Demo Day 2

Welcome back!

If you're tuning in today we're picking up where we left off yesterday and I'm back with another progress report on Day 2 of demo which I promise will be a lot less dramatic. Or not.

To refresh your memory - and mine - here's what the place looked like when we moved in:

And here's where we left off at the end of Day 1:

After waking up with a much better attitude, a renewed sense of determination, and a body that was surprisingly not as sore as I expected, we still had 1/2 of the hardy backer to demo and we also needed to remove all the hardy backer screws (all those little dots in the foreground of the above photo). Can you say #overkill?

Demoing the remaining hardy backer only took an hour or so and when we were finally finished, we started sweeping up the bits and pieces of thin set (leftover from the tiles) in preparation for our most tedious task yet...removing all.those.screws!

All 8 million of them:

We had a few options to remove them: use an angle grinder and shear off the screw head (I didn't like the sparks), use a crowbar and rip them out (I didn't like the splintering the wood doing this), or dig out the thin set in the screw head and drill them out.

We went with the latter. Mainly because I'm an OCD crazy person. So we spent the next few hours using our Dremel to clean out the screw head and used our Ryobi Drill to pull them out. 

One would Dremel and the other would drill and after a few hours, all the screws had been removed. It was by far the most absurd and time consuming method to remove the screws, but after the physically demanding work of demo Day 1, it was a welcomed change of pace. We turned on Pandora, worked in small sections, and got-er-done!

So much better! 

See that blue bucket above? We decided to use that bucket for all the screws we removed just to see how high we could fill up. Whoever laid the hardy backer went #buckwild with screws so we knew going in, there'd be a lot, but we were still shocked to see that nearly 3/4 of the bucket was filled by the end of the whole ordeal. #insaneinthemembrane

After removing all the screws, we used the shop vac to do a once over on the floors and took the vacuum hose to the perimeter. After vacuuming and putting our tools away, we could officially close the books on our 2nd day of demo. We finished Day 2 on a high note (and with a much better attitude) and guess what?! 

Dad was right. #dadforthewin

We did it. And we were proud of ourselves for doing it.

Not to mention the $1700 savings was a nice little incentive too.

Next week I'll be back to share the progress we've made on the house since the floor demo was completed and there will be a few more tutorials coming your way too! We're closing off a doorway, widening another, we finally chose a paint color, and we're one step closer to laying our floors. Things are happening so fast around here...follow along on Instagram so you don't miss a thing!

Demo Day 1

You guys!!

We've made great headway over the last two weekends, but man…demo kicked our butts!

If you follow me on Instagram then you probably saw some real-time snaps of all the demo action but today I’m here to break it all down a little further. It was 1.5 days of sheer #bloodsweatandtears. 

Literally.

For those of you just joining in on the fun, here’s the abridged version: we bought a house (our first), we locked ourselves out twice (#facepalm), invited you in for our empty house tour, ripped out the old baseboards, and two weekends ago, demoed the heck out of the tile floors in preparation for new laminate flooring. We took it easy over Easter weekend but we're right back in the thick of things renovation-wise and I wanted to catch you all up.

Before we begin, let's take a look at where we started:

The tile wasn't bad. But it wasn't all that good either. This picture actually makes it look way better than it really was. Up close the tile is was damaged, uneven, and dated. It had to go.

My Dad showed up first thing Saturday morning (Day 1) to lend a hand. Basically he’s the dude to show us newbies how it’s done. And showed us, he did.

He used a Makita hammer drill thingy (totally legit name) and took that hammer thingy to a tile in the middle of the room. Once he got that first tile all broken out, he started taking them out one by one in rows. Before I knew it, he had little pathways of removed tiles all over the place.

I asked why he was making all sorts of rows (instead of starting at one end of the room and working towards the other – like I would’ve done!) and he said he was removing the tiles this way (and leaving sections of 2 wide) to “relieve the joints” of pressure. Once he had all the little pathways removed, we could go back and the tiles in those “2 tile wide” sections would pop out whole because the pressure from surrounding tiles had been removed.

At least someone knew what they were doing. That someone wasn't me.

My Dad and S took turns working that hammer tool but I steered clear…that sucker freaked me the heck out. Not to mention the flying tile particles. Uh-uh. No thank you. Wear your safety glasses, folks. I took my broom and stood in the corner #likeagirl #aintnoshameinmygirlygame. Work gloves on. Ear plugs in. Broom and bucket in hand. I was the best sweeper and tile picker-upper you ever did see.

