What I have done to save $$$ this week

A new Casey's General Store was put into a village we drive through between 209 and home, we stopped to check it out and get milk as it was the ONLY thing I needed and I knew if I went to a regular store I would be tempted to buy sale stuff. We did pay HIGHER for the milk , but saved time, gas and what ever I would have spent on sale stuff. 

I cooked a corned beef , ate half and saved the other half in the freezer. I pulled it back out last night for todays dinner.

I cooked 3 lbs of chicken breast, had that one night, some of it in a chicken cordon blu soup the next and put the rest in the freezer. Looking at possible chicken salad this coming week. We had the last of that soup with lunch meat wraps for lunch.

We ate out 1 night because a group of Hubby's ex co workers was at the local restaurant celebrating a person retiring and they let us know. We got the special of the night and brought home half of each of our meals to eat the next day. I still have 1 baked potato that well be a twice baked potato to go with the corned beef tonight.

We had scrambled eggs and biscuits last night even though neither of us was hungry...can't growl at Daddy for not eating and taking meds if I do it myself.

I ordered construction paper in the colors of the rooms of 209 to use for labels on the packing boxes. Was cheaper than buying ink for the printer.

Daughter2 has given us ALL the boxes she had used  and unpacked from her move with the comment we shouldn't have more to pack than she did...until we pointed out how many black trash bags and 14 suitcases that was also packed  😛not touching what the boys all carried out that was theirs and took to where ever they were staying.

I mentioned going to Menards and immediately the dogs got excited... yeah we take them when we go to Menards LOL

Cooking stove was finally in for pick up, Hubby needed to pick up lights for the barn, electrician told him how many and it's 11 % rebate and I needed rubbermaid totes (18 gal) plus we needed ideas and prices for a couple things. I didn't get the totes as I wasn't willing to pay that price but we got tons of ideas and prices for the rest along with the lights and finally my stove.

I found the same rubbermaid totes online at Home Depot (we don't have one close) and ordered them for 1/3 rd of the price even with shipping.

I usually check prices on line before going to buy. Right now the search is for barn doors for the bathroom...think that is going to be a make it your self project.

On the menu

Bfast 

bagels/muffins

waffles , as we haven't had them in a long time

eggs sandwich choice of bread/bagel/wrap/English muffin

cream of wheat or oatmeal

egg burrito 

Homemade Egg McMuffin

omelets/muffins

Lunch

lunch meat wraps

grilled cheese and baked beans

grilled cheese with lunch meat

soup of choice with bread or crackers

soft taco/bean and cheese burritos

chicken or egg salad

beef veggie soup (homemade and canned)

Dinner

leftover corned beef with leftover baked potato as twice baked  and green veggie pears

quiche with 3 bean salad,  fruit cocktail

chicken(leftover) salad or hot chicken wrap with salad, mango

Fried G & R bolonga with pickles and cole slaw and sweet potato wedges,pineapple chunks

Sausage patties on thin bagels,cottage cheese and beets/pickles, pineapple rings

beef noodles on mashed potatoes and cole slaw and applesauce

pasta with loaded veggie sauce, tropical fruit

creamed turkey over biscuits or waffles cole slaw and pumpkin custard

Snacks

fig newtons (Aldi)

choc Chip cookies (Aldi....went to go get these for Daddy and grabbed some for us to carry to 209, no more can't take meds because I forgot to bring food )

lemon bars

granola bars 

Will make a couple different muffins... for bfast and snacks that can be carried ... probably spice and apple  along with oatmeal cranberry 

Grocery list with this menu

milk

bread

hamburger buns

cole slaw mix 

bananas

 assorted veggie appetizer that can be baked...that is anywhere from poppers to eggrolls.Hubby is craving fried foods and if I put it on the table as baked 3-4 times he will get past the craving. 

Blessed Be

When your Daddy stops eating and taking his meds

for a week and almost dies and ends up at  the doctor's office as an emergency(cousin is nurse and it got him faster treatement going through herand his doctor) and gets put in the nursing home because of it and  THEN cleans every single plate they put in front of him including of food he SWORE to you he couldn't eat and swallow and takes his meds , even asks for them.....GRRR...SIGH.

