Settling in

As of today, we've been in our new house for 20 days. Strangely it feels like we've been here longer and I've been unpacking, cleaning and dealing with life.  I've noticed a few differences from when you move long distances vs. short.  The largest difference being the kind of pause your life takes.  When you move long distances, you have to bring everything to a close.  When I left Denver, I had to stop playing with the fun loving Denver Pops Orchestra, I had to give up the awesome violin/viola studio that I had started from the ground up, and any activity the children were a part of had to be ceased.  We cleared our slate.

This move however all of that was unnecessary, to my relief.  It did pose one problem.  Our life still carried on while we had to move and unpack.  The most time consuming commitment we had was my children's swim team. It was worth the time commitment, and I'm proud of what they did...but moving while your kids are competing twice a week is not for the faint of heart. Luckily the season is now over, here's a photo of their awards ceremony/pizza party.

One room in this house has received most of my attention and that is my sun room.  This room has so much potential and I see it's potential every time I walk into it.  I also see dollar signs. We are going to be using this room as our school room this year.  I can't think of a more lovely way to do school but in a bright sunny room. I'm not one who usually focuses on problems, but I want to list the problems with this room and if any of my readers have suggestions post them in the comments below.  I am open to suggestions!!

1. The carpet is old and stained.
2. The windows have black mold around the weather stripping.  I've wiped the mold away, but I worry about the integrity of them and I'm concerned they may need to be replaced soon.
3. The walls are brown and yellow.  At our old place we rented the family room had wood paneling and brick walls.  The room was hideously ugly and there was nothing I could do about it.  It turned me off on any kind of wood paneling so I'm thinking a paint job is in order in this room.  I'm thinking it might be the most affordable thing on this list so it might be the first project.
4. The sunroom has a door to the back porch which is not covered by a soffit or anything else so when it rains the door gets a lot of water on it.  Some of this water leaks inside and the door itself is showing some mild water damage.

I'm reminded that living on the east coast is wet, specially compared to the dry climate of Colorado.  I told my husband last night how a spot of mold wouldn't have concerned me out there, but I felt here it could easily get out of hand.

So that's what's been going on.  I haven't posted much because life is just keeping me busy and I haven't hit my rhythm just yet.  Moving is so tough crazy, and it's hard on the wallet.  So many projects will have to wait until we recover.

Moving -- Money saving green tips

Having to move quickly across the country is exhausting, and could potentially be very expensive.  During the first purging stage I felt like a hoarder because I couldn't just throw stuff away.  It had to be recycled, or donated, or sold, or given to someone.  Then you'd have the stuff that someone made, or my grandmother gave me this...really.  The list could go on.  It almost seems like to put everything in it's place, you'd spend more time driving and it wouldn't be worth it.  Well, you're half right, but only if you don't plan your trips.

We haven't been doing the dumpster thing, but we have been donating.  Goodwill, our church, and my daughter's preschool has been the benefactor of many toys.  Took a few shopping bags full of books to our local library to be re-used.  We've had one yard sale, which proved to be too time consuming and not really worth it.  Craigslist has been awesome.  We've sold all the furniture we wanted to sell through craigslist, and some that wasn't in great condition was put in the free section.  Yay re-purposing.

Next up was packing material.  The other day I visited a 7-11 and asked the if they had yesterday's newspaper leftovers.  Sure enough they did, and they handed me that stack up there.  Free packing material.  Friends and family have been bringing over boxes for us to use, so there has been little need for us to purchase new boxes.  I've heard retail stores are also willing to give away boxes if you get there at the right time.  I've also heard craigslist again is a great resource for boxes.

In the end, moving across the country greenly is best done when you aren't having to move very much.  It's counter productive to have to buy all new stuff when you get there, so I'm hoping to buy second hand things when we get out there to furnish and decorate our new place with.  I was quoted a price of $1 a pound for everything I had to move across the country, eeek!

After everything is all packed, it's time to paint, and show the house.  Hubs leaves Tuesday for Colorado, and I'll  be heading out a few weeks after him.  More later!

Moving Update

Well, hubs was out last week and found us an apartment, and things have been insane around here. Posts may lighten for the next few weeks (month?) until things get worked out. We have to wonderful beautiful cats who sadly may need new homes. If you or anyone you know in the Virginia area may be able to give these two sweet boys a home, please let me know.

We looked for a place that would take our all of our pets, but we had three and it just proved to be too much for everyone. The dog is staying with us, but the cats need new homes.

Craigslist has been a life saver. I've sold just about everything I've put up there, tucking away the money for moving.  We've been searching Costco for boxes.  You have to be choosy, they seem to cut off the tops of lots of their boxes.  Other then that, it's been a stressful, sad time.  I keep thinking we can just hide the cats, but really...will that work?

Moving Cleanly -- Purging

So, in case you're not in the scoop, hubs got a job. This summer will be spent moving from Virginia to Colorado. Of course I will be documenting this process here on the blog, and how I intend to do this in the most green way possible.

We already messed up this morning when we went to the Uhaul place to buy boxes. I've put the word out. I need boxes! I don't want to buy brand new boxes. Anyway...

Our first step is to purge. The less we move, the less it costs and the better for the environment. We'll either be doing a yard sale this weekend, or we'll get a flea market booth. Flea markets are huge here, and this time of year they are booming. The other thing I've found is Freecycle. On their website, you can browse the area for people giving stuff away, or post what you need. Green can be cheap!

For greener, yet pricier solutions you can try Green Box. Sadly for me, they are located in Southern California. Not much help to me in the suburbs of D.C.

While we use the boxes we have, the rest of our boxes will be a miss match of stuff we ask for from the stores we shop at, or from friends or from Freecycling. Wish us luck, or moving journey begins!