By the end of Day 1 we were able to get all the tile removed (except the kitchen & laundry closet) and about half the hardy backer. Not bad.

Here's a little end of day progress shot:

How did I feel at the end of Day 1, you ask? Not good. I was pretty cranky too. #justkeepingitreal

To say we were exhausted by the end of Day 1 would be a complete understatement. We felt like we had been run over by a mac-truck. Five times. The work itself was easy - but it was tedious, loud, and physically demanding. But we both knew this going in. It was the one project we were both afraid of and aprehensive to tackle ourselves - not that we couldn't do it - we just didn't want to. We knew it would be labor intensive and we even tossed around the idea to hire this part out but after receiving a quote for $1700 to demo and dump, we decided that it was worth the $1700 savings to do it ourselves. 

So we did…

But that doesn't mean I was happy about it - haha! 

By the end of the day I  looked at what was still left to do - demo the rest of the hardy backer, remove all.the.screws, and dump the debris - and threw my hands up in the air all dramatic like and told S to call someone in to finish it up. #itsmypartyandillcryifiwantto

But we didn’t.

My Dad gave me a little pep talk about how we could do it and how proud we'd feel when we finished and blah, blah, blah, so I downed a few Ibuprofen and I put my aching body and pouty attitude to bed.

Come back tomorrow to see how Demo Day 2 went - #spoileralert - much better and much faster. #thankyoujesus

A Whole-House To-Do List

Buying a new house has really put my creative mojo into over-drive. I eat, sleep, and breathe this house! I sorta have tunnel vision – and I sorta love it. #sorrynotsorry

The problem? I have post-it notes floating around the bottom of my purse with crude drawings and random measurements – and when I find the post-it a week later, I can’t even recall what it is or what my thought was at that moment! I’m so overwhelmed with what needs to get done vs what I’d like to get done that I’m constantly ping-ponging back and forth between spaces. I just might get whiplash. It’s so bad you guys.

I figured it was a good time to put together a whole-house to-do list to corral all my ideas and blue sky dreams for each space in one place. I love the idea of being able to update as we go along – because we all know that I’ll change my mind 50 times or more before we’re done here. Plus! Who doesn’t love checking things off an old fashioned to-do list? No better way to make a girl (or guy) feel like we actually accomplished something other than binge watching Netflix all day weekend! #iswearitwasntme #okmaybeitwas

I’ll be sharing the to-do list here on the blog...it's just a massive brain-dump at the moment but I plan to update this post as things change or get completed (yippee!) as well as link to the corresponding post so be sure to check back often.

If you’re a nerd and love lists like me – then you’ll love today’s blog! Ready?

Whole House

· Remove tile / carpet and replace flooring ev.er.y.where!
· Remove existing baseboards and install new “beefy” baseboards
· Install new crown molding? (we have vents that were installed close to the ceiling line so we’re           unsure how crown will look)
· Trim out all doors and windows
· New hardware throughout!
· Paint! And paint some more!

Entryway

To-Do:

· Create storage for coats, jackets, bags – hooks? slim wall mounted shoe storage – like this?
· Add board & batten? Picture frame trim/molding?
· Paint interior of front door & add decorative trim
· Add art
· Find flush mount light fixture
· Find a vintage runner

Living Room

To-Do:

· DIY / have cabinet built to house TV – add electrical for TV & media components
· Style built-in
· Get black/white rug professionally cleaned
· Find 9x12 rug to layer under current rug
· Replace ceiling fan – new/updated ceiling fan? Purchase/DIY light fixture instead?
· Install in-ceiling audio speakers
· Sell old coffee table / buy new coffee table
· Bring in additional seating
· Art above couch

Dining Room

To-Do:

· Replace chandelier – buy or DIY?
· Remove vertical blinds
· Bring in curtains – curtains + bamboo shades or just panels?
· To rug or not to rug?
· Find head chairs – ghost chairs? molded plastic chairs?
· Paint window casing? (can this be done?)

