We’ve been in our temporary apartment for three weeks now, with a little over two weeks left to go. Honestly? It hasn’t been as bad as I thought it would be. In terms of square footage, it’s about as big as our old house was. But the layout is totally different. For as big as the upstairs is, and for the space the kids have in their rooms, we don’t stay up there to play much. It’s hotter up there, and I guess the action always stays near the kitchen. So now we spend most of our time in a space smaller than your average hotel room. Go figure. I’m sure once we move to our 4500 sq. ft. home, the situation will still be the same, regardless of the ginormous playroom the kids are getting.
I’m not so sure I’d want to do this Temporary Housing/Moving Twice thing again, but if I ever do, I certainly have learned some things from this experience. Here’s what’s worked and what hasn’t…
1) Before we moved out of our home, I gave each of our kids a small moving box and told them they could fill it with whatever they wanted. I put it in their room a week before we moved, so that they could take their time filling it, then reasess their selection if they needed to. I supplemented it with what they hadn’t packed but I thought they might need. My son has played with almost everything he packed. Miss P on the other hand, hasn’t touched about 70% of her stuff. I’ve just written it off to the fickleness of a preschooler, because what she packed were things she was obsessed with before we moved, and now she has no interest in them. Sure, Jon and I are suckers and have caved in to buying a few smaller treats since we’ve been living here. And our plan is to use those boxes the kids brought to ship things ahead of our departure.
2) No matter how organized I was upon our arrival, or how much I painstakingly designate places for every single time in our temporary home, it took my family all of .2 seconds to make it appear as if a tornado struck the inside of our home. Temporary housing falls closer to the Hotel spectrum than Home Sweet Home in that there is a certain abandonment of normalcy and routine. Which, for my kids, equates to dragging all of their toys from their upstairs bedrooms to the small living room downstairs and leaving them strewn about like an episode of Hoarders. Lately, in order to maintain my sanity, I’ve taken to just leaving out large reusable shopping bags to throw all of their toys/crayons/books/dolls/plastic food in at the end of the day. Sure, it might never actually make it back to it’s place, but at least I’m not staring at it all night, wishing I had some sort of magical laser beam eyes that would incinerate it in a millisecond.
3) Though I felt we had brought along everything I thought we could possibly need, there were still some things we needed to purchase because we forgot or thought the apartment would have but didn’t. It was things like small toss-n-go Tupperware bowls and snack bowls for the kids, small cups they could drink out of, a dish brush, measuring cups, and outlet extenders for the kids rooms because there wasn’t enough reachable outlets for night lights and sound machines. Nothing bank-breaking, but frustrating nonetheless. I consider myself a Worst Case Scenario Packer, but even with all of that, there were still things I forgot or didn’t think of.
4) Guess what? The sun comes up early in the morning in the summer! I had no idea! Our rooms were in a different orientation in our old house, with the windows facing north, so we never got that blinding direct sunlight first thing in the morning. In this place, the sun comes up over our bedroom at the ungodly hour of 5:30, seeping light in to the kids rooms about an hour later. It’s been a killer to our sleep routine. More so for me than for the kids. The first few days, the kids were waking up with the sun (and so was I), and I had happened to bring along push-pins to the apartment. Using extra sheets, I pinned them up along the windows of the kids’ rooms to give a little shading and encouraging them to sleep in a little bit. And as an added bonus, it makes their rooms a little less hot in the late afternoon. As for me, I had to make a run to Bed Bath & Beyond last week to purchase a sleep mask. Though I look totally ridiculous and my hair is insane in the morning, at least I’m getting in a few more zzz’s.
5) The library has become our best friend. We packed some books to take with us, but after a week, we all got sick of them. And that’s the great thing about the library, it can revive our reading menu as often as we need it. Now, if I can keep track of all the books…is this one that I found underneath the couch overdue?
6) Thank the Temporary Housing Gods for granting us a complex with a great pool. Though it’s chilly, there is a small pool for little ones, then a bigger one that both our kids can stand in up to a certain point. Plus a hot tub. We’ve spent a lot of time there the past couple of weeks. Being in an apartment has made me realize how much we took our backyard for granted. Just the simple act of being able to send the kids outside while making dinner is something I really miss. And they miss it too. Somehow the creativity the conjure in a backyard is unparalleled and can’t be duplicated inside.
7) LEGO’s + Shag carpet = Severe Foot Trauma. We’re not used to this kind of plush carpet at home. And being that we have a gigantic storage unit of LEGO’s, we threw a bunch of them in a Tupperware container so that Mr. B could still continue to leave them all over the house build to his creative heart’s content. And man, if those little tiny pieces don’t make me shriek and curse when I step on them.