Still I realize he is roaming around at night, to the point my cousin thought he saw him out in the middle of the night when it was in the teens in his underwear but by time my cousin got dressed and over to the house (they are neighbors) he couldn't find Daddy and the house was dark and doors were locked as he checked but there was bare footed prints in the snow. Nursing staff said he is not sleeping during the day (20 min nap at 3 pm, been doing that for 70 yrs) and maybe 4 hrs total during the night as he sleeps 2 hrs , up and then sleeps another 2.  They are wondering if his meds are doing it and are looking at changing them.Hopefully it will get figured out and he will be able to go home. He is going to be 91 on May 3rd.

On the way home,Hubby and I talked about his parents, they don't eat right, too much snacks,candy and pop along with not eating veggies and fruit, maybe one meal a day at that plus just sitting all day and napping 2-4 and then can't sleep at night....His dad actually got a doctor's order to GET up every 20 min and walk for 10 as he was having troubles breathing and it was from nothing more than sitting too much.

THEN we talked about ourselves...sigh...Hubby 98 % of the time takes his meds as soon as he gets up. ONCE IN A GREAT while....he will miss, usually when he has blood work and forgets to take them when he gets back.

 I on the other hand miss a lot of mine, Not my Crohn's meds or heart meds, I get those EVERY day. but the others .... I take meds 4 times a day and what I have found is I miss the 2 pm and the dinner meds if we are NOT home for dinner. So I found a small glass jar I had that I can put a day's worth of meds in and carry with me so I can take my meds. I have to eat with them so I will also need to start carrying something with me all the time.

EATING... we both suck. I have meds I have to take first thing in the morning, I can't eat for 2 hrs after, by that time I'm off and running with the day and not stopping until lunch.Lunch is a 50/50 ...if not at a place I can stop like the other day when I was gutting somethings on 209 to clear it for the crew that was on their way there or if I didn't pack anything , lunch gets passed. IF I miss lunch I eat something at 2 pm (along with meds) which is usually just a couple fig newtons or granola bar for my meds.Dinner is depending...big lunch, no dinner, no lunch, good (probably too much )dinner. 7 pm I crave candy....to get pass that part I have switched to tea and going to bed to read, which really works as then I am asleep by 9 and the dogs get me up at 4-5:15 am....I actually have an alarm that tells me to PUT THE BOOK DOWN as I would stay up ALL night reading.

Today shocking to both of us since we were late getting back in what was to be  an hour round trip to pick up new stove came in because a 3 hr trip, they couldn't find the stove, I came straight in and fixed lunch and told Hubby to wait to unload until we ate.Had 2 fig newtons for 2 pm meds and not sure what we will have for dinner as NEITHER of us are hunry since lunch ended up at 1 instead of 11:30.. BUT HEY I haven't missed any meds.

Maybe scrambled eggs and biscuits for dinner?

Blessed Be

Being frugal at 209

Our contractor looked over the 203k rehab loan and noticed there was a contingency part that was set aside. If not used, it reduces the loan but does NOT lower our payment. Said with the deducting the stuff we purchased out of pocket, he was pretty sure the money we saved him from buying it (listed in the loan) and the contingency part would pretty close pay for the extra work we wanted but was going to put off. His men being  already there so that saves us time and work on our side. He will now be painting ceilings, walls and woodwork of the colors of our choice and refinishing the wood floors AND replacing a section of the barn roof while they are there since they have the construction dumpster. Let's us keep our money invested to make those payments.

These are storm windows the seller made as the windows are single pane. He offered to make us more if needed (he thought all were there) for the cost of materials if they aren't there.

His wife had a drying wheel.

We ordered our French patio doors and asked about installation charges. They wanted $500 more than our contractor so our contractor got the job of installation.