Kitchen

To-Do:

· Remove uppers on stove wall – we’ll live w/ these empty for a while to see if we can survive!
· Paint cabinetry
· Add hardware
· Resurface sink?
· Re-plate faucet?
· Find a vintage rug
· Add a bamboo shade
· Paint window casing? (can this be done?)
· Pimp out pantry
· Replace counter tops (2nd phase)
· Convert some cupboards to pull out drawers (2nd phase)
· Remove 2nd sink (2nd phase)
· Relocate dishwasher (2nd phase)
· Tile stove wall (2nd phase)
· Install open shelving (2nd phase)
· Buy all new appliances (2nd phase – except maybe a refrigerator)

Master Bedroom

To-Do:

· Sell old headboard / buy new
· Find / refinish nightstands – we have none!
· Close off 2nd doorway – prep for new master bath
· Demo both linen closets – prep for new master bath
· Reconfigure closet – Ikea Pax closet with a “built-in” look
· Bring in drapery
· Paint window casing? Or covert window to walk-out French doors (needs HOA approval)
· Find a vintage or vintage looking rug – sorta loving this one
· Figure out the dresser situation – do we need it?
· TV or no TV? – I say no!
· Add additional can lights or add a fixture to middle of the room
· Change out current double door entry to master bedroom to bigger set of doors
· Add new doorway for new bathroom entry

Master Bath

To-Do:

· Complete master bath “resurfacing” – new floors, paint, vanity backsplash, re-tile shower
· New toilet
· Close off hallway to bath to become a part of new master bathroom – hallway will create a vestibule   for new bathroom door and additional space for a double vanity
· Remove hallway ceiling soffit
· Add double vanity – reuse existing vanity in guest bath?
· Remove soffit above shower (if possible)
· Add shower door
· Add open shelving

Bedroom #2 

To-Do:

· DIY raised molding on door
· Remove soffit (if possible)
· New closet doors – new closet system
· Paint window casing?
· Bring in drapery
· DIY floating shelves opposite bed
· Add overhead lighting
· Daybed? Refinish bed frame in storage?
· New bedding & rug – inspiration here
· Paint ceiling a fun/bold color? Giant chalkboard wall?

Bedroom #3 – Office

To-Do:

· DIY raised molding on door
· Close off opening to sunroom or put doors back on
· New closet doors
· Add overhead lighting

Guest Bath

To-Do:

· DIY raised molding on door
· Complete guest bath “resurfacing” – new floors, paint, re-tile tub wall – think fun colors!
· New toilet
· Remove old tub insert / add new
· Reuse master bath vanity? (paint & new sink/counter top/hardware)
· Trough sink! Every child’s dream?
· Wall mount double faucets?
· New mirror
· Remove towel bars for kid friendly towel hooks

Hallway between Bedrooms 2 & 3

To-Do:

· Replace old electrical panel
· Find flush mount light fixture
· Gallery hallway?

Sunroom

To-Do:

· Accentuate beams – paint? wood wrap?
· Create kids / craft area in the left corner after opening from 3rd bedroom is closed off
· Create workstation just outside master bedroom
· Bring me all the plants! I got my eye on you Fiddle leaf fig!

Laundry Closet

To-Do:

· Replace water heater with tank less
· Stack or not to stack washer/dryer?
· DIY counter top for folding/sorting
· New cabinets or re-use kitchen uppers
· Find a place for the kitty litter

Deck

To-Do:

· DIY wrap around couch
· BBQ station
· Green space? Putting green? (it’s seriously that big!) 

As you can see we've got a lot of work ahead of us and not many things crossed off the list...eeek! It's sorta gives me anxiety seeing it all in one place but I'm also really, really excited about all the work ahead too. Is that weird? For the very first time in my life I don't have to rush through any design decisions and can take my time getting it right (or wrong) because guess what?! This place is all ours and you'll have to drag me out by the hair because I'm not moving any time soon. Hear that S?!

How to Remove Baseboards

We’re finally all moved in but when I say “moved in” what I really mean is that we’re living with only the barest of necessities – our mattress/box spring on the floor, what little clothing the closets will hold, and the couch – although I’ll argue right now, that even the couch is unnecessary because after a full day of work, a night of demo, all we really care about is getting our aching bodies to bed!

It still feels so surreal that this is in fact – OUR HOME! #somebodypinchme

The rest of our belongings are being stored in the garage while we rip out the trim, baseboards, close off a doorway, widen another, and slap on a coat or twelve of paint in preparation for what will undoubtedly be the biggest improvement this place has seen in several years – new laminate flooring!

First order of business in a mile-long to-do list: removing the baseboards.

Aside from paint, adding thick, beefy baseboard and trim will without a doubt give you the biggest bang for your buck. Guaranteed. It’s an investment I will never regret and continue to make in every house we own after this.