So, all in all, not too terrible of an experience. The location of this place is nice in that we’re close to a grocery store and a cute little street with shops. And there’s a wetlands creek behind us that we’ve taken to in the evenings for walks and deer spotting (feeling reckless and rebellious as we have to sneak through a hole in the fence to get access to it). But we’re far from most of the things we usually need to get to, like daycare and camp, the studio where I rehearse, my therapist, the mall, etc. However, things in our new home in Ohio will be even further away from things, so it’s a good transition. And while I feel like I’m starting to get a little sad and panicky at the thought of leaving, of saying goodbye to this beautiful environment and weather and all of our wonderful friends, I’m also tired of feeling like we’re living in purgatory and am anxious to begin our new adventure.
It sounds like a fun little journey to have a temporary apartment living. I would dread the packing, storing and moving, but all the fun tight knit quarters sound like a blast.
Thanks for sharing a bit of your adventure – moving is such a draining process – its such a huge transition/adjustment. I wish you a smooth one for everyone involved! XO Courtney
http://www.baxtronlife.com
Gina… I don’t know… even with some of the minor inconveniences, it sounds like you guys are having an adventure and have it pretty much together and well planned. Here’s to the remainder of the time going smoothly!
Ugh, I feel your pain. We lived in a 400 square foot inlaw apartment with twin 2 year olds for a year! And yah, it was an inlaw apartment in my in laws house! Needless to say, I was cranky for a whole year. I wish I had thought to plan as well as you did. And I literally cringed when I thought about stepping on Lego land mines! Great post! Here from vB
Kim
My Twintastic Life
Michelle – True, it has had it’s fun moments. And I’m sure we’re going to miss such close quarters when we move. At least I think the kids will…
Courtney – It IS a huge transition. Thanks for the well wishes, we’ll certainly need them!
Carla – Good point, we are having a good time. The nice thing about temporary housing is that it does kind of feel like a hotel. So I’m not as concerned about keeping things as clean, the kids can jump on the furniture to their hearts content, and there’s some exciting change in our routine.
Kim – All I can say about your situation is…wow. For a year? Wow. With TWINS? Wow. Kuddos to you for not losing it like I might have! Thanks for stopping by!
It sounds like quite the adventure. I hope you enjoy your new home when you get there, and things can get back to the new “normal”.
Wow, I move a lot but I’m not a big fan of temporary housing. I remember one time as a kid we lived in a hotel for a couple of months while my dad’s relocation went through. It’s nice you guys have a pretty good amount of space though. We just moved into our house in February and we are still unpacking
I never bought my kids legos
specifically for remembered foot trauma from my childhood!
Claire – yes, a new “normal” will be fun to find for all of us. But I’m also ready to move on and see what our new adventure has in store for us!
Erica – We did the extended hotel stay when I was in high school, and I thought it stunk. At last our kids are young enough to still find the mystery and wonder in it now! I imagine our unpacking will take a while as well…maybe we’ll be done by Christmas?
Great post and good to know!
Sounds like you are making the best of your situation.. It is never easy to move and then to have to move to temporary apartment then move again what a pain.. Try to have fun with it and think how excited you will be when you get to move into your big house!
Sounds frustrating even though you’re making the best of it. At least it will soon be just a memory, right?
Wow! 5 weeks only in one place would be a packing nightmare for me! Wouldn’t have a clue what to bring. We did “temporary” housing with my mum when we moved back from the states, where 3 months turned into almost 3 years, but other than that we just do hotel stays!
We just moved out of temporary corporate housing, so I can certainly relate! For me, the best part of the temporary housing is that I could clean the entire place in less than 20 minutes! I can’t say the same about our house, and if you’re moving to 4500 sq. feet…cleaning will be a chore! Happy moving!
Thanks, Jennifer H!
Shauna – yes, moving twice isn’t really ideal. But we’ve been able to make it work.
Jenn – I think this situation is probably more frustrating for Jon and me than for the kids, they’re having a ball…
Joy – thankfully we have a washer and dryer here, so we only packed about 8 days worth of clothes (and I had to pack some dance stuff, swim stuff, etc.). We’re in the final stretch though.
The Budget Diet – it IS easy to clean this place. And since we don’t have a lot with us, even at it’s messiest, it’s not that bad. We’re not looking forward to cleaning our new home, and Jon isn’t too enthusiastic about having to mow the lawn!