I’ve never lived anywhere more than 5 years my entire life but our latest move was a big one.  We had so much to clean and pack and move and do.  My previous moving plan just wasn’t going to work. 

My past moves were just some personal items I’ve accumulated moving back and forth to college and seminary.  Now I was moving an entire apartment and offices for Hunni and myself.  Oh and we had to scrub the apartment so it looked like new for the incoming pastors.

OH MY!

Pintrest saved my life.  Organizing things is a passion…but you already knew that.  SO for moving I wanted things as organized during the packing and unpacking. 

First up was “packing” the things we needed for the last few weeks and to travel with us.  So hard because I’m a consummate over packer.  But I kept it down to two bags for me, one for Hunni – he’s a boy (his words) – and one for the dogs.  We also had a bag for toiletries.  This made it simple to do the rest.  And oh the rest.

Enter colored labels. 

We knew the floor plan of our new home and labeled each box with the area we wanted it go upon arrival.  So we didn’t have to read each label as the movers brought them in I color coded them.  Yeah for organization.  It made the unloading so much easier and the unpacking even easier. 

Not to mention each box had a list of the main contents. 

I knew exactly where to find my rice cooker for dinner the first week and my family photos to start arranging the next.  No more guessing what box things were in and digging before giving up and buying duplicate can openers just so I could make dinner.

And while the packing was going on so was the cleaning.  The harsh chemical cleaners could not enter my house or neither could I with my allergies.  So it was all about finding simple methods with basic and CHEAP ingredients. 

First up the stove.  The oven was scrubbed down with a baking soda and vinegar while the racks and grates soaked on bags of pure ammonia for 24 hours.  A bit of light scrubbing later and the oven is brand new.

The refrigerator was cleaned well with soap and water inside and out.  Only we did it two weeks too early.  Anything could goop up my shelves and I didn’t want to be wiping them down daily; I had too much packing to do.  Instead I used a Pintrest trick and covered them with press and seal.  Took me a bit to get them all done but it allowed me to watch part of a Red Sox game.  I have no idea why I didn’t do this sooner.

Of course the salsa didn’t spill once in 2 weeks but I was free and clear if it did.  It just peeled off right before we left for a like-new fridge.  I’m planning on doing this to our new fridge shortly as a preemptive measure.

Walls were washed with a simple bleach and water solution.  Beds were freshened up with baking soda and lavender.  And the dreaded washer and dish washer were cleaned with a few loads of bleach to freshen them up.

The actual cleaning lady we had come was so impressed with all we had done ourselves.  When asked where we learned it all we just replied…Pintrest.