Top 10 Tips for Moving & Downsizing

Moving day is here! We thought it would never come soon enough. But now that it's here, of course we grumbled about having to move, yet again. You see, we live in a neighborhood of questionable security. We've experienced frightening encounters with our neighbors (including having bullets fly through our walls barely missing our heads) and I am constantly looking over my shoulder while walking the pugs. So as much as I hate moving, I am ready to find a safer, more stable neighborhood.

We are currently spoiled with a large space, great vaulted ceilings, a garage and fenced backyard. In order to find a space in our budget and in a safe, convenient neighborhood, we are having to downsize, losing our fenced yard and garage. A huge change!

Right when everyone in our lives are buying houses, we're going in the opposite direction. Not ideal, but it also means I can continue to pursue my dream of running this business full time. Worth the sacrifice.

I thought I'd share some tricks I've acquired in the process of downsizing that could be helpful to you too! Here are my 10 tips for moving & downsizing:

• Use up everything in the pantry
• Throw out expired food and spices
• Determine what will need to be sold or stored (goodbye patio set...)
• Do a closet overhaul and donate clothes you haven't worn in over a year. Throw out old, stained clothes.
• Sell books you no longer want to a used book store
• Donate "stuff" you've been holding onto but not using (I found a boombox, old backpacks, and mountains of blank CDs)
• Go through old paperwork and determine what you need to keep (Learn about how long to keep paperwork around from Lifehacker)
• Recycle or shred the rest (getting rid of those college notes felt so good!)
• Only buy what you need. This is a rule I should live by all the time. Almost out of toothpaste? Do you have enough to last until after the move?
• Let friends & family know you are moving. It's likely someone has some recycled boxes from a recent move that they are looking to get rid of!

I hope this helps you all next time you are getting ready to move or downsize. Do you have any tips & tricks for moving? Share in the comments below.

P.S. If I seem a little more quiet this week, I'm lost in piles of boxes!

Partial DIY Stationery

Today on Tuesday Tips, we're talking about how to create announcements & invitations for your wedding or event on a budget, and without losing your sanity! I love being able to help people create "partial" DIY invitations & announcements for their weddings & events because I've been there. On a limited budget, crunched for time, confused about the "vision" for your event and how to execute it. Here's a great article from Huff Post about how to approach DIY weddings.

Most people have never been in a situation where they've needed to create floral arrangements or design invitations before their wedding. You may want to have a DIY wedding, but you can't figure out how to overlay that awesome font over your engagement photos or why the printer needs a "bleed".

That's where I can help. Find a designer whose style you love, or find a pre-designed template on sites like Etsy. A good designer will walk you through how to send a high resolution photo, provide a proof for you and instructions on how to print the finished product yourself.

When it comes to printing, I recommend finding a local printer where you can see the paper samples, talk to real people and review a printed proof. This is a more expensive and time consuming option, but you can control the results and quality. There are online printers (like Vista Print and Moo.com) that I have not tested, but they offer economical solutions for those on a tight budget.

When it comes to a big event, we all want to save money however we can. But don't be afraid to rely on your vendors, the experts, to help you find a solution within your budget. Whether it's doing the assembly or printing yourself, there are many options between full service and DIY.

I hope this helps you with planning your next event! What partial DIY solutions did you use for your wedding or event?

What Not to Do: Leave Videography Out of Your Budget

Everyone deserves to have a wedding video. When I was a little girl, the one movie I wanted to watch over and over was my parent's wedding video. The ceremony was shot with a single camera in the back of the venue. The reception was outdoors at the Marine training base in southern California. You can hear the jets flying overhead during their first dance. I still think it's the best "movie" ever made. Seeing my parents when they were so young. Seeing family members that have passed before I was born. Seeing the family that I only get to see when we have a great reason to. Weddings. That's what they are all about. Families coming together and celebrating. And that's exactly what I wanted my wedding to be. But I almost missed out on the best part... The wedding movie!

We were extremely blessed, and lucky, with how things came together for our wedding. One of those examples was videography. I did not budget for it. I wanted it, so badly, but couldn't find room in our budget to afford it. So we bought 3 small flip cams and several SD cards to hold hours of amateur video filmed from our family and friend's point of view. One of my favorite photographers did this with an 8 MM camera, and I cried when I watched her wedding video.

The thing is, do you know where all that video is sitting right now? On those SD cards. Because it will take me a good chunk of time to go through and create something digestible.

