Packing Supplies and Solutions

We all hit a point in our lives when we should be focusing on the more mature things, the responsibilities that are upcoming, daunting, and a little worrying. These are the things we are likely to put off longer than we should simply because accepting the reality of our near future is a scary and uncertain thought.

These are the things, though, that we usually can’t afford to put off, and so when we do we end up putting ourselves behind schedule or even missing out on opportunities, causing us to settle for less. These things usually manifest in buying a home, planning a wedding, looking for a new job, or relocating to a new city.

I find myself in the home buying and wedding planning categories. These are, perhaps, two of the most exciting things for a mid 20-year-old, but they’re also scary to think about if you don’t know the entire process or have the help you wish you had.

The good thing is, I’ve got at least a year to plan the wedding and around 10 months to start looking for new homes. My fiancee is great about looking for homes (far more than I am), so I’m thankful to have someone at my side who is even more enthusiastic about the entire process than I am.

The thing we’ll need to consider when the move does come, though, is having plenty of cheap moving boxes to pack all of our smaller belongings in. We’re lucky to have her dad, who owns a furniture store, since he’ll enlist help on moving and has plenty of trailers to put all of our furniture in (and he gives us new furniture from his store, too). In fact, we’re extremely lucky for these things since it makes the entire moving process much simpler and less stressful than if we were to not have him.

So really, it just comes down to being prepared for the move by having everything boxed up in these cheap moving boxes. Finding or purchasing some won’t be any hassle at all. It’s just all about having everything ready to go when the move comes.

And yeah, I won’t mention the home buying process itself since that’s an entirely different beast altogether, one that will rear its head in about 6 months. That’s when the excitement and stress truly begins. That’s when I’m sure my fiancee and I will have many a debate and stressful conversation about the future of our little life, since buying a home is no small task.

Over 4th of July Weekend I finished a 300+ page novel. In fact, I did it in just three days without devoting more than 8 or 9 hours total to the book.

It’s been a very, very long time since I’ve read this much in such a short amount of time. I’m not sure if the author was so compelling that I was blazing through the material wanting more or if I was just in the zone and would’ve finished any book in this time. What I do know, however, is that I sincerely miss reading that much.

Let’s take a step back. I used to read a lot of novels in middle school and early high school. Like, at least one a week. And I was happy when I read. I was healthy, I slept better at night, and I felt like my vocabulary expanded a reasonable amount. There was nothing else I would have rather done with a few hours to myself than read. It would get to the point that I would bring my book anytime my parents drove me anywhere (whether it was a two hour drive or just a 15 minute hike down the road to the grocery). I’d say “Hold on, hold on, I’ve got to finish this page” when they would be getting out of the car, and it would get on their nerves at times.

I want to revisit that time in my life by reading as much as I used to. I want to feel like I’m actively gaining knowledge and experiences and analyzing the material I read from multiple perspectives, too. I used to read just for fantasy’s sake, to escape. But now, I want to bring into my life what I read and make it a part of who I am.

There’s much to be said about reading habits, different genres, what sorts of authors you like, and if you’re a fast or slow reader. None of that truly matters if you simply are reading, I believe.

I think buying books is one of the best investments anyone could make, because that single book can be read multiple times by multiple people. It can impart its knowledge and its stories on you many times in your life, each time giving you a new perspective on the same content.

That’s why I use packaging supplies to create makeshift bookmarks and leave my annotations in books. I’ll fold up packing tape as a cheap (i.e., pretty much free) bookmark and I’m known to write little notes within pages on some cheap label tape. Heck, I’ll put label tape on the covers of my books with specific things like “read again in ____” with a year in the blank. Packaging supplies have been a great way for me to enhance my reading experience while also keeping organized enough to know when I last read something and what I learned from it.

When it comes to planning for the holidays, things can get out of hand and you can underestimate the amount of guests you have coming over. Heck, you can underestimate the amount of hot dogs you’ll need for the grill and even short yourself of beer for when the night goes on!

Planning, then, all comes down to being prepared more than anything. It’s okay to get more alcohol than you think you’ll need. Why? Because you can still drink it the weekend following! It’s fine to have more meat than you figure you’ll grill, because you can just grill it all the next day to get rid of any excess you had. It’s all a win win so long as you have enough.

But what happens when you’re underprepared and understocked? Well, people get hungry, people sober up, and the evening isn’t as fun for everyone as they had originally thought.

That’s why I’ve got a short list of supplies you’ll absolutely need when this weekend rolls around. I’ll have you so stocked that you can party Thursday night through Sunday afternoon!

Party supplies.

