Okla-HOME-a

We made it to Oklahoma!  Over the past month we have listed and sold our house in Texas (in a week and a half!), packed, moved and bought a house in Oklahoma.  We don't close on the house until March, so for right now we are living at my parents' house.

I had done a little online research through Pinterest to get some ideas about staying organized throughout the move.  These were some of our lifesavers:

1.  Make a moving binder.  In this we had dividers for categories such as our TX house, Oklahoma house hunting, box inventory, to do lists, and other important paperwork.  In this binder I also kept a zippered pencil case that held scissors, tape, pens, and even gift cards/coupons for fast food.  Having all of these things in one location made it easier to pack and find things quickly.

2.  Take a box inventory.  Before we started packing, we went to the store for supplies.  In addition to the usual (boxes, tape, bubble wrap), I also purchased some white address labels and both pink and green bright duck tape.  I got on the computer and printed rooms with numbers (Office 1, Office 2, etc) on the labels.  Do all of your rooms on the computer at once.  Then hole punch the sheets and stick them in the binder.  Then when we were ready to pack, we went room by room.  We filled the first box in the office, labeled it "OFFICE 1" and wrote what was in the box on notebook paper in the binder.  That way when we are looking for something while unpacking we can refer to the room it would be in and the box numbers.  LIFE CHANGING, PEOPLE!  To take it one step further, we taped boxes we would need immediately at my parents' house with pink duct tape so we could spot them quickly.  We loaded these boxes all together.  I also made up some first to open at the new house and used the green duct tape for those boxes.  These have items like pots and pans, toilet paper, a shower curtain and towels, etc.

3.  Take packing breaks.  On Sunday afternoons we would plan to get out of the house and have family time.  We went on walks, visited the Dallas Aquarium and the new Perot Museum.  This gave us some time away from the stressful sight of boxes everywhere and also let us make some last memories living in Dallas as a family.

4. Make your temporary home feel like home.  When we got to my parents' house, we swapped out our mattress and our daughter's crib in the bedrooms.  Everyone wants to sleep in their own bed.  I also set up a changing area on a dresser in the room my daughter's staying in (my old bedroom!) just like what she had at home.  Trying to keep things as normal as possible and close to routine was my goal to keep her calm and happy. 

Now that we have settled in a bit I hope to blog more often.  If you have to make a big move, I encourage you to try some of these organization tips!  Hope they help!