The process to remove baseboards is actually quite simple and very straight forward. We had a general idea how to get-er-done but decided to watch a few You Tube videos beforehand just to help us feel extra confident going in.

Our house has 3 different styles/sizes of baseboards throughout (#iwishiwasjoking) but these steps will work regardless of what style or size baseboard you’re working with. But first – tools:

·         Gloves

·         Utility knife

·         Pry bar – (we used this one and this one)

·         Putty knife (optional)

·         Hammer or rubber mallet

·         Piece of scrap wood

·         Pliers (optional)

Step 1: Score

Using your utility knife, score along the entire top, bottom, and edges (where it meets the door trim) of the baseboard. This will help detach the baseboard from the wall a bit and score through any caulking that was used to fill any visible gaps after installation or numerous layers of paint over the years.

Step 2: Wedge

Starting at one end, use your mini pry bar or putty knife and wedge it into the top of your baseboard by hammering the tool with your hammer or rubber mallet into the top of the score line.

Step 3: Pry
Once the tool has been wedged down between the wall and baseboard you can pry the baseboard off the wall two different ways or a combination of the two. You can either pull the pry bar towards you and keep doing this all the way down the entire length – for extra-long runs of baseboard, we used the 2 pry bar method – one to use as we went along and the other to stick between wall and baseboard where we had just pried off to give us leverage and space between wall and baseboard going forward.

You can also pry the baseboard off by pushing your pry bar towards the wall – but always use a scrap piece of wood when you do this so as not to damage your walls, but to also evenly distribute the force across the piece of scrap wood.

If you didn’t score well enough the 1^st time and notice that as you pry, you’re also peeling off layers of your sheet rock, go back and score those areas again or cut the base board away from the peeling wall.

Continue working your way down the entire length of baseboard, wedging and prying.

Step 4: Remove

Once the entire length of baseboard has been pried off the wall, now all you have to do is remove it. In some cases, you might have to tug, pull, wrestle with it to get it out of a tight spot but this is why wearing gloves is necessary! The baseboard should have been attached with a combination of caulk (along top/bottom seams) and nails so be careful of the nails when pulling the baseboard out.

Step 5: Clean-Up

 After your baseboard has been removed, there are still a few things left to do. You’ll want to remove any nails left along the baseboard line so that when you go to install new baseboards or re-install the ones you just removed they are able to sit flush against the wall. In some cases, you may need to scrape off the excess calking along the wall or floor where the baseboard was attached for the same reason. Since we’re installing bigger baseboards and removing the old tiles, we didn’t bother doing this.

If you’re planning to re-install your old baseboards, be sure to mark them with a corresponding number or location so that you know where they go when you re-install them.

Step 6: Take Pre-Caution

If you’re not planning to re-install your old baseboards, be sure to either remove all the nails from the baseboard with a hammer/pliers or bend them down. That way, anyone grabbing a pile of baseboards to discard isn’t getting nicked or poked by rogue nails. I’d also recommending taking a shop-vac to the perimeter to catch any stray nails or wood shards.


And that's it! It took us only a few hours to remove all the baseboards throughout the house and it was the first step in the bigger renovation plan we've got going on over here. Keep tabs on us via Instagram for real-time house updates and as always, check back here for the full progress reports as it happens! Thanks for stopping by and I'll be back again this week with our whole-house to-do list...and boy is it a long one.

Our Empty House Tour

**Hey friends...not sure what happened but I noticed that our empty house tour disappeared from the blog so this is a re-post of the original post. If you're seeing this for the 2nd time in your feeds, my apologies**

The day we got the keys to the condo was like opening presents on Christmas morning. I insisted that the beau give me at least a good 30 minutes to snap some pics of the joint before we started schlepping any boxes. By now he thoroughly thinks I’m a nut job but like any good man would do, he happily obliges my weirdness. #hesakeeper

Without further adieu – here she is all stark and naked...our empty house tour!

Entryway

Living Room

Dining Room

Kitchen

Master Bedroom

Master Bathroom

Bedroom #2

Bedroom #3

Guest Bathroom

Hallway between Bedrooms 2 & 3

Sunroom

Laundry Closet

And that concludes our empty house tour! The house is a little dated but we can past the uneven tiles and the howdy-doody kitchen to see massive amounts of potential in this little place of ours. We couldn't be more excited and nervous to start making our mark on this place!

