedule is prepared and my team (my mom, dad, husband and I) are all well advised of our chores (list is made ahead of time acording to each one strenght)...  makes stuff so much easier.. then we'll start painting room by room...  my husband and I are a wonderfull paint team!!! 

I take a vacation day before the move to make sure all cleaning and painting is over with... then I also take the moving day off to make sure everything goes smoothly.  My brother and my husband take care of furniture and my parents and I of boxes..  usually goes smoothly...

By supper time, pizza is there...  and after supper everyone gets to go home... and my husband and I usually finish organizing our bed room so we can sleep comfortably...  The next Saturday, we fix the rest.... and by the time I go get my son at his dad's place, everything will be done...  and we can enjoy Sunday night and Monday as that Monday is a Holiday for us in Quebec!!!

It may seem like a lot... but I assure you that it is not exhausting... we plan this well and use time efficienlty... never working untill late at night...  and relaxing after supper... taking some fresh air and walking around our new neightbourhood!

I have improve a lot over time.. my first few move were horrible.. tiring... but I still iked it!!  However, I do not want to be exhausted for weeks after moving anymore and I do not want it to drag for weeks!!!  I want to enjoy my summer!!!

namaste,
nathalie