Guest Post - How Moving Home with Small Children Just Got a Lot Easier...

Buying a new home can be one of life’s most rewarding events. Unfortunately, moving into that home can be one of life’s most stressful (in fact, research shows it may be more stressful than divorce). Add kids to the mix and you’ve got a concoction of chaos just waiting to happen.

Moving with kids is difficult for a number of reasons though, not simply for the fact they’ll be under your feet when you’re trying to pack and clean. For children, especially those under five, moving can be a devastating upheaval that they just cannot handle. Amidst trying to get all of your stuff out of one house and into another, you may also have to contend with consoling your unsettled little one.

But, it doesn’t have to be that way. With a couple of easy steps, you’ll be able to ease the stress caused by moving and you might just have some fun in the process!

Get The Kids Involved

As a parent, you’ll know that kids LOVE to be involved in whatever you’re doing, so if they’re old enough to help, let them. Send them off to their room with packing boxes, colorful tape and markers and let them pack up their room until their hearts are content. Hint: forgo the markers if your children are likely to draw on themselves, the walls or one another!

Remember, short attention spans are par for the course when it comes to doing anything with kids. So, when they get bored of boxing up their own personal items (which they inevitably will!) make sure you have a list of small tasks that they can be getting on with. The goal here is not really for them to make any sort of progress in terms of packing, it’s to make them feel part of the move. Moving house is a big deal for children but involving them in the process goes a long way towards helping to manage the transition.

Hold A Moving Sale

There’s nothing worse than loading millions of toys into boxes only to unpack them at the other end – and for them not to get played with! The same goes for your stuff too. The less you have to pack up, the less you have to unpack and the quicker you can get settled in your new place. So, why not hold a moving sale and get rid of as much as you possibly can?

Take the kids to put up moving sale banners and get them to help out during the sale too. While one parent is keeping your little salespeople busy on the front lawn, the other may be able to spend some uninterrupted time packing.

Keep Them Entertained

If you can’t keep your little ones entertained by helping packing, it’s vital you have other ways to keep them amused. Many families choose to move in summer so the kids can play in the yard (which is especially good if you have a pool or playground equipment). Alternatively, you could set up a playroom and leave the packing in there until last. If your children are too young to play unsupervised, hiring a babysitter for a day or two is well worth the investment.

Prepare For Foot Traffic!

It is so important that you prepare your new house for the foot traffic of moving, especially with children. Worrying about muddy footprints running up and down the new carpet or panicking that boxes and toys will damage the beautiful hardwood flooring is the last thing you want. Make sure you protect the floors for the influx of people who will be coming in and out during your move so you don’t have to even think about any potential damage. 

Let Them Make Decisions

Moving from the comfort of their own bedroom to a completely unfamiliar one can make moving extremely difficult for your children. So, why not let them decide on how they want to style their new room? 

By allowing them to think about the makeover of their new room, you’ll help them understand that this fresh start can be fun. Allow them to plan out everything from the bed linen to the custom drapes and everything in between. Note that you don’t actually have to implement all of their ideas, but by using some, you’re sure to help them both feel valued and create a new room they’ll love!

The Special Pack-Up Box

One of the major reasons children can feel so unsettled when moving house is the level of uncertainty it brings. While you’re probably well-versed in moving house, your children aren’t, and for many, the home you’re moving from is the only home they’ve known. Stepping out of that comfort zone is a transition you should not underestimate.

To that end, make sure you allow each one of your children to pack up a special box of their most valuable possessions. By doing this, you’re showing them that the things they most love in life are not going to be taken away from them just because you’re moving. If you keep these boxes small enough, you can even move them in your car rather than throwing them in the removal van so your children have their special boxes with them at all times.

Plan a Fun First Night

Planning your first night in your new home is absolutely vital when you’re moving with children. Firstly, make sure you have a ‘first night bag’ with changes of clothes for the whole family and any other items you need to be comfortable. Searching through boxes on your first night is unnecessary stress you don’t need to have.

Next, try to set up the couch and tv, and the children’s bedrooms at least. Then, order pizzas, throw on a movie and try to relax from your day of chaos. Undoubtedly, it will continue tomorrow as you unpack the rest of the house, but by calming down the energy, you’ll be putting your children at ease with their new surroundings too!

Author Bio: This guest post contribution is courtesy of SignMission, an American owned, operated and manufactured company in Florida. Signmission offers many types of various custom signs such us vinyl banners, aluminum signs, safety signs and even license plate frames.

