Monthly Archives: January 2011

124 Days…

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Today we stand at 124 days… wow.  As fast as time seems to be going, it also feels like it slows down as well. Today I thought I would let you in on how we are doing with our relocating plans and preparation… so sit back, relax, and enjoy.

Let’s talk basement… if you have one, you may have one like mine that seems to be a never ending cave of junk.  We will clean up one corner, and I swear it multiplied and just moved to another side of the basement!  So I have made it my mission these past weeks to get my “Mary Poppins” on – so while cleaning I have running through my head “In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun. You’ll find the fun, and … SNAP! The job’s a game!”  I decided to categorize our items for the garage sale in their own sections, that why eliminating the extra work of having to do it later in May.  I am hoping to also tag so that all I need to do with the basement items is bring them up and organize them on the tables for the sale. 

Items that we have of some value, I have been busy taking pictures and writing up copy so that I can showcase them on Ebay in the following months.  Once we get closer I will let you know what we will be selling in case any of you are interested.  

Slowly but surely, we have begun the process of cleaning out each closet. The hall closet that contains the plethora of coats, jackets, and extra items has been plucked clean.  We have decided on what coats we will be taking with, and thanks to the Space Bag technology, we should be able to fit them all in one bag and squeeze them in somewhere in the U-Haul trailer.  I encourage you to do whatever you can NOW before you plan on moving- it has helped us out so far to get done things ahead of time.

With every passing paycheck, we are taking the steps needed to secure our relocation finances. Nothing makes my heart warmer than seeing our bank account take leaps and bounds for our dream. Since we wanted the kids involved with every step, we started a change jar a few months ago that they get to add too. It’s a nice reminder of what we are saving for, and also what it’s going to be used for.  We want our children to know the value of a dollar and how important it is to save, so we have had them start saving part of their allowances for the relocation and/or anything else that they would like to buy once arrive in Florida.

My official last day for my job is in April, but I have backed off my hours tremendously because I need the time more than the money.  Money is great, don’t get me wrong, but with everything that has to be done, I haven’t had enough time.  I am LOVING the time at home, and I am incredibly blessed to have such great friends and family who have made time to spend with me.  I even made a crochet date with my best friend each week so we have some girl time and get something made- a win, win situation!

We continue to research the places in Central Florida we are interested in, and we want to thank everyone for their great advice and help on this. When you live 1200 miles away, it can be intimidating to look through so much that is available. We welcome any help from our Floridian friends on the cities that surround Orlando and school systems as well.  Speaking of schools, Emily will be officially E-Schooling it for 6th grade.  We had been on the fence about it, but with the bullying issues for the past couple of years, it has made Emily quite fearful and nervous in several social situations now.  We don’t know if we will continue this method for 7th grade, time will tell how it works for Emily and our family.  Craig works from home, and I won’t be working for at least a year after moving there, so we’ll both be able to help her with this transition.  If your child does E-Schooling, we would love to hear the pros and cons on it and especially if your child participates in the program through the Central Florida School System.

The space that Craig has taped off to show the size of the trailer has started to fill in.  Anything we come across that we want to keep and move, we toss in bins and those bins are in that space. Now, we will be going through these bins AGAIN before the move, but everything needs a place right now or I will go insane.  I have learned that staying organized during a huge move like this will not only keep your sanity but it keeps your family’s sanity as well.  

The girls bedroom has been quite the challenge. We took one Saturday and several empty bins and went to town on their closet, and pretty much every corner.  It usually stays clean for a week and then we are at it again. But, slowly but surely, the kids are starting to let go of things aren’t needed or important to them… and we are happy that we are all on the same page when it comes to getting rid of things.

We keep moving forward, and with each passing day our smiles seem to get wider and wider. We can’t thank you enough for being such a wonderful encouragement to our family, each and every day. Our kids love reading the comments you leave, as do we, and we are all so proud that we have been able to bring people together through our love of Disney and our blog.  Stay tuned as we continue on with our favorite Disney stories, memories, pictures, and relocation tips/updates.  Once we get closer, our posts will be heavily on the relocation side of things. Then after we have moved, we have several surprises in store for our readers on other fun Disney topics.  I am really happy that Craig chose the name “The Relocated Tourist” for this blog because is spans anything to do with travel.  We love our Walt Disney World, but we can’t wait to explore Sea World and Universal Studios again, along with first times to Kennedy Space Center and Busch Gardens.  Once in FL, we hope our blog not only helps those relocate to FL, but also brings people a glimpse of the Disney spirit that we love so much. 

Follow your dreams… even if the road may get bumpy, it will be SOOO worth it in the end.  Until the next update,  enjoy your days. (Pictures of Tim Foster and I riding “Spaceship Earth” this past November… as you can see, we had lots of fun!)

Finding that perfect place to call Home.

