Mayday!

We have one month to get all of our stuff together, streamlined and moved. This is a slightly longer distance move than I've done in the last eight years, almost a mile! (I've averaged a half mile in the last few, but the shortest was three blocks in which I moved most of my stuff with a handcart).

Looking at the calendar this morning I'm making a game-plan. If we don't stick to it strictly, oh well, but knowing that there is a relative time-line will keep me from going bonkers. It turns out to be a really good month to reduce my work load to part-time.

What is going to become a major concern is my current landlord wanting to show the place to prospective renters before we leave. I've never had that happen in a rental before and I'm a little creeped out by it to be honest. I can understand his impetus to get new people in the house as soon as he can though.  I need to ask the husband to get a ballpark date that these folks will be coming through.

Our Packing Schedule

May 1- 6

Office Area: This is currently the least-used room in the house (except for Lola who hides in the there from Chloe). There is a dresser to be given away/listed on Craigslist and I need to return the photos from my sisters' last exhibit that live in there. I need to sort through the old desk of my grandfather's (so gorgeous but in need of a good wood worker to clean up some of the rough edges). I think I'll begin to part with stuff that I've had since High School at this stage, which will hopefully be less traumatic than the last time i tried.

Cataloging of Books and DVDs: This is a monster job to be honest, at least with concern to the books so this will be an on-going job. There are a heck of a lot of them (especially with the influx of some of my father's). I'm reviewing Cataloging programs on CNet today and will do a test-run on Wednesday. as far as DVDs go we need to cull. I ordered a DVD binder from Amazon on Sunday that will allow us to reduce the physical space our collection takes and force us to sell/trade in/give away all of the movies we haven't watched in years. 

May 7-13:

Bedroom, Half of Basement & Storage Room: We started working on the basement this past weekend. We're donating towels to the animal shelter and clothes to the Goodwill. We both need to cull our collections of clothes. For me it's pants that are so ripped I don't wear anymore and cannot be donated and for him it's tee-shirts he hasn't worn since so-and-so stopped being an Oriole. I'd like to at least locate all of the boxes for things like my stand-mixer and get them in the same general area so we can pack up the kitchen easier. This will also make the basement seem less like something from The Inferno when hordes stream through to rent a hot new house on the rental market (sigh). I'd like to dismantle James' massive wardrobe sometime between here and the 20th. I'm sure we will Craigslist that piece too and Lola will sulk as she has for years attempted to get to Narnia. My poor cat. All necessary clothing can be housed in the dresser and the rest packed away.

May 14-20:

Half of Kitchen and Dining Room/Library: Once books have been catalogued I can begin to lovingly pack them up. The liquor cabinet will hopefully be drained during my Retirement/Birthday party this Saturday. I can pack up all our serving dishes, extra wineglasses, etc. After the wedding I have a bunch of glass storage and C&B crockery that I just unpacked and found homes for, oh well! I will of course leave the essentials at this point, like espresso machine and cutting boards.

May 20-31: 

Remains of Kitchen & Basement, The Living Room & Bathroom: The latter doesn't take much to pack up; most of the stuff in the Living Room is books, DVDs and records. And it's the same with the bathroom, the essentials we will be using right up until the end, obviously. What will be left in the basement at this point should be all of the boxes for the remaining items in the house (read: kitchen) and some laundry, ideally.  We can even break down our bed at a much earlier stage because our couch is a sofa bed - but a really comfortable one not a bar-across-the-back nightmare.

Oof, that's a lot to look at right now. I'm really avid to try out book cataloging, that's what I want to do after work today more than anything! 

What I need to remind of is that I have done many times before (this will be move number ten in my career). And I've done it relatively on my own before, too. This time i have a husband (and yes, a bunch of husband's stuff) but it's not like we're packing up Versailles! 

I just keep thinking about a Library Database and how much my father would smile to know I did it!