Packing Supplies and Solutions

Within the next 16 months, life is going to be changing a lot for me and my girlfriend.

Just to put it all in perspective for you, we’ll be getting married in the early fall or late summer of 2020. That alone is enough for an entirely new chapter in our lives.

But with that comes moving into a house and becoming homeowners, too. That is arguably more of a change and responsibility than marriage itself. Because up until this point, we’ve only lived in an apartment together and never owned our own home.

So, a big part of this next year will go into living the engaged life and beginning to search for homes to buy next summer. While it’s still “awhile” away, time can be absolutely relentless when you have deadlines to complete things, and the next thing I know it’ll be 3 months before we need a house.

The good thing is, that’s about all the stress that’ll be on our plate. Because we have family ties with a furniture store owner who will likely provide the lion’s share of new furniture for our new home. So forking out a lot of cash for furniture right after we just put a lot down for a home won’t weigh as heavily on our minds, thankfully. We have our families’ support, meaning there’s so much less overall that we’ll have to do and tackle alone in the adult world.

Heck, even moving into the new home won’t be a hassle with all the family we have that will be able to help us out in transferring things from the old apartment to the new home. We’ll have plenty of bodies to help carry cheap moving boxes into the home we decide on, and even after it’s all “moved in” and we have no more transportation needs, our families will still be completely willing to help unpack and set up the contents of those cheap moving boxes.

It’s really comforting knowing we have support throughout our life’s bigger challenges and transitions. Honestly, without the help of her parents and my own, it would be a heck of a lot scarier and more uncertainty would abound. The fact that we have so little on our plate to do alone this next year allows us to dedicate more time to being happy and loved by one another.

To me, that’s the ultimate relationship. By having the time we need to grow and experience things together while not stressing as much over finances and time, we can focus on ourselves and what we want in our future. That, in my opinion, is the true recipe to happiness.

I’ve always craved the life of living on the go. Perhaps it’s been a far-off dream of mine that will never come to fruition and I knew it wouldn’t all along, but there’s something freeing about living with absolutely nothing holding you tied down.

It’s not that I’d want to do that for my entire life, as if I were some hippie on the run. But even just a year of living out of a decked out van and humming along from one city to the next, week to week, sounds like something I need in my life to renew who I am and gain an entirely new perspective on what it means to live somewhere. Or nowhere, in this case.

Part of the “problem” with living like this is how many obstacles there are in the way of getting started. First off, you’d have to have a decent amount of money saved up to continue buying food for a year with no job. That, or you’d have to have a job that allows you to work remotely (which is quite hard to come by).

Another obstacle is actually having a bus or van big enough and with enough basic living amenities, like a sink, stove, bathroom, and bed. Getting plumbing and gas hooked up in a mobile vehicle takes a bit more work than you’d think, and you’ll definitely have a lot more in expenses on the front end.

Still, there’s something absolutely attractive about living a part of your life in a fleeting and no-cares-given sort of way. I think it’d be great for the soul, it would renew who I am, and give me the tools I need to really settle down and appreciate a home in one location, once I’m ready for that and for kids.

It’s fantasies like these that make me want to pack only the essentials up in a few cheap moving boxes, toss them in the truck, and go even though I don’t have the whole setup ready to go. I ask myself what could it hurt to really commit to just me, a vehicle, a few cheap moving boxes, and a life on the go. And unfortunately, the answer always comes back to me from the reasoning part of my brain.

There’s just a lot more planning and preparation and money that goes into such a stint of your life if you were really to pull it off. And I feel the number one thing that needs to be settled is your job and a vehicle to carry the plans through.

Easter can be a holiday that we usually give gifts to kids on. There’s always plenty of baskets, chocolate, other candy, some cash hidden in eggs, and an assortment of spring decorations that usually are for the kids.

But when it comes to celebrating the holiday for adults, it can be a bit trickier in terms of gift giving and celebrating.

One tradition I’ve seen spring up lately is hiding craft beers around a backyard instead of eggs with cash in them. This appeals to all adults over the drinking age simply because it continues the tradition of finding hidden items (appealing to the inner child in all of us) while making it more exciting and worthwhile for someone our age.

When it comes to giving gifts, though, that can be a bit harder. Adults will still enjoy things like chocolates and cash in eggs (almost as much as or even more than the kids!). But sometimes, when it comes to giving a gift, it can be a bit harder to shop for someone unless you know them well enough to tailor a gift specifically to them.

