Still making my way out of the “pile” and a packing tip!

 

So when I last left you I was having computer woes, my house was a pile, and I was franticly trying to get ready to go here……

That’s right, in 8 days we are driving from here….

to here….. 

Yes you read that right, I said typed driving!

 

And guess what? I’m still not ready!

 

My computer woes look something like this…

OK. I’m. Guilty. I couldn’t handle the change. The husband’s most ahhhhmazing gesture of leaving work on his lunch break to buy me a new computer, instead of just a monitor was quickly demolished by me. Yup! Instead the new computer was returned, a new monitor was purchased for the old computer, and for good measure we threw in a laptop! Ahhhhh life is good! I {heart} my old computer!

However, my house is still a pile!

My dining room table currently looks like the above picture, just add 2 lunch boxes (which have not been emptied since Wednesday), a sewing machine, thread, ribbon, a camera, 1 blue mitten, 2 tubes of chap stick, and an empty juice box.

My kitchen currently looks like this,

The true mess is actually hiding behind the Valentine décor, which might I add will most likely not be put away before we leave. My poor father in law will just have to look past it. (I’m really sad too cause I had big plans for St. Patrick’s Day.)

Our dinner of choice lately looks like this..

But, in the midst of all these piles, I did manage to start this..

Enter my trip packing tip….. (Has anyone ever noticed I use a lot of “dot,dot,dots?”)

This really isn’t a brilliant revelation or anything, some of you probably already do it, but it has helped me make packing for my kids a breeze.

I’m a tiny bit anal about what my kids will wear on each day of our vacations. The big sister really is getting too old for this, you know having her Mom pick out her clothes each day? In her defense she did help with the final decisions and though the sister do have a lot of the same outfits they will be wearing them on different days.

Want to make packing for your next vacation a breeze? Read on.

Not sure if this really is tutorial worthy as it’s pretty self explanatory, but since I’m totally avoiding doing any house work right now I thought I’d turn it into one. Just cause I can of course!

First I set up our folding 8 foot table smack dab in the middle of my living room. Then I went downstairs and dug up all of our summer clothes boxes and got to work.

All you need are plastic zipper type bags (I used 1 gallon size) and a permanent marker.

Decide which clothes you will for sure be paking. Label your bags accordingly. I always label ours with each child’s name, the date of which they will wear the outfit, and sometimes the place we will be on that day.  Add each outfit to the corresponding bag. (Don’t forget to add a pair of underwear and a pair of socks!)

So while it really doesn’t make deciding what to bring any easier it does help to see what you have and what you need. Be sure to add some bags with PJs, bathing suits, sweatshirts, and extra outfits. If you add socks and underwear to your extra outfit bags that will also give you extra socks and undies!

This also helps cut down on the mess of unpacking. If your kids are anything like the sisters as soon as you reach your destination and it’s time to put on some jammies the whole bag or suitcase gets unpacked. Clothes flying every where. When they are in the see through labeled bags there is no confusion on what needs to come out of the bag. Yay! Problem solved!

Now back to my regularly scheduled housework!