We're already well underway with the renovations - all of which we've taken on ourselves (#oyevey) - and I'll be documenting all the changes along the way right here so be sure to check back often. If you don't already follow me on Instagram, be sure to click that follow button to keep up with me over there for real-time updates. It's about to get crazy up in here...

Tips for a stress-free Move

Ok, maybe that was a lie – no move is ever 100% stress free – but I’ve gotten close! As many of you know, I’ve moved a ton… more than I care to admit, actually. In my 12 years of adulthood alone I’ve moved 10 times…10 times!!!! It almost makes me sick to think how “unsettled” I’ve been the last 12 years of my life but hopefully (I’m crossing everything I can cross) this last move (my 11^th!) was my last for a very, very, very, long time! It’s comforting to know that this move was into a place that’s all OURS! It sorta takes the sting outta of having to pack and unpack one last time.

To say that I’ve acquired a few tips and tricks over the last 10 11 moves would be quite the understatement. I thought maybe I’d help a girl, or guy, out and share a few of the things I’ve learned along the way in case you’re preparing for your next move too.

Don’t procrastinate

Nothing like waiting the last minute to pack an entire house, am I right? No matter how much you try to convince yourself that “you don’t have that much to pack” or “it won’t take that long”, IT WILL. It’ll take more time, you’ll need more tape and boxes than you originally thought. Guaranteed. 

As soon as you know you’re moving – start packing! Pack a few boxes each night. Pack up all the non-essential items and live with less in the weeks leading up to your move. Pull everything off the walls, patch the holes, trust me...you don’t need that ceramic antelope head hanging while you’re in this transitional phase of life! Your house will eventually feel like a barren wasteland but in the last few days at your old digs you’ll be so glad didn’t procrastinate instead of having to pull all-nighters packing to make up for lost time.

At 2 weeks away from move day we were living with no couch pillows, 3 towels, plastic plates, 2 cups and 5 rolls of TP. And guess what? The entire house was packed and we survived. The TP situation was a little precarious there for a minute but it all worked out!

Less is more

Moving is the BEST excuse to downsize your belongings. When we’re forced to physically set eyes and hands on every.single.thing. you’ll be surprise at how willing you are to part with items you probably wouldn’t have before. If you haven’t touched it, worn it, or even looked at it in quite some time, get rid of it! Set it aside to donate, sell, or just toss it. Now’s the time!

As soon as we started house hunting I began Craigslisting items I knew I didn’t want to take with me and the items I couldn't Craigslist got set aside for a yard sale. If you sell it or donate it before you move, guess what?! You don’t have to move it! Plus you get a little cha-ching in your pocket too.

Pack like items with like items

In the early days of packing and moving I’d go room to room and pack up the room as a whole without a thought to what I was actually putting inside the box. I’d tape that bad boy up and write “Bedroom” or “Dining Room” on the outside and thought I was the most organized person ever. When we needed to find the sheets I’d have to open 8 boxes labeled “Bedroom” before I could find what I was looking for.

So I got smarter. Or so I thought! I started writing a laundry list of items on the outside of each box as a way to inventory the items inside. But let’s get real…when you’ve moved all day, it’s the end of the night, you’re exhausted, do you really want scroll through a laundry list of items on the outside of 80 boxes to find what you’re looking for? The answer is no.

I found the reverse to be true as well. In the following days after the big move when we’re unpacking boxes, I’d see words like “paper” or “misc” on the outside of the box and say to myself “oh hell no” and wouldn’t touch any box with certain words for days, weeks, sometimes even months (!), just to avoid having to deal with whatever lurked inside.

After a lot of trial and error I found that the best approach to packing and unpacking is to pack like items with like items. But what does that mean?

For me it meant gathering all the sheets, towels, home decor glass, etc. I had scattered throughout the house in various closets, cupboards, cubby holes, and packing them all together in the same box. When I got to the new house, it allowed me to survey the entire group of items and make the appropriate storage choices going forward.

What I've learned over the years is that every home you move into has different storage offerings. Some homes offer more, while many offer less. Maybe in the new house you're able to store all your towels together whereas in your previous home you had to store your towels in each individual bathroom. Packing like items together allows you to make those storage decisions in one glance. Had you packed your boxes by room, as most people do, you might end up touching your towel collection 2 or 3 different times because you're pulling towels out of 2 or 3 different boxes. Make sense?