We tore out several shelving units and a closet unit to reuse through the house. Need to paint them but still saved us $1887.00 . Part of what I tore out...

IF I hadn't need a bathroom with a tub I would have left this the dry goods pantry. His wife has a bike rim  to hang socks from to dry.She offered to connect me with the person that made hers when we moved to 209 

hers also has hanging clips to put socks on and she had the baby's clothes hung on the inside circle.

Our appliances are in that we ordered and so is the sink but got a phone call last night that for what ever reason the stove wasn't in and they are pushing to have it before the end of the month... the 1953 Crane sink fell through 😕, I don't know who was more disappointed me or my contractor.  

UPDATE, when we picked up the appliances that was in and  the 11% rebate was on so we got the wood for the electic back board (it's a wooden board, think bill board, that is close to the electric pole that will be up at the house that the meter goes on, there will be 2 boxes " think breaker box without the breakers, one for the power that goes to house and barn (which will have breaker boxes)and one to hook the generator to so we can build it a "shelter" and leave it in place. Helps me not have to move it as it is VERY heavy to the box and Hubby don't have to have it at the barn.We got a new mailbox as when we get the mail to take to the Sellers we noticed the mailbox was rusted pretty bad.This one has a flipper that comes up when someone opens the box so you can tell if you have mail. We might have to add to it to be able to see it from the house.We also got a new grill , smaller that is just big enough for the two of us but okay if we only have one of the kids and their family over. We also got a electric smoker that uses wood chips (we have PLENTY of wood chips) The grill is a one piece grill and smoker. Was great when we had kids still coming around regularly but not now as they don't and we understand it as we are over an hour away from them and will be still when we move to 209 especially with them in low paying jobs and the price of gas. We try to go to them and see all or most of them at one time. That's also hard to do as they all work different shifts and their kids are busy with activities on weekends... I remember my parents telling me that would happen unless we all lived in the same area... kids are definitely CITY, couple of them BIG city and we are still just old country folk. THE BEST NEWS at Menards was when ... we checked out and it came to over $500.. and we paid ZERO.... yep ZERO as I had saved up enough rebates. We will still get around $50 in rebate.

We are going to take our grill over so we can heat coffee, water, food up on it. Hubby plans to put it in the barn were we can move it to use and yet store it.

Hubby found cheaper fencing to make a temporary dog area so the dogs can go with us  so they are not cooped up in the house or Charlotte in a cage. We should be able to reuse the fence around the garden...not to keep deer out as it isn't high enough but to keep Wilbur out as he thinks plants is where he needs to do his business and Charlotte who thinks anything plant is a toy.

Sellers let me know there are Asparagus , rhubarb and just remembered there was also strawberries.  We told them they could come get some of all of it to start those at their new home as I have strawberries and rhubarb I will be bringing myself.

I mended a pair of pants.

Hubby darned 3 pairs of socks.

I dried 3 small loads of clothes on the drying rack.

I got the electric down my $70 by insisting Daughter2 pay anything over the budgeted amount. Surprising how she changed how she was running the electric heater in her room.

We have ate leftovers that was shoved in the freezers for most of the week, I have a nice white spot in the kitchen frig freezer. I will refill it from the other freezer. I am going to have to get milk today or tomorrow.

We use gas buddy to find the cheapest gas and are still under budet for that with running back and forth from 209.

We took a break with our friends who needed a break as they are repainting their entire inside of the house on their own at the local Chinese restaurant I had a $5 coupon off 2 dinners.

Have a blessed Day.

stop spinning circles and

staying on task... can't remember if I am remembering everything LOL
Solution

I usually use scrap paper or regular notebook paper. I might even put it on my calendar on my phone. I have found that my calendar on the phone sometimes does not remind me or I don't hear it even though it's up all the way because I don't carey the phone on me or I forget it just went off and didn't look to see what the notification was.

So this spiral notebook goes with me. I list what the priorities of the day are, cross off what got done and transfer what did not get done to the next day. On the back of the page I put the notes of things needed to bring the next day or take care of when we get back home.

