Just dropping in on this Tuesday with a few tips we’ve learned in the last two weeks while setting up our new house. These three ideas are definitely not the only things we’ve learned and I’m sure there will be plenty more to come, but for the time being here’s a few things that make our lives just a little better.
Number 1: Clean, clean, clean!
If the house doesn’t have a new refrigerator, always, ALWAYS remember to clean it. And not just clean it, but REALLY clean it. As in take-out-every-drawer-and-check-every-nook-and-cranny clean it. Because you never know when you might find one of these bad boys lurking behind a crisper drawer…
Yep, that’s a string cheese. That expired in January 2011. Coincidentally on Brian’s birthday. Happy birthday, baby! But seriously, eeew. So clean, clean, and clean some more.
Unfortunately, there are some things that you simply can’t get clean. I present to you our nasty caulk surrounding our bathroom sink.
No matter how much I scrubbed at it, the grime just wouldn’t go away. Even Mr. Clean Magic Erasers didn’t work. And if those don’t clean something, it’s simply not able to be cleaned. (and no, I’m not affiliated with Mr. Clean. But those things are friggen’ magical). Since I couldn’t stand brushing my teeth while staring at this nastiness, I spent the $2-3 bucks to get a new tube of white caulk and fixed it.
Hence Number 2: If you can’t clean it, fix it.
Even after one coat of fresh new caulk, the sink was already looking a heck of a lot better.
But since there were still a few old bits of grime showing through, I waited the hour the package recommended and applied another coat. Et voila! No more nastiness and now I can brush my teeth in peace while looking at a freshly caulked sink.
Finally, Number 3: Find the little things to make your day easier.
Moving and unpacking is already stressful enough. Pile on cleaning and then re-cleaning as you rearrange your life in a new house, and it can be downright exhausting. I’ve realized that finding anything that makes your process easier can be a lifesaver. For example, before we unpacked a room, we made sure to wash the floors and dust. But then the last thing we did was put up artwork. Drilling into walls tends to make a lot of mess, which means we then have to go back and re-clean. Until I raided my sticky note collection and came up with a solution.
It is a bit hard to see in this photo, but if you fold up the bottom half of a sticky note (think like a little taco) and then stick it to the wall a few inches below your drill mark, it’ll catch all the dust bits before they coat everything below!
Once the hole is done, just carefully pull them of and you’re done. Again, super simple, but it’s one less mess I have to clean up at the end of the day.
That’s my three quick tips to make moving easier. What’s your favorite tip – we’re always looking for someone to share!
Nice cheese!!! Fab tips though, I have no tips, cos I am rubbish 🙂 I have yet to unpack a load of boxes since we last moved over 2 years ago – I´m hoping that means I can just get Ben to take the boxes to the tip lol x
Oh, I'm sure you have some! And we're not all that great either – we definitely stuffed about six or seven boxes right into our crawl space!!!
Oh – that's what I need. A crawl space – I've never lived in a country where they have those… although I would probably spend my whole time crawling around under there trying to catch my children 🙂
Your post-it note is genius. It reminded me of the other day when my husband was sanding drywall mud on the ceiling (repaired a crack). He had the sand paper in one hand and a trash can lid in the other. The lid was to keep the dust off the floor. He is awesome at preventing messes.
I've moved several times and your tips are spot on.