One thing that every adult is fine with receiving more of is office and packaging supplies. What adult doesn’t want to keep their office desk and their home supplies stocked or replenished? I sure wouldn’t mind having a bevy of extra markers, tape, staplers, and even shipping labels.

This list of items may sound a bit lame to anyone reading who isn’t settled into their career at the moment, but trust me, a lot of people would be happy to receive those gifts without expecting too much more outside of their replenishment of office and packaging supplies. (I mean, they’d probably be fine with a few craft beers, too.)

I think the thing to keep in mind with gift giving around this time of year, though, isn’t to focus too much on the gifts. Worrying about whether or not someone likes what you got them isn’t in the spirit of Easter as much as being with your family and friends for the new season. Having any amount of stress at all while celebrating the holiday isn’t great for you or your family, so I’d advise just going with the flow, trying your best at picking out a gift for whomever it is you’re gifting, and enjoying yourself.

So, what is it you’ve got planned for the spring holiday that’s just around the corner?

Camping is an American pastime that is evergreen and won’t likely ever see any decline in the near future as a weekend activity for families all around the nation. Just about anywhere you live, there are campgrounds within an hour drive of you, making it just far enough for a 2 or 3 day vacation but not so far that you have to have it all planned out months in advance. In fact, so many families just pack up and go from time to time, preferring to camp out in a park instead of doing other weekend things that many others typically do.

One thing that deters some people from camping more often (aside from those who prefer to “glamp” with a camper instead of rough it in a tent) is the right gear. People say that camping is expensive because you have to have all of the right materials and gear before heading out for a weekend, so they end up never going with their family or friends.

To me, this is an excuse and I find it a bad one. Sure, if you have absolutely zero tents, sleeping bags, and coolers, you won’t be able to camp. But other than those three essentials, what else do you actually need? Weenie roasting sticks are optional. Beer is optional. A camp light is optional. Nice rain gear is optional. Hiking shoes are optional. You really only need a handful of things, and once you’ve fronted the costs on those to start, you won’t ever be spending much money in each subsequent trip after the first.

But for those out there who want to be cheap, all you have to do is pack up your change of shoes, your cheap tent, and sleeping bag in a few cheap moving boxes, toss it all in the vehicle, and get on the road towards the campgrounds. Part of the magic of camping really is minimalism, so it’s not like you have to have an array of awesome gear that has very niche uses.

I mean sure, if you’re someone who does multi-day hikes and sets up camp on the go, you’re going to need lightweight gear and all the essentials to get you through a weekend or more. That stuff will add up in expenses for sure. But you don’t need all of that stuff if you’re driving somewhere to camp among other people for a weekend. That’s all extra gear and extra cost, so you don’t need anything else but those cheap moving boxes full of your essentials.

If you’re someone like me with their own office at the workplace, you’ve probably considered at one point or another how bland your room is. And at times, it can even be a bit depressing how barren and devoid of character it seems.

But I recently did something about mine and it didn’t even cost that much or take any effort. Now, I feel like it’s a lot more homey and personalized than it was before, something that makes me happier on the job.

And that’s something I wanted to note, too. If you dislike your office space, you’re giving yourself a much higher chance of disliking your job itself. I mean, who wants to sit in a boring and bland room and do work, right? But if you enjoy where you sit and work, you’ll likely have a much higher chance of enjoying your job and the people you work among.

With that said, here are a few of my tips on updating your office to make your life on the job a heck of a lot more enjoyable.

Maximizing your personality within your office.

The number one piece of advice I can give to anyone is to make your office space you. If you don’t have the things you enjoy collecting, looking at, using, or whatever it is you prefer, then it’s not going to feel familiar to you and you’re not going to enjoy being in your workplace much.

I know I absolutely despise overhead lighting as it comes off far too clinical for my tastes. So I prefer to use a standing lamp in my room. It gives me the ambience I prefer while typing away without seeming too bright.

Making it comfortable.

Some kind of furniture needs to go in your office room at some point. Whether it’s a single armchair, a love seat, or even a cheaper futon, giving yourself a place to sit down more comfortably every two hours or so will give you a fresh change of pace to the day and even change your point of view.

Having the right supplies.

If you don’t have the right office and shipping supplies available to you, it can make doing certain tasks a bit tougher. And it’s never fun to ask around the workplace if someone else has tape or mailing envelopes, especially if you feel like you need to pay them back. Stock up on your shipping and office supplies about once a year, and have a specific compartment, container, or drawer dedicated to those supplies.