I was making a breakfast we can eat as we drive the hour to 209, that is still staying in the routine . BUT since we can stand at the lp propane buddy heater and still see our breath INSIDE the house , we are eating our lunches out instead of packing. It's actually so we can get WARM. We found a good but cheap Chinese buffet that does a lower price for lunch. For $14 that included 20% tip (food servers and most bartenders only earn $4.08/ hr, tips is what they live on) and our drinks AND got warm before going back to work on 209.

On this list was going to see my Daddy. He is not doing well at all. My brother and sister in law are now living with him until they have jumped hoops to get help in.We always take Daddy to Bob Evans for his sausage gravy and biscuits. SIL warned us he wouldn't want to go but probably would be okay if we went and got it for him as they hadn't been able to get him to go anywhere with them for over a week. I asked him if he wanted to go and got a "no". Hubby asked him if he was ready to go get his sausage gravy and biscuits and the man almost fell out of his chair trying to get up to go...somethings remain the same.LOL.  Get in restaurant and SIL was "he'll need the menu read to him as he didn't bring his glasses, he'll want coffee...NOPE he takes water in a coffee cup no ice , large bowl of the gravy with 2 biscuits either apple butter or honey(that floats) and it will take him an hour to eat it...YEP. She was amazed

Got him home and she's just standing back watching and I ask Daddy if he needs the bathroom and he says yep and goes (he forgets as he has dementa) and then I told her both him and Hubby will take naps ,not always at the same time but they will take a nap)...YEP. 

We got him 2 slices of 2 different pies like always and told her he would eat 1 slice mid morning the next day and 1 slice at lunch. He doesn't eat sweets after 2 pm . She already texted me and told my Brother got chewed out for eating one of his slices of pie and had to get another slice for him to calm Daddy down.. GOOD for Daddy as Brother is a diabetic and isn't suppose to be eating that anyways.

We keep finding quarks in 209. Couldn't figure out why there was a patch in the middle of the kitchen/dining area wood floor, thought breeze way before the garage was converted...NO the seller tore out a wall there (Ibeamed the attic) and that was the only wood he had. The area had been the kitchen not the breeze way.When the garage was converted they move the kitchen to back side of that area and left the old kitchen as a dining room. Said trying to heat that area was horrible so he took it out. I thanked him because if it had still been there...we would have taken it out ourselves because it definitely would have cut up the house to small rooms.

Today I am packing the last of Daughter2's stuff that she left here with plans to come back the very next day.. bad weather nixed that and then she found she needed Hubby to go down to her place and fix a couple things that her and a couple others have tried to fix and she just knows HER DADDY can fix it, so to save her gas money and time he is taking her stuff down to her tomorrow when he goes down to fix it.

Blessed Be

IT'S OURS

We went to 209 right after the closing where we signed our life away. Hubby is taking a picture of me.

I am taking a picture of Hubby at the same time.

We all have writers cramps from signing 50 million times. Had extra papers to sign and the electrician found that he couldn't use any of the electric so besides the mortgage for the house, the rehab loan we had to come up with more out of pocket.

By time we finish (FINGERS CROSSED) it will be another $125,000 out of pocket and slightly over $391,000 Good thing we budgeted $400,000.
Even so, the new truck and new car will be postponed until I have enough saved up again for them.

Right now our money is making over 10% so we are letting it make the payments instead of drawing the cash as the mortgage is 4.5%. That way we are still earning 5.5% on that money.We will have to pull the $125,000 as needed. Our contractor said he would pay everything out of the loan hoping that we can save in the other areas and not have to draw so much cash at the end.

