After about a month of prepping, we are finally out of our house and on the road to Florida (you can watch my Instagram stories for highlights from the trip)! It was SO much work getting our house ready. I wanted to share what we did in case you are also prepping for a move.
Declutter
these are empty hangers from all of the clothes I donated!
Starting at the beginning of December, I went from room to room and organized each drawer and closet. Them, a few weeks later, I got way more serious about pairing things down. I got the book Soulful Simplicity and it was amazingly helpful to read while moving! She talks about why we buy things and ways to let go. I 100% recommend it.
Because we are only bringing to Florida what we can fit in the back of our car, I had to be really honest with myself and paired my stuff to things I use now that I love. It was mentally taxing going through everything I own because I probably donated at least half of my things. I let so much go and I feel so much lighter and free now!
To be honest, I can’t believe all of the things I let pile up in my house. I sure got good at finding efficient ways to store things because every closet and drawer was full. In the future I am going to be more vigilant about what I let in my house and not hold on to things “just in case.” I wish I had done this months ago. Having an organized house full of just what I love is amazing.
Finish Old Projects
Well, since I’m being honest, I’ll let you know that there were projects in my house that have sat unfinished. When I used to have a full time job and a young son to take care of, I wasn’t as good at fully finishing up projects. Since I quit my job in August, I should have gotten to these areas of my house. For example, we put up crown molding in our master bedroom and it had never been caulked.
Or in our kitchen, we hadn’t finished putting in the kick plate. So we spent about a week putting the finishing touches on our house. Again I am kicking myself for not doing this sooner! I really don’t like that I am fixing up my house for someone else when I should have done it for my family months ago.
Remove personal Art
This was a more simple project- I went around and pulled out any art that had my family (or dogs) in it. My house mostly has art that has meaning to me, but not necessarily pictures of my family, so it was a pretty quick project.
clean
Oh man, to show renters the house, I cleaned. To take pictures of the house, I cleaned. My house has never been so consistently deep cleaned! Once again, I’ll be honest and say that cleaning isn’t my favorite, but its been nice to have it cleaner than usual.
Change the lock
Since we will be renting out our home, I wanted to have a lock that is super renter friendly. My mom has a Schlage lock and I love the keypad for keyless entry! So I reached out to Schlage to see if we could try it out. I was thrilled when they said yes!
We choose the Schlage Sense Smart Deadbolt with Camelot trim and paired it with the accent lever. My husband did the install and it was pretty quick. The new handle is so fancy and I love the upgraded look to our front door!
We both downloaded the app on our phones and assigned ourselves a four digit code for quick key less access to our house. I may have locked myself out in the past and now I don’t have to worry about that- hip hip hooray for not having to call my husband to come home from work to save me!
My favorite feature is that I can assign people their own code- up to 30 different codes! So renters will have their own code (which I can delete after they move out). I love having a code so that if there is an emergency in the house, we can send a friend or family member over without having to get them a key. This is such a great extra peace of mind since we’ll be across the country!
I can also see this being super helpful for when we live in the house again- we can give the grandparents a code, and they can easily get in our house to water plants or something when we’re on vacation without having to worry about losing a key. Also, how great would this be for older kids letting themselves in after school?!
Another setting I really like is that you can automatically have the door lock itself. You choose the time (anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes). Then you don’t have to worry about your house sitting unlocked. There is still the option to use a key, but the keypad is so easy to use, I don’t see us going that route.
It was so nice going keyless for the week before moving. I will honestly miss this feature! Needless to say, this is a huge upgrade to our house and we are looking forward to using it again in June!
Our house is officially all packed up. We decluttered, did old projects, cleaned, removed family photos, and got a new lock. I will miss our little house, but its nice to know we are leaving it in a good state.
Thank you Schlage for sponsoring this post! I love the lock and knew you all would too so I couldn’t wait to recommend it.