Pack a 1^st night box

One of the most helpful things I started doing was packing a 1^st night box. After a long day of moving, all you really want to do is relax and go to sleep. But getting to that point can be hard when you’ve got to go to the bathroom (where’s the TP?), you want to hop in the shower and clean off (what box is the shampoo in?), or just need to wash your dirty box moving hands (who has seen the hand soap?).

You can avoid the frustration and crankiness if you pack a box that contains all the essentials you might need on your 1^st night in the new digs without floundering around to find what you need. I always pack:

•          A set of freshly washed sheets for each bed
•          A roll of TP for each bathroom
•          A roll of paper towels
•          Plates, cups, utensils (I always have a stash of paper products leftover from parties)
•          Trash bags
•          Band-Aids
•          Aspirin / Tylenol
•          Tape
•          Screwdriver
•          Hammer
•          Batteries
•          Hand Soap
•          Shampoo / Conditioner / Body Wash / Bar Soap
•          Any important documents
•          A Ziploc bag of dog/cat food for your furry friends – they’ll be hungry (and scared) too!

Let the pros handle it

Moving is already a huge expense and I never wanted to pay more than I had to. For me that meant leaning on friends and family to schlepp boxes instead of hiring a moving company to do all the heavy lifting. While my friends and family were always willing to lend a hand, often times it took several trips and an entire weekend to move from point A to point B. After much convincing from my better half, we hired movers the last time we moved and let me tell you – it’s 100% worth the money. What normally would take us an entire weekend took them about 4-6 hours. We too lent a hand to the professionals by carrying down boxes and loaded up our own vehicles with the more breakable items but these guys know what they were doing, our mattresses and furniture was shrink wrapped for protection, and they got us loaded and unloaded in record time. It saved us from having to inconvenience our peeps and it saved our backs (and theirs too). It’s a small price to pay and I would absolutely do it again in a heartbeat.

Something to Remember:

If you decide to hire a team of movers be aware that they’ll be walking in and out of your home a billion times. If you’re a renter and wish to keep your carpets as clean and intact as possible, or a new homeowner with freshly laid flooring, consider asking that one person stays inside with booties or without shoes to relay boxes and such items to the team outside. That way they’re not tracking dirt or debris inside.

This time around not only did we hire movers, we seriously considered hiring a cleaning service as well. Moving out of a rental requires you to return the unit in the condition in which you received it – read CLEAN. And if I’m being honest? I didn't really want to waste my time and energy cleaning an apartment that my heart wasn't invested in anymore. Not to mention the horrible experience we had with the leasing company to get our money back after cleaning the apartment ourselves.

My mom and I spent an entire day cleaning that place top to bottom. We even cleaned all the baseboards and trim in an effort to get our deposit back. A week later they invoiced us $250 for a cleaning fee. When I questioned them about it, they sent over pictures of a few dust bunnies on top of the fridge and what they said were hard water spots on a bathroom faucet. And I’m not even kidding. Unreal. I fought it and eventually got them to drop the fee but it was an unnecessary headache I didn't want to repeat. At least this time around I’ll have a receipt to show that the apartment was cleaned – and it won’t to cost me $250 either. 

Some times it's best to leave these things to the pros and the few extra bucks are worth your sanity in the end.

Take inventory

Whether you want to be super detailed about it or just want to do a quick box count, it’s important to take stock of what you’re moving. It’s true – sometimes things get lost in the shuffle. If you do a quick count while the boxes are being loaded and another as they’re off loaded you can quickly see if you’re missing any boxes…hard to do when you’re taking several trips – all the more reason to hire a pro to do it in one! If you’ve come up a box or two short rack your brain and try to think about where it might be. Did you leave it on the porch as you were locking up? In the garage? It’s better to know what’s missing early on than after you’re moved and settled in but still can’t find the box with your coffee maker…

And speaking of losing items in transit – always carry with you any valuables or important documents you keep close by - jewelry, birth certificates, social security cards, money...etc. At the end of the day, the only one you want handling those items are you and your hunny.

____________________________________________________________________________________

Well guys...I think I've done enough rambling for today! Don't you think?! I hope you find these tips helpful. I know any move can cause stress and anxiety - I would know - but it doesn't have to! Are you preparing for a move too? Or if you've moved before, what are some helpful tips we should all keep in our back pocket? Chime in below!

Check back in next week for a little house update - things are moving along over here!