These include your fireworks, the napkins and paper plates, and other random office or even shipping supplies you wouldn’t think of to begin with. For example, don’t you think having some extra packing tape or cheap moving boxes would be nice for having a mini fireworks base to shoot off of in the evening? All you’ve gotta do is break down those cheap moving boxes, set them up as a base, and tape mortar bases to them.

Activities.

Activities make the evening last. You don’t need to go overboard with activities, especially if it’ll break the bank. Just try to get someone to bring a cornhole set and have some extra solo cups sitting around for beer pong and you’re golden. And if someone has a lakehouse to party at? Well, that’s all you’d really need for a memorable 4th of July in order to have fun on the water and in the sun, drink what you want, and grill out by the lake! And don’t forget the tunes. Music is what keeps the party going.

Food and drinks.

Here’s the best suggestion I can give when it comes to food and drinks: overstock your fridge. If you run out, well, things can get boring, people will sober up, and stomachs will begin to growl. Of course, you want to tell your guests to bring their own drinks and contribute to food if needed. But the best thing you can do as a host is overprepare and overstock unless you want to run out of stuff in the middle of the evening/weekend.

This past weekend I took a trip back home to pick up my dog from my parents and hang out with them for a day or two at their place. I always forget how much I truly enjoy staying at home and just soaking in the countryside in the small town I grew up in. There’s zero worries, zero effort to just hang out, and a lot of fun and good conversation to be had.

Something that was particularly fun for me was helping my dad set up his outdoor pop up bar.

To give you a bit of context, my parents own two houses with three plots of land (one per house and then a plot between the two). This is all on the outskirts of our small town, so it’s essentially a big open expanse of pasture between their houses.

Well, my dad is always busy constructing something new for their home and property during any hours he’s not at work. This time, he was building structures that would be able to roll out to the field, stand up, and function as a little “bar” of sorts, almost like a tiki bar you’d see on the beach.

While I know he was using a decent amount of packaging supplies just to get things started, a big part of the project was cutting big patches of plywood to make “tables” of sorts for the bar itself and for the two stands to sit at.

Basically, he wants to use two whiskey barrels as the bar’s base, so he’d be able to roll those out to wherever he wants, lay the rectangular piece of plywood on top, and have a little bar. Then, he’d use the two giant rope spools (think of a small plastic spool that has thread around it and magnify that spool by about 200 times) as tables to hold umbrellas and have chairs to sit around them.

Again, I’m not sure what all packaging supplies and tools he used, but it seemed pretty minimal considering the biggest part of it all was just making the table tops and boring holes in two of them for holding up the umbrellas.

Needless to say, once we were done setting things up, it actually looked like a legit little pop up bar with protection from the sun, places to sit down and set your drinks, and even storage for beers so that you wouldn’t have to walk all the way back to the fridge in the garage for more drinks. Talk about a vacation spot within the boundaries of your own home!

The most stressful part of buying a home, many would agree, is the act of searching for homes that fit your family’s needs and wants. Or, as others would say, it’s actively closing on the home and finalizing everything that’s needed with that procedure.

Or even others would agree that it’s actually making the move to the new home.

If you fall into that last camp, you must not be moving your things in an efficient and planned out way. With a little bit of preparation, having the right materials and tools, and enlisting some help, you shouldn’t have any troubles whatsoever. Let’s dive into what makes the move so stressful and how you can actually make the entire process much easier than what you’re accustomed to. Because, let’s face it, buying a home is the most stressful and toughest part of the entire process, not moving in (physically stressful on your body, sure; but your mind? Nope).

Having the right materials.

Moving doesn’t just mean jamming things into your vehicle and making 20 trips. That’s the definition of inefficiency and possibly even stupidity.

What you need to make sure you have is pretty much three things: a trailer (or 2), cheap moving boxes, and moving equipment, such as straps, handcarts, and furniture blankets.

The trailer is pretty much your number one priority to secure simply because it reduces the amount of times you have to drive back and forth. Unless you’re hiring someone to move everything for you, you should waste no time in making sure you and your family have access to at least one trailer. Whether it’s an open bed or an enclosed trailer, you need one for your bigger furniture more than anything. All the smaller things can fit in your cab or truck’s bed if needed.

Secondly, the cheap moving boxes are absolutely needed just for packing all of your smaller items into. From clothes to toiletries and dishes to decor, you’ve got to have boxes and bins to hold everything that is loose and needs packaged in an orderly and easily recognized manner.

Then, you’re going to want (and sometimes need) the right tools. Moving straps are amazing at securing things to your trailer so that they don’t bump, bounce, and break. You’ll never be gladder that you invested in some of these. Additionally, handcarts are a must for both carrying/lifting/dragging heavy items and making fewer trips to and from the house. And finally, you’ll want furniture blankets to protect your furniture as well as use to drag heavy items across hardwood flooring.