We've been packing up the apartment to head on our ridiculously long-term fund-raising trip. This isn't the first time either of us has packed up our lives so we're kinda experts now. So allow me to give you a fantastic and amazing step by step guide on how to pack your home and maintain a suitable level of sanity and emotional stability at the same time!
- Figure out what your specific packing needs are and get really specific with it.
We needed to pack our entire home and have it split three major ways: storage, PNG, with us. But this needs to be really specific. What all piles will we actually need to have? See below:
Going to PNG
Going on the PD roadtrip
Going in storage
Going on Sale
Going in the trash
Baby stuff
Clothes that can't handle the baby bump but I still want
Clothes going to the Boutique
Winter clothes going on the PD trip
Clothes going on the PD trip that I won't wear before then
Clothes I probably won't wear before going to PNG that I love too much to give away
Clothes going to PNG
Crafting in progress
To be crafted before departure
Things that aren't mine
gifts - Examine this list. Decide how much time you will need and how much space you will need to masterfully rock this list like a champion. Double it.
Even if double the time/space is more than needed, that's a lot better than having less time/space. Trust me on this one. - Get your materials together.
You're probably going to need some boxes. Maybe some bags. But you will definitely definitely definitely need the following:- Materials Bag - It seemed like the only time we could find the duct tape was 20 minutes after we had needed it and found another solution. Keep all your tape, scissors, Sharpies, bubble wrap, sanity, etc in one nifty bag and you'll be good to go!
- An accordion folder. Or the likes to put documents and small important things in that you will need handy when you can give it a moment of your time but really need to put away right now. (Travel documents, bills, cancellation forms, etc)
- An Oops Bag. This is the bag that you put that bottle of Tylenol in after you've already whisked the medicine bag out of your home. Where the straight pins go after the sewing box is packed and gone.
In each of the following steps, the accordion folder and Oops Bag should be used to the fullest extent. - Cover major sections.
Pick a genre of items and go for it. Go all the way for it. Get ALL the books taken care of. Pack ALL the picture frames. Sort through ALL the clothes. Then, when you stop and look around, you can be like, "dude, check out my hard work! Look at all those books taken care of! Bam! Imma rockstar!" And you are! - Pick a corner.
Eventually you will get to a point where the packing has morphed into chaos and all the major types of things are taken care of and you just have stuff. At this point, take a deep breath. And pick a corner. You pack that corner. And you pack it good! And then step back and look at that packed corner and remind yourself that you are a rockstar. - Pick the smallest space you can find.
Eventually corners will have too much junk (see, we've gone from stuff to junk) that you can't really just pack it up in any coherent way. Walk away from those corners that bring you down! Move to the drawers! The cupboards! The closets! The bathrooms! These smaller spaces will (usually) have like items that you can sort through quickly and pack and be done with. Whoa! Look at that empty cabinet! That was all you! Way to go, rockstar! - Find another set of eyes.
Once you've done all that you are emotionally capable of doing. And have even tried to come back to the same spot the next day to take a fresh look and still cannot do a single thing more with what remains, find someone else to manage it. When I am at my wits end with a junk drawer or the likes, I send my husband in, who is not so emotional drained by packing that he can think of what to do with a handful of pens, a box of tacks, and some random beads. - Toss it.
When all is said and done, you don't need this kind of negativity in your life! When you have odds and ends littering the floor, throw them away. Will you need that screw in the future some day? Maybe. But you can spend a dollar for a bag of them at the hardware store and not have an emotional breakdown. That seems worth it for a maybe.
Tips:
- Know when to take a break. You don't need to go until the brink of an emotional breakdown. Know when you're tired and done for the day and allow yourself to stop then. If you've doubled your time then you have time to rest. Take advantage of that time.
- When packing books. Lay them on the shelf spine up and organize them by height. Then when you pack them in boxes, you won't have that irritating irregularity that makes it impossible to make the most out of your box's space.
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