We meet our Amish neighbor as he saw the car and came over to make sure who it was and since it was us he introduced himself , he is the brother of the seller. AND he owns the little strip of land to the south of us along with his home north of us. So we worked out a deal that he would take care of the 3 acres behind us so that's off our shoulders and he said any area we don't want to mow he will let his calves graze to keep the grass down (we have an acre to the south of us) and the house sits on an acre. He will help us redo the one section of the barn roof. He is also the person that helped the Englisher that built the house 20 yrs ago build the house. He helped the Amish family that bought it from the Englisher as it was his wife's brother, then the seller was his own brother. He had a lot of details that you usually don't get until you have lived in the area for 3-6 months, sometimes never about the house. He told us about the widow that lives the next house over south of us. AND we now have the seller's address so they can show us where the 100 plus asparagus plants is. The rhubarb is under the grape harbor. I need to get some neem oil as Brandy as The Prudent Homemaker uses on her grapes.

We go over Monday,okay we will probably go over every day just not sure if it will be both as we need to put the fence up for the dogs... anyways side track there, the electrican is coming in Monday to make sure where we want outlets,switches and boxes for ceiling lights as we will be doing the actual installation ($$ saved) of the light fixtures.

dinner needs made
Blessed Be

Planning to be frugal

Usually I post how I have been frugal...this one is how I intend to stay frugal as we start driving 2 1/2  hrs a day to work on 209 . Part of the time we will be taking the dogs and that will allow a longer work day if we both go. Charlotte, white dog which is the 9 month old puppy doesn't hold her potty

after 7 hrs so we really try to not push it with her at this time. Rascal 5 yrs and Wilbur  soon to be 8 yrs are good for up to 12 hrs and that's more than we like for them to go (9 is about where I get antsy). I will take food and water for the dogs also.

TO stay frugal as we will have high fuel bills with driving that distance I have chosen to do the following...

Take a trash can with trash bags to 209...and bring that bag when full home to put off adding trash service. One month of trash service is $17.

Fix bfast sandwiches or bfast burritos the night before to eat on way over taking our own coffee (thermos until we get electric in then we can take the spare pot)

Water cooler that we can fill with ice and water that we can bring from home (have a black trash bag of paper cups given to us so construction crew can have water also) for on site.

The outhouse will be put back on the septic to be used until the bathrooms will be put in (save on port a john and outhouse connects to the septic tank so no messy hole to deal with when we remove it.) but until it is I am borrowing a bedside potty from Daddy and will put it in an area that can give some privacy. We can dump it directly into septic tank.

Lunches of tortilla wraps with lettuce, lunch meat,with cheese with a fruit and some veggies etc will be fixed the night before to be packed in morning into cooler.

I will make 2-3 different snacks to pack the night before as I have to eat something when I take my meds.

A pillow and blanket incase I need a nap in the truck.

Dinners will be either casseroles that can be fixed in microwave or slide in to oven while we shower, crock pot  and  meals that are ready in 30 mins without lot of work to get it done.

 I will be making a list of Emergency meals  (GoodCheapEats.com https://goodcheapeats.com/2012/08/meal-planning-101/) so I can check to make sure we have everything already here as I don't plan to have any major grocery shopping to do for at least a month if not 3 months. I would like to think I could fix a big meal on Sunday and make plan overs but I really don't think I will be up to it but I will make that list also.

Hubby "cashed" in some of his Speedway points for a fuel card to help pay for the $100 of gas. He has been "racking" them up for 5 yrs.

I have enough Kroger points to get 30¢ off a gal.

We know it will 10 gals to drive over and back in the truck. Gas prices are up ato $2.56 but the moving budget is set at $4/gal. I figured worse case scenero... $4/gal for gas 1800 miles of driving every day for 180 days(6 months) is $7200 TO help that it will be take what ever we can while driving over to work on it to bring that amount down. THIS IS NOT taking in discounts from Krogers or the Speedway card.

 We will need to get a discount card from the local gas station at 209 because they don't have Speedway.

We close today so I need to get around. 

Blessed Be

update on 209

We close Friday at 2 pm and leave with keys in hand.

We paid for the house ins a year in advance , pretty big bite but we were expecting it as our ins agent warned us before we made an offer on the house.We have a vacant policy to be in place until we get moved in which is also expensive but covers things just encase the worse happens.

