31 Days to Settle in After a Move: Cleaning. or not...

Some houses are move-in ready, others not so much.
The last house we lived in was a rental, and upon first glance it seemed, well, clean. It wasn't until I started to clean that I realized it was anything but. This is where I can easily get bogged down, first I'm wiping down the bathrooms, next thing you know I'm scrubbing out the window tracks with a toothbrush.  Once we were more settled I systematically cleaned each room, one by one. Top to bottom. It felt great to be done, especially since most of the move was behind us and I could really enjoy it.

This is where you may have to reign in your OCD. Only clean what is nessecary - don't get caught in minutia, that'll come later. The trick is to get the basics taken care of first, then you can devote time and energy to deep cleaning when you are ready.

Let's take your kitchen for example,
Necessary: Stove top, counters, things your food and family will come in contact with.
Unnecessary: Behind the fridge or stove.

Sure, you may want to wipe down your cabinets, put in some shelf paper - but you don't need to break out the Murphys Wood Soap and spend the next 3 days scrubbing each cabinet down till it gleams. 
Not yet anyways.
I'm not saying don't clean these things. You really should. Other peoples dirt is just icky.
I'm just saying don't worry about them right off the bat.
You've got bigger things to worry about, like your cholesterol after eating take out for 2 weeks straight.

31 Days to Settle in After a Move: Ensure Privacy

Seriously, if you can't walk around nekkid, how is it home?

If they aren't already there, get some blinds, shades, curtains, drapes  - what ever - up on those windows. I don't know about you, but I feel like I live in a fish bowl when there's no window covering.

We've all seen that house, you know, the one you drive by after dark. 

The windows are all wide open, every light in the house is on, and you see every detail of their lives played out before the world. 

Don't be that house.

Unless you're an exhibitionist, and even if you are - keep in mind, no one looks good all the time.

The neighbors are already curious about the "new people" as it is. Do you really want them sneaking peeks at you as they walk their dog at night?

And I'm not talking about newspaper or foil here either. You do that and your neighbors shudder. They start to worry about cars up on blocks, 4 foot weeds and property values going down. Great start, right? Don't do it.

I have neighbors behind me, who may have moved in the day before we did or could have been there for 10 years. I haven't actually met them, but I probably know more about them than I should, since they had a blanket haphazardly draped over their family room window. Because of the lay of the land, I could see straight into their home from any window in the back of my house or back yard. The Sarge and I both rejoiced when they finally put up a curtain.

But, what if you can't decide what you want in that window? Start thinking about it now. And in the meantime, throw up some blinds - they're less than 10 bucks at Walmart.

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31 Days to Settle in After a Move: Unpack

  This one seems pretty obvious, but is one of the hardest to do! the M half admits in her comment that she has taken 2 moves and 5 years to unpack, and I don't think she's alone. 

  If you are being moved by contractors (Mayflower, Allied, etc) then make it easy on yourself, have them do the unpacking. It's part of their contract, so it's not an additional charge - and when they're done they take all the boxes with them. Of all the families I've seen move (there have been lots!) I don't think I have seen anyone besides us take advantage of this.
They'll say "oh, the movers just dump everything, they won't put it away." 
True. But it's a lot harder for you to ignore all those piles of stuff than boxes. This way you are forced to take action.
They also say "I don't want the movers handling all my stuff."
Um. too late. And there is a way to work around that, but that would be an entirely different post.

 And if you aren't so lucky as to have strangers rifle through your belongings and leave them in piles on your (hopefully now clean) floors, then it still has to get done. You could use the same method, just unpack it all at once. Our most recent move was a DITY (military speak for moving yourself) since we just moved locally. We had movers handle all the furniture but the "stuff" - that was all us. Mostly me. I used Rubbermaid containers for most of it. And a few laundry baskets. But I only had so many. So in order to get everything moved, I had to unpack right away - so I could run back to the old house and get more stuff. 

 Unpacking is a lot of work. A lot. But, you can't get things put away while they're still in boxes. And like I said, it's a lot easier to shove stacks of boxes to the side and say "oh, I'll do that when I have time" than to ignore piles of crap everywhere. 

 Maybe you're still not sure where everything will go? There is one way to figure it out. 
And I guarantee, when you first saw your new home all empty and full of promise you didn't squeal "oh yes! My 16 boxes of  craft supplies will fit here perfectly, and we can dig through the dish pack every night before dinner in this EXACT spot!!"

 One last note, if you have little people. There is a benefit to unpacking - besides not leaving their childhood memories full of  cardboard and unfound belongings - a yard full of empty boxes is a total. kid. magnet.  

 So, if you have boxes stacked somewhere, still unopened - pull 'em out. You may discover a lost treasure (OMG! So that's where it's been!) or just a bunch of crap you can live with out after all (why do I have this?).

31 Days to Settle in After a Move: Carpet

Today's tip is short and sweet.

Before you move in, or as soon as possible thereafter

Clean Your Carpets!

I don't care if you have them professionally done,

or if you do it yourself. 

But do it. Really.

Who knows what goes on in someone else's house? 

or on their floors?

Between pets, kids, and everything under the sun ... chances are your carpets have been exposed to all manner of bodily fluids, plus God knows what before you moved in.

'nuff said.

31 Days to Settle in After a Move: Color Me Mine

If living in base housing has taught me one thing, it's settle in and settle in quick.

Take your time and the next thing you know, you have orders - forget settling in, it's time to pack again! We've PCS'd and moved enough that I've gotten pretty good at turning "Quarters" into a "Home" quickly. Over the next 31 days I'll pass on some of the things I've learned along the way  -military or not, most of us move at some point in our lives, and hopefully something I post here can help you with your transition - whether you're currently planing a move or your move was years ago!

Looking for 1 simple and affordable way to make your new home yours? 

Paint.

Even if the walls aren't white.

Do you really want to live with the previous owners choices?

They may not be too bad, but are they really you? Until I've chosen the colors myself, I still feel like I'm living in someone else's house. 

That is not settled.

Color lets you put your personal mark on a space. I think contractors must use cookie cutters to build houses. For many of us, our house really isn't that different from our neighbors. We all have one variation or another of  the same floor-plan. Paint is one way you can set yourself apart from the herd.

Honestly, if you're a kid, moving sucks. But painting your new room the color you want? That rocks!

Give your kids a thrill and let them choose their color. Okay, within reason.

Not all of us can be the super cool mom who lets her teenager paint his entire room black. 

But you can narrow the choices and let them pick. 

Kadences playroom - before it was a terracotta color, definitely not cool. She was not into this room at all.

Playroom After. A much better fit for Kadence. As soon as we painted it she could see herself  here. Simply put, painting this room made it hers.

If you can, save time and your back by painting before the furniture arrives, and before you clean the carpets too. Seriously, did you see my Studio post?  Can you imagine even trying to paint this after moving all that crap in??

Wanna settle in quick? Paint!