We are outgrowing our home.
We've known it for some time now, but for so many reasons, we've chosen to stay put in the house we bought 9 years ago, when we were newlyweds, when I was starting my first year of teaching and my first year of graduate school.
It's a great house and we love it. But with three kids, this three bedroom house is starting to feel smaller and smaller. And what I would give to have a school room!!
Did you know that 15% of people in the US move every year? I get tired just thinking about it!
www.1800packrat.com
My husband will tell you "Gabby doesn't handle chaos well." He has no rose-colored glasses about the woman he married.
Even though we have no intention of moving to a new house here just yet, there are things we can do to prepare for it. Here's what we've done to lay the groundwork for the future:
1. Purge, Mama, Purge!
This is actually the toughest one for me. I'm sentimental and I just can't bring myself to throw out my baby's first pacifiers! The bigger challenge, however, is that we're not done having kids yet unless God says otherwise. So we keep the baby gear. And the clothes. And the toys. But we do try to have them as organized as possible up in our attic.
One of the smartest things I've done to help with purging is to keep a box or a bag on a shelf in my closet specifically for getting rid of stuff. As I help the kids clean their rooms, I pull out stuff we don't want or use anymore and get rid of the hand-me-down clothes that are dated. My rule is if I don't love it, I'm not keeping it. Instead, we put it immediately in our pile to donate. We've also started big piles in the attic and in a corner of my closet for the theoretical garage sale we'll have one day.
2. Get Organized
As I get rid of things, I try to leave everything more organized before. Label, label, label. Not only does this make my day-to-day life easier, but it should make it easier to pack one day too.
Remember my laundry room make-over? A huge reason why I cleaned it out was because I knew we had a pretty big Do-It-Yourself project coming up. We're redoing our kitchen, which involves painting both the kitchen and the laundry room, since they're connected. I knew I needed to get rid of the excess and reorganize the laundry room to make it easier to work in there. I've been so glad that I did!
3. Complete Important DIY Projects
We have a few projects that are essential for completing before we'd ever sell the house. Then there are items at the bottom of our list that would be nice to complete, but aren't essential. So while we need to finish our kitchen project, we may or may not get around to putting a fresh coat of paint on all of the trim in the entire house. We have a gazillion windows here! But we'll hit the important things like the kitchen, which should increase the value of our home.Even our kitchen project has been in stages because with the kids, that's all we can handle. We're doing it all ourselves with zero debt--all of these costs will come directly out of our savings. Here's how we broke down the kitchen project into manageable chunks:
Paint Dining Room.This was the project that started the kitchen project!Remove wallpaper in kitchen.Skim Coat the walls to prep for painting.Paint the walls.Paint crown molding, bead board,and cabinets.- Replace sink and counter tops.
- New light fixtures.
- Possibly new back splash.
It has taken months for us to cross those items off our list, and we've enlisted the help of family when they've come in town to visit, so that we could paint without interruption from our kids, who are at very needy ages (4, 2, and 1).
Want more organizational tips? Check out FlyLady & A Bowl Full of Lemons. Both of these websites are amazing resources for anyone seeking a more organized life.
Do you have some great ideas for prepping for a move? How to you get organized and handle DIY projects?
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