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How do you go about finding that perfect place to live? Well, when we moved from one end of town to the other, we would take a weekend here or there to drive around the neighborhoods we liked. When moving to the same, or a nearby town, it is easy to know where to look, and take time to investigate – maybe even walk through a few places.

When you are looking to move 1200 miles across the country, those things are not so easy to do.

If you are looking to buy a home – there are a large number of realtors waiting to do everything they can to make that sale. You can give them a list of your desired features, location, schools, price range, etc, and they will go and do a good portion of the work for you – after all, they have a vested interest in making that sale.

If you are looking to start out renting, it can be a little more difficult. Since we are looking to start out renting, I figured I would take a moment to tell you the methods we are using to find our perfect place.

There are a number of websites that advertise apartments for rent. I have found a large number of apartments that are 3 and 4 bedroom / 2 bath starting at $900 and going way up from there. (Clearly 1 and 2 bedroom apartments would start out cheaper) Some of the websites are: 

Most of these sites will allow you to drill down the list by city, number of rooms, and numerous other criteria. Most of them will allow you to fill out an application for rent right on the website.

 If you are looking for a rental home – there are a rather large number of those available as well. Here are some of the links I have found helpful in my search: 

One of the more tricky parts of renting is finding a good location.  If you’re looking at apartments, it is rather easy to get a feel for the surroundings, since there are typically a large number of photos advertising their grounds, layout, rooms, etc. When looking for a rental home, it is more difficult to get a good feel for the neighborhood. Since I can’t simply hop in the car and take a drive around, I have come to rely on a few tools, such as Google Earth and Google Street View. 

With Google Earth, you can at least get a satellite point of view (straight down..) at the neighborhood. But, in quite a few cases, you can use the Street View function, where they have taken pictures going up and down many streets. This can allow you to see what it is like driving or walking around, and has been very useful.

 

 I also have a page on the blog dedicated to links that I find helpful to locating that perfect place to live. Check back often as I update them, and if you have any new ones to add, please let me know! 

Hopefully this will help when the time comes for you to look into finding your place to call home.

Craig

Space Madness

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So what does the Petermann family do on a cold and wintry Saturday morning? Well today we decided to test out our Space Bag that I purchased last night at the Fox River Mall.  I had seen these several times on the commercials, and thought, “Wow, what a great way to transport clothes and blankets when you are traveling and moving.” Then, it hit me, like a bolt out of the blue- we could use these for our upcoming move!  I was so excited that I went out yesterday shopping with my Mom and picked up one to take on a test drive.

So this morning, the family gathered around in the living room, deciding what we would attempt to put in this jumbo sized Space Bag. We sent the kids to their bedrooms to find any and all blankets they could add to the bag, while we grabbed our bed blankets and the living room ones as well.  One by one, we folded them as small as possible and stacked them inside the bag. 

We learned that as you add the items to the bag, you want to press them down as much as possible.  Now, we packed the bag on its own,  but you can stabilize the bag by sitting it in a bin or box that you want to store it in.  It will conform to it as you take the air out, where as we just did the bag on its own for its initial test run. 

Printed on the top of the bag is the word “STOP” so you know where to fill your items too.  We had everything stacked, then Craig grabbed the nozzle off the vacuum cleaner.  At first, he couldn’t get the nozzle to attach to the opening of the Space Bag- until he turned it on.  Once the suction started, it all worked out beautifully.

We had a good giggle that we were so excited to see air sucked out of a bag… but it was cool to see it really work. We all have been there where we watch those commercials and think “Sure, I bet that’s a scam.”  Well, we can tell you it worked!

11 total pieces we added to the bag… 1 Queen Size Comforter, 3 Twin Size Comforters, and 7 blankets.  Honestly, we probably could have fit a couple more, we just ran out of blankets!  My mom has used the hanging Space Bag for winter coats and clothes, and she said it works amazing!  Since we have a small U-Haul Trailer and a Mini-Van being the only moving space we have…. every bit will help. 

The plan is to buy a Space Bag every pay check until the move. The Jumbo I purchased was $13.99- they also had travel ones (GREAT for those WDW Vacations!!) , hanging Space bags, and different other sizes.  If you don’t want to purchase them online or off the TV, I got lucky and found our Mall recently got the store “TV Frenzies” which carries items only seen on TV.  I am sure places like Wal-mart may have them, along with the Kohl’s Franchise.  But, after checking out their site, (CLICK HERE), they have a great deal where if you buy one set, you can get two free. I think we will invest in this special as well, wherever we can save money!

We just unzipped the bag to let the air out, and it just puffed back up to it’s original size. Again, it’s funny what a kick we got out of this. We really enjoyed this experience, and since our goal is to help others on relocating, packing is a huge part of that.  Any space you can save is a God send, so we encourage you to invest in these for you next vacation or move.  Enjoy!