Thank goodness for my sister-in-law's best friend Rachel. We asked her if she would be a second-shooter at our wedding as we were worried about our photographer being in two places at once (Edgefield is a big place!). She graciously accepted, and brought along her fiance to shoot some video footage. Never could I have imagined the incredible result! Below is the beautiful film created by RP Imagery, one of their first wedding films they created. I think they'll be producing many, many more in the near future :)

http://vimeo.com/72952471

Videography: RP Imagery Photography: Mint Photography Venue & Catering: McMenamins Edgefield DJ: Thunderstruck Productions Personal Flowers: Blüm, Design in Flowers Centerpieces: DIY Methot family projects Design, Planning, Invitations & Paper Goods: DIY Day-of Planning: Alex Engel Chair Rentals: The Party Pros

Newlywed Life: Hosting Thanksgiving

For the fourth year in a row, we successfully put a turkey on the table for our family to enjoy. Hosting Thanksgiving is not a task one would normally volunteer for, but I believe the ability to pull off a day of cooking while entertaining both sides of our family is an important skill to master. I would say this year was the most successful yet! I followed Martha Stewart's recipe for the Perfect Turkey, which was lovely. The outer skin was a little tough, but I think I may have overcooked him slightly...

That's my family's Shiba, Milo, who made it to another holiday season. So thankful he got to spend some time, at his appropriate distance, with our pug Chloe. He secretly likes it.

For the first time, I actually was prepared in advance of the holiday (first time not working retail beforehand!). The prep work went as follows:

• Several Months Out: Communication with family that we will, yes, once again undertake the task of hosting Thanksgiving in our modest-sized townhouse
• 3 Weeks Out: Determine recipes (YAY Pinterest!) to create a good balance that will fulfill everyone's vision of the perfect Thanksgiving meal
• 2 Weeks Out: Reserve turkey and research the likelihood of finding exotic ingredients... research alternatives (always have a back-up plan!)
• 0.5 Weeks Out: Purchase all ingredients, record oven cooking time for all recipes, create timeline (yes, I make I timeline for anything possible)
• Thanksgiving Eve: Bath time for the turkey in the brine
• Thanksgiving: Wake up in enough time to prep the first item to go in the oven before the parade starts!

The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is a major tradition in our family; we have many. My brother and I both marched in the Seattle parade the day after Thanksgiving. Any excuse for festivities and merriment, we're there.

After dinner we played a card game that my hubby's family would play at family gatherings. It was the perfect way to end the day (almost) all together, while incorporating both family traditions (we lost my brother to tryptophan before dessert).

Our menu this year included:

• The Perfect Roast Turkey
• Gravy
• Mashed potatoes
• Stuffing with cranberries & apples
• Harvest mashed potatoes
• Orange ginger carrots
• Green beans with balsamic shallots
• Berry pie
• Pumpkin pie

Appetizers

• Roasted brie with cranberries & pistachios
• Spinach dip with homemade bread (so good, made by my mother-in-law)
• Deviled eggs
• Pickled asparagus, olives & pickles

I hope all of you had a warm holiday surrounded by loved ones. From my family to yours, happy holiday season. Let the seasonal music commence!

Emergency Kits

Being prepared for any issue that may come up was very important to me because I am that person that always has a wet wipe and pain meds at the ready for anyone that may need them. My wonderful maid of honor tackled the Day Of Emergency Kit for the bridal party. I provided some ideas from my experience as a banquet server (lots of safety pins!) and a wedding coordinator (multiple scissors!). We also used some trusty Pinterest posts for anything we may have missed. I also wanted to create concierge-type bins for our guests to be placed in the bathrooms to help keep everyone comfortable and dancing (lots of Tums!). From there, we hit Target together to fill both needs... watch out world! While it's been a bit since we put these together, here is what I remember gathering for each.

Day Of Kit

Straws Floss Mini toothbrushes Multiple scissors Duct tape Garden shears (to cut the flowers) Hair spray Lint remover (since my dog was in the wedding) Static cling remover Tums Aspirin Deodorant Tissues Wet wipes Bandaids (for blisters and more) Extra shoe heel covers (for the grass) Shout wipes Safety pins Sewing kit Chapstick Hair ties Mints Lipstick (for picture touch-ups ) Coconut water

Guest Care Kits *they were customized appropriately for the men's vs. women's bathrooms

Sunscreen Bug spray Benedryl Air freshener Hair spray Tums Aspirin Tissues Shout wipes Bandaids Chapstick Eye drops Mints Mouthwash Deodorant

I was pleasantly surprised to see all the kits were well-loved and used! Very happy we made the time to clean out the Target sample section.

The bins were also from Target. They snap together and have a handle on top.  They worked perfectly!