Spring Cleaning

This year spring cleaning has taken on a whole new meaning. Not only will we be moving, but our new house is several months from completion. My parents have bravely agreed to take us in for the interim, and we have a large camper that Husband takes to work in summer. So when I think of cleaning this house and airing it out, I am also deciding what needs kept, what doesn't, what we will need all summer, and what can be packed away til August when we get into our Wish House.

On my list is:

Sorting: this morning I have sorted kids clothing into piles and bags-donate, sell, store, pack. The boys will need summer clothes, their winter stuff will go into storage. I am going to have a garage sale with some of the nicer things they've outgrown and donate a PILE to the store in town that funds the women's shelter. I have also divided some for the babies I know that will use some hand-me-downs. We have been very fortunate to have hand-me-downs and it has helped us so much (they outgrow it so fast anyways!). So we are happy to do the same for others.

Packing: I am going to pack up some of the breakables and most of my Folio Society books. The books will go into rubbermaid containers to protect them from moisture. I've got an area in the garage reserved for garage sale, and one for packed items that go into storage.

Storing: Before anything goes into storage, we first must prepare a spot in the new yard, put down some gravel, and a shed will be delivered in April. Once the shed is there we will make trips whenever there is time to store more of our belongings, leaving the essentials til last of course. The shed has been ordered, gravel priced out, now to get the pad ready and wait for delivery.

Cleaning: The young couple that bought our house is expecting a baby. On top of moving while pregnant, I don't want the new homeowner to have to clean up our mess. Cleaning with children is really like being a hamster on a wheel...it never really gets done, but once we have "moved" everything out I will steamclean the two rooms with rug and make sure the walls, light fixtures, floors and cupboards are clean for the new family. I would never want people to talk about how dirty I left my old house, and I also feel I owe it to the home where my family began. It deserves a good cleaning and I would never leave that for a pregnant lady to do once I was gone.

So before May 10th I plan to get organized and accomplish all of what I've mentioned above. I plan to do a bit every day to get ready: pack, sort, clean and get things ready for storage. I might have to clean some things again when we leave but it keeps us busy and makes me feel like I am doing something to bring us closer to our new home.



Once I have Husband's approval, this will be added to the SELL
pile!

 Have you ever been in limbo waiting for your next home to be ready? Have you got any advice to share? We'll take it!