Getting Ready for Vacation!
Lots of preparation goes into being ready for vacation. This summer my family will visit Rosemary Beach, a beach community located on the beautiful 30a highway of Florida. Read along to pick up ideas that may assist you in getting ready for vacation.
Make a Packing List
A packing list is a guide for me to ensure I do not leave anything important behind when heading out on vacation. Items included vary from clothing to toiletries to beach supplies to kitchen aids. When a family is gone for a week or longer, there is a lot to pack for said trip!
Not only do I keep a running list nearby in order for me to jot down items when I think about them, I like to also draw on the experience and expertise of other mamas who have been there, done that. Here is a blog post of a packing list I pinned from Pinterest.
The Folding Lady is also one of my favorite influencers to follow and check in with regarding how to get all my family’s items neatly and efficiently into our suitcases.
Bring Products that will Help You
Any mama or person in charge of packing for an entire family will have an idea of what products make your trip easier. For me, individual laundry bags like these help my kids keep up with their dirty laundry. When it is time to wash clothes, I simply consolidate the laundry bags and wash as needed. The bags can also be used to hold clean and folded laundry for me to return to each kids’ room.
Vacation is always a fun time to buy a few new things for the beach! We found a cute patriotic swimsuit from Target for my daughter.
You can check it out here!While I have yet to try them, I have heard a lot of people rave about packing cubes to use for organizing clothing and toiletries for trips. Here is a best seller on Amazon.
Travel size toiletry bottles are helpful as well as a variety of product bags. Rolling luggage is a plus on vacation. The ease of rolling your case along side of you allows you the space to carry other items in your arms or stack on top of your luggage. Our daughter got this set a couple of years ago. She gets a lot of use out of them. Truth be told Jeff and I need a new set for ourselves.
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Create a Meal Plan
While I would love to share with you all the fun activities to do and places to eat while on 30a, I am going to save that post for the future. You can read up on our last year’s trip here. For this post, I simply want to focus on the preparation of vacay readiness.
Taking the time to think, dream, and discuss what food you want on your trip will help you save time and money while you are away. We have stayed at many beach houses over the years and when all the family is together, there is never a shortage of starving kiddos (at least they all think they are starving). Having a rough idea of what foods to bring, what foods to buy, and what nights you are eating out, makes for a smoother vacation experience.
While we have some favorite places to eat (The Donut Hole), we have some new places we are going to try out as well this year. My goal is to blog about everything we will do in an upcoming post.
For this preparation, you will need to make another list as well ( I love lists!). How many nights do you want to eat out? What special occasions are taking place while you are away?(birthdays, holidays, anniversaries?) Take this time to determine if any of your party has food allergies. Also, what are some favorite meals? For me, when I head to the beach, I want fresh, local shrimp. We have a funny but not-so-funny-at-the-moment story of the time my husband went to Publix and bought shrimp instead of going to the fresh seafood market while we were at the beach. Who knew Publix shrimp could cause such an uproar? 😉
Being ready for vacation will actually assist you in enjoying your vacation once you arrive at your destination. Hopefully, this post has given you ideas to implement as you prepare for any upcoming trips. Enjoy!
Moving…A Cautionary Tale
It has been just a little over six months since we moved into our current home. And while I am loving being here and the neighborhood we have moved into, I will share my cautionary tale of moving with you. Preparing for your next move by heeding my warnings may be just what you need.
By now one would think I should have moving down to an art form. In our nearly 19 years of marriage, this move was our ninth move. While there were several aspects of this move I would change, experience is what gives us the opportunity to collect nuggets of wisdom for the future. So, sit back, drink a cup of coffee, and possibly take notes from my cautionary tale 😉
What Not to Do When Moving
Today’s real estate market may be just as crazy as it was six months ago. Six months ago, we were able to list the house, show it, and have it under contract all within four days. That is crazy fast! The other portion of the move that was crazy fast was the new owners wanted full possession within 48 hours. Closing took place within 30 days and we were to be moved out completely within 48 hours of closing. While everything was fast paced, I enjoyed not dragging our feet on how long it would be before we moved. Now that I am able to look back at the situation, here are a few things I would not do when moving:
- I would not give myself a tight packing schedule. Thirty-two days is not a lot of time to move anyway; however, I still told myself I had plenty of time. For any future moves, I will start collecting moving materials and begin packing various sections of my home immediately. For a look back at our previous home, you can catch some snapshots here.
- I would not schedule any other events the weekend of the move. We moved during the Christmas holiday season and my husband had a business function that we had to attend. For a portion of our moving day, we were not physically able to stay with our movers. One of my parents stayed at the old house and the other parent stayed at the new house to observe the movers; however, there is only so much my 72 year old parents can do to help in such a big move. Our time away from the movers proved to be detrimental to the condition of our items moved.
- I would not have used the moving company we used. This last tip is a difficult one because I am not sure we could have done anything differently. We had used this company on our last move and they did great. For this move, something was off from the get go. I noticed some of the employees were different – same manager, different employees. I thought that was not going to be a big deal, but as I was talking to them at the beginning of the move, I felt like one of them could have been under the influence of drugs. At the time, I felt like we were trapped due to our deadline for being off the property. The tight deadline in addition to us not being able to physically oversee how the movers treated our items upon arrival at our new home due to our business function, really left us with some big regrets. Boxes were just thrown into a room. Furniture was broken and damaged. Ugh! It was extremely frustrating to discover.
Now that the painful tips are over, utilize these tips when preparing for your next move.
What to Do When Moving
- Collect the tools/materials needed for your move. Tools/materials that I would recommend would be: plenty of black Sharpies, clear packing tape, a tape gun, a variety of sizes of boxes, packing paper, and a hand truck. In our area, we have several community Facebook groups. Asking on these sites for moving boxes or simply reading daily posts to see who was getting rid of some boxes, proved very beneficial. I will add, get WAY more boxes then you think you need. We ended up having to run and buy (and that nearly killed me) extra boxes to finish the move. A hand truck will help you move boxes out of your way while you wait for your actual moving day.
- Hire professional cleaners. At first, I baulked at this. I had never hired professional cleaners for my move out. We had always cleaned the house ourselves before we left. However, our agent and the buyers agent had it listed for a professional clean of the home we were selling and of the home we were buying. We paid for the cleaners to clean the home we sold and the seller we purchased our home from paid to have our current house cleaned. Do it! Nothing is better than having your home deep cleaned before you move in. It just created a better mental space for me as we moved.
- Oversee your movers or have a contract that will hold them responsible for any damage done to your property. Personally, I believe our outcome would have been different had my husband and I been physically present to give guidance to the movers as they unloaded our items into our new home. This doozy is no one’s fault but our own. And while it was a painful lesson, I still am not sure how we could have done it differently due to our business function. Overall, there were only a couple of items damaged but it makes me cringe whenever I think of the poor job the movers did when they got to our current house. We were with them as they loaded all of our items from our previous home. You live and learn, right?
Hopefully, you use this post as a cautionary tale if you are planning a future move. Don’t worry, you can be sure ANY move will have some bumps in the road but this blog post can give you some helpful guidance. Happy moving!