We will make a stop to check on everything but the main thought is to figure out how to fence the dogs in so they can get out but can get in the barn and not get loose until we get the major fencing around for their area because we want to take them with us when we work on the house .They can't be in the house with contruction crew etc. Plus we need to decide what is going to be their area. I want the gardens blocked off from them as Wilbur is well known for using garden plants to hide his business in.Not the type of manure I want in my gardens.

I fell coming up the outside steps to the back door and I broke my big toe in 2 places...the base is where I had a stress fracture 2 yrs ago... LUCKY it was Sunday the day AFTER we did the massive move for Daughter2 and maybe if I stay off it a bit it will be healed enough when we start working hard on the house

This is our land. YES it looks like big foot has stepped there.It's the pond(fenced according to insurance) with everygreens planted around it. The back 3 acres is still unknown about what we are going to do with it. It's planted in hay. Hubby is going to ask the Amish gentleman that is selling us the house if he would like to harvest the hay in exchange for mowing if for us this year since we aren't doing anything with it and don't want to have to start mowing it to keep the weeds down.The barn looks to have a white roof. We think there is part of a fence south (bottom of picture is south. Driveway is north, barn west and pond east) of the barn that we could finish off that would let the dogs run but let me use that area for gardens outside that fence ... and then when we move in just connect the fence to the fence that runs to the side of the house.The thoughts right now is letting the dogs out the back door or patio doors and keeping them south of the driveway and only in the back and not in front so when someone is coming up the driveway  to deliver something I don't have to hurry to haul them in or have someone worry about Rascal clawing up their car like we do here.

 I plan to read OLD WORLD FARM GARDENS Raised Row gardening (Jim and Mary Competti) book that I bought and is on my kindle on how they did their gardens without using a tiller. Something to do to keep me off my foot?

I measured the cabinet area of the china hutch I bought last year and need to refinish and fix. I have a 2 tier organizer for my plates now and want to continue to use it. I found I can use a 2 tier on the bottom and 1 tier on the top of each of the cabinets of the top part of the hutch. My silverware drawer is built in here so I also  measured what I needed to replace for the silverware. I ordered what I needed from Amazon using the last of my swagbuckes and Pinecone research gift cards. NO out of pocket

 The Hoosier cabinet I will have to refinish will have my mixing bowls and the baking pans I use the most.

I know there will be areas I will need to figure something out... I know I am going to have to find a cabinet for my spices and herbs.Those might be stored in the mudroom in a cabinet there when I find one.I do have a shelving unit Hubby built that could be enclosed (I keep my spices and herbs in the dark) with little or no cost. I need a place to my oils and vinegars and I plan to make a shelf out of the porcelian table top I got when I bought the Hoosier.

We went back through the to do list of extra projects and decided what needed to be done BEFORE we move and what we actually could do later or even next year. SO we are on the same page. I have a lot of furniture needing refinished, fixed, what ever LOL , that is going into this house so it's a priority that I need to list and then start on what is the most needed...like china hutch and Hoosier.

Daughter2 gave us some twin beds for the loft bedrooms, one of them needs fixed and it's a simple fix plus matresses . She thought I might want a place to take a nap while working .

Back to propping the foot up

Blessed Be

moving day for daughter SORT OF

The sort of is the person that lived there more like stored stuff in the rental but lived elsewhere did NOT have the water on so instead of reading a meter and transferring water to Daughter2, they have to come out and turn it on at the street  and read the meter and make sure the meter is working etc which is a different dept.So she won't have water until Monday or Tuesday (WHICH IS NOW WED and there is still NO water) which means she can't stay there without working bathroom though thankfully there is a gas station within 3 blocks of her we used while moving her stuff.

But it ended up a dump and go type of move as she really couldn't put anything away before it was cleaned and couldn't clean until the water is on... BUT the weather was going to turn nasty this week so it's was do it now. Now her OCD and depression are running full force, we all just keep reminding her to think about WHAT is done and not what is left to do. As of today Hubby was helping her remove appliances (Daughter4 taking) and a cabinet (us to convert to "closet') and the trash to the garage where landlord is going to have it hauled away next week... she's okay with where the stuff is as long as she gets the water on by tomorrow.

