Moving Smart: What Not to Pack

I am back-blogging. We are in the new house and right now I don't want to blog about it! Shall we say home in progress? Packing my clean and organized home was fun. Unpacking to a home that needs scrubbing and repair, less so. Don't worry, I will have tons of stories for you and am still excited about our new home journey.

Here are things we did not pack until the 11th hour. Even then, they were in ready to grab formats. We put them in the truck the morning of the move. The rest of our boxes were in storage and our furniture awaited movers. I have included cost details about the storage and movers as I had trouble finding details of other's experiences for Ontario.

Hiring movers was a larger expense. $132 an hour plus insurance, taxes, tip (we decided $30 each mover)...etc. They showed up early...more money out of our pocket. We phoned the company afterward to let them know that we felt overcharged due to their error and they reimbursed us $100 (probably $132 x 2 hours early would have been more accurate). The 3 movers themselves were amazing and very professional. The dispatcher was where our error was made with arrival time. We were less happy there as the time was confirmed three days prior. We felt it was worth money despite the hiccough because it took all pressure off of us on moving day. As this was a local move, we moved everything else into a storage unit and moved all boxed items and small furniture ourselves over a month.

Total cost for movers ~$900 We used Birds Moving. They had the lowest quote for us of five local companies, cheapest hourly wages, most professional quote employee and the final cost was less than quoted. The movers, themselves, were great.
Total cost for a month of storage ~$225 plus fuel. We used Smithville Mini-Storage. They were fantastic and we had a 10' by 20' locker.

And now for the items (other than furniture) we did not pack until the end:

Large box for sheets, laundry, medicines, scrapbooking essentials and important files

Toiletries

Cleaning supplies, school back pack and purse

Control centre - pens, paper, packing tape, box cutter, AND modem box to mail modem back

One set of dishes, electronics (printer, computers...etc)

Picnic pack of plates and cutlery, two pans, flipper, one bake sheet, cheese grater, garbage bags, dish soap

Garbage can!

Good-bye 57

On Monday, we say good-bye to our first home.

As newly weds, we moved in with hope of dreams fulfilled. Many have been and many await at our new home. Here are a few memories of our almost 7 years at 57:

-We hosted Thanksgiving, with grocery-store rotisserie chicken and boxed stuffing.

-Our neighbours. When you share roofs and driveways in a town home, it is important that your neighbours are not annoying (you aren't). I will not miss having nowhere to pile snow, but I will miss our small driveway!

-BBQs on our deck, our real living room, with family and friends.

-Learning how to garden, and realizing, like many things in life, it is a journey not a destination.

-Having my water break on December 23rd for an early Christmas present, Rylyn, 2 weeks before her due date.

-Giving birth to Addisyn at home.

-Learning how to cook gluten-free and realizing I love to bake bread.

-Walks to the park and under doggies on the swings.

-Having PoultryFest and Smithville fair in our back yard.

We hope that we have more opportunities to love and build heavenly treasures in our new home than we have had in this one.

2 Corinthians 5:1 We know that our body—the tent we live in here on earth—will be destroyed. But when that happens, God will have a house for us. It will not be a house made by human hands; instead, it will be a home in heaven that will last forever.

Front porch

Back porch with Dad

The irises bloomed

Peonies (happy I have a bush at the new house too)

Selfie

While I was taking pictures, Addy decided to eat mulch

We have been busy with some legal complications relating to our move and, of course, packing. We are trusting in God that all will come through at the eleventh hour. I look forward to blogging more about our adventure of Moving Smart with our time, money and sanity on rainy days during the summer!

One of our last (funny) memories at 57...

Rylyn: "I want to watch Caillou."

Mommy: "We are not watching Caillou."

Rylyn: "Why?"

Mommy: "I think Caillou is whiny and he doesn't need to learn any new tricks from you."

Rylyn: "Ya, I could teach 'im."

We decided on Curious George.