How to move your self 6 times...

I am not an expert by any means...but I have moved a few times in my 42 years of married life.  Our first home was a two bedroom starter home in Landing New Jersey.  We had one child and the second one was born while we were living up by Lake Hapatcong New Jersey

The house was getting tight with two children and it was time to move on....we were there for 5 years.....We decided to head south to the Jersey Shore (Toms River)...homes were a bit more affordable.. We purchased a beautiful three bedroom ranch...where we lived for 21 years.  After the kids were grown we were bored and purchased a 1850 farm house in Silverton section of Toms River.....Where we almost divorced over the amount of work that went into restoring the home. Now think about this; a huge farm house to an apartment...I gave everything away...

I was working in NYC at the time and thought it would be a great idea if we rented in NYC and purchased my mother's cottage on the Toms River.  We did it....we were in NYC on West 100 and Riverside Drive...a bit edgy but so much fun..

Cottage

We loved NYC and the fact that we could head down the shore on the weekends...So we then bought an apartment on the upper west side 320 West 83rd.... all 700 square feet one bedroom.....we literately would wheel our belongings from  100 to 83rd...Instead of loading the care,.as it was so difficult to find parking...

We were so happy and then I lost my job....we couldn't afford to live here any longer.... So we moved into...(oh yeah...forgot we bought another house)...This was on one of my husbands long runs as he was training for the marathon...since the cottage has not heat we moved into the house below and sold the apartment....Oh, and gave all that furniture away...

I had to reinvent my self as I decided I wasn't going back to the corporate world of non-profit......any time soon...So I started design, home staging and custom painting furniture....It was something that I had been trained in...and has always been a passion....so why no....Don't get me wrong it took two years of  sitting around gluing shells on various things..mirrors, jars etc.. before I got out of my shell....or off my ass.... Now..its time to move again as I need space for my growing business.... Sold our home in 22 days and closed in 30 days....oh no...the place that we bought is not available until November.....So we are renting a home from the buyer for which we are purchasing her home... That is a story for another day....

So like I said I am not an expert but I have experience...  One tip that I would like to share is the following:

If you are moving into a interim situation it is most important to make a packing list of what is in each box along with a corresponding number.  This will allow you to store you boxes....and retrieve only the items that you need.  For an example we were fortune to move into a furnished home...so I only needed boxes that had towels, sheets, and my favorite cooking pots...  I will keep you posted on the next stage of the move which will be in November....

I have a lot of stories to add to each move...this is just the tip of the iceberg so to speak.....