This is 1/3rd of the 26 ft truck we rented which thankfully had a lift so we aren't hauling stuff up a ramp. This is also 7 hours of us ...Hubby and me, loading her stuff that was here. She still have the stuff in her bedroom but if she is sleeping here there is no point moving it yet.  Hubby picked up all her stuff in the 10X20 ft storage unit and part of the stuff at Daughter4s before he ran out of room. I went in the pick up and got the vacuum Son2 was holding for her and the rest of the stuff from Daughter4s. Bad enough dealing with a 12 inch curb and stairs EVERY WHERE in the house.


What have we learned so far...to keep in our minds when we go to move.

A dump and go only works if you are really super organized like Daughter 3 (4 kids also) Daugher 4 (3 kids) and Son2 (single, no kids, his computer crap makes up for at least 1 kid LOL)

Make sure the 2 wheel cart is in good shape. Last move of Daughter2 in downpours and tornados around us the old cart broke. I had my small folding one that wasn't the best but we were down to boxes so it worked out okay.New cart was a blessing.

DO NOT count on anyone to show up and help. 4 friends didn't show up, two of her sons had other things to do and had to leave after a couple hours and then SHE had to leave to go get one of the sons because her ex's wife got sick (flu) and was in the ER. END up just Hubby and one grandson and myself for the last 3 hrs...he asked how we could do it as he was struggling to keep up...mentioned something about us pushing 50 and then we let him know we are pushing 60. He almost fell .. except he was already sitting on the floor exhausted.

 Rubber maids, sturdy plastic containers for decorations etc instead of cardboard boxes.

Trash bags are great for blankets, bedding, pillows as you can fill in the empty places with them. BUT paper grocery sacks and trash bags for breakables NOT good.I ask who packed it and my darling Daughter2 admitted she did and which I made it clear she was NOT packing anything of mine except CLOTH items. HEAVENS.

MEDIUM cardboard boxes. Large ones weigh too much if you fill them up (unless with soft light stuff) and are bulky to lift even with light stuff and your entire body will let you know it the next day.

You don't don't need every single keepsake your four kids have had since birth.You also don't need to find what you gave them when they moved out back in your storage area buried under your own stuff which I shoved right back into her home because I found it before I left to go to her house.She hasn't spoke to me in two days even though she is still living here which is actually Sleeping here.At least we are not fighting which was her teenage mode so she has matured ?? LOL

You don't need 20 pairs of pants (actually there was 50)and 50 shirts (100) when you wash every day and basically wear the same clothes during a 2 week period. NOR do you need 60 pairs of shoes,especially the ones that are missing it's mate...all of this was just ONE SON.Grandson not really happy with his Nonna (ME) at the moment but he did love it that he could find his favorite clothes right off the bat when he was looking for them. AND I put his dress clothes on hangers and hung them up and the rest that he does not even wear was left in the bags for yardsale this summer by his Momma. AND she told me she buried them under other sacks for the garage sale as he is not one to go dig for ANYTHING ... LOL

LABEL LABEL LABEL... I even have color coded the labels. Unless I flip the purple color for the dining room and blue for the bedroom the colors match the rooms, you will be able to look at top or sides of boxes and know which room it goes to.She had nothing labeled where the boys did label all of the boxes they packed for their rooms. Guess whose stuff is already put away and who is digging through the rest.

PUT THE CELL PHONE AWAY. Check it on breaks, not everyone should take a break at the same time unless it was meal time. Breaks are less than 15 min not 30 when you get sucked into Facebook, snapchap etc

Have food and drink... lots of water Daughter2 did get a lot of pizza (had coupons and lunch time special combo) had 2 slices left but I didn't eat at all and some chips for the kids but didn't have enough drink. Grandson grabbed more when he went to gas station to potty and we even ran out of the water again. It was in the low 50s so it's wasn't really hot.