Guest Post - 5 Nursery Décor Tips That Your New Baby Will Love

Are you expecting or looking to revamp your little one’s nursery? While we want our little ones to love it, let’s be honest—secretly nursery décor is really for the tired, sleep-deprived parents. You want a space that is both welcoming and calming that both you and the baby enjoy being in. One of the biggest trends in nursery décor is to keep it gender neutral, which means minimizing the baby pink and baby blue and picking a color scheme that is appealing no matter what gender your little one is. If you’re ready to turn your nursery into the oasis of peace that you’ve been dreaming of, here are 5 nursery décor tips that your new baby will love. 

Call on Nature

Bringing nature inside is a popular choice for nursery décor. The beauty of this is you can take it as far as you want. You can channel your inner Mariah Carey can get giant stuffed safari animals, or you take it in a different direction by choosing a statement wall with wallpaper covered in palm leaves. If doing something as bold as a statement wall isn’t for you, you can still bring nature into your baby’s room. Actually adding green plants into your nursery décor not only helps you bring nature into the room but can have health benefits as well. Certain plants, such as Boston Ferns, Areca Palms, Spider Plants, and Snake Plants are good at purifying the air in your baby’s room and are safe as they are non-toxic. You can also opt to go for natural, light finishes on wood furniture and natural materials such as hemp fiber storage bins. 

Be Bold

Gone are the days of pastels and fluffy animals. Modern nursery trends make use of bold colors to create a welcoming vibe in the room. To keep the room from getting too busy, it’s important to stick with a certain color family or group of colors. One popular option is jewel tones, such as sapphire, ruby, or emerald, coupled with gold. Another unique option is to go with the classic Kelly Green. Did you know green is one of the most calming colors? It is best paired with yellows and blues. These colors go together given their proximity to each other on the color wheel. The pairing of the yellows and blues with the Kelly Green make an excellent combination. This décor tip can easily be paired with any of the others on this list to make a truly stunning nursery design. However, it’s important to remember that you want to design your space so that it is calm and appealing to you even on those sleepless nights. 

Make it Pop!

Let’s face it, it is easy to go overboard with colors. To help you pull the whole look of your nursery together take advantage of neutral colors. Follow this rule: 10% color and 90% neutral. This will help keep you from overwhelming yourself with colors. (This is especially important if you are going with bold colors). One fun way to do this is to keep your walls the neutral color—white, light grey, eggshell, beige, and so forth. Then add your color in with your furniture and other accent pieces throughout the room. The crib where your little one will dream sweet dreams? Paint it Kelly Green! Your Curtains? Go with a navy and white pattern. And for your baskets, pillows, linens, and such go for a combination of greens, blues, and yellows. The possibilities are truly endless. Just make sure to stay within a select group of colors and keep the majority of the room neutral. The best part about this is that this works whether you are decorating a nursery for a boy or a girl. 

Go Minimalistic

Minimalism is a growing trend so it’s no surprise that it’s on our list of décor tips for your new baby’s nursery. Applying this trend to your nursery means keeping things clean and simple. To achieve this look you simply need less. This means fewer toys, less furniture, and fewer accessories and gadgets to clutter the room. Achieving this can prove to be difficult, especially with all of the lists out there telling you all the “must haves” for your nursery. Decide whether you really need the full-size crib AND the changing table. In short, you only need the things you really need—the essentials for your baby and maybe a few small wooden or stuffed toys. Anything beyond that really and you begin to lose the minimalistic look and feel that can create a calm, soothing environment in your little one’s nursery. However, there are things that you want to make sure you do have, such as window treatments that darken the room, lighting that can be layered, and a good nursery chair.

Geometric Patterns

If you’re looking to bring playful energy into your new baby’s nursery, then this décor tip is for you. Geometric patterns are being brought into nursery designs more and more as a way to add visual interest. It’s easy to find the perfect piece for your nursery with a geometric pattern on it, whether it is a wallpaper with triangles or circles, or a carpet with zigzags or stars, such a piece can help pull your design together. Other popular geometric patterns include arrows, crosses, squares, stripes, rectangles, and diamonds. These patterns can be used with your accent colors (think a blue zigzag carpet in a neutral colored room) or can be used within the neutral colors themselves (think two-toned beige striped walls), so have fun with it. But be advised, using too many different patterns can be overwhelming. Try to stick to one or two that you really love.  

It Doesn’t Have to Be Perfect

As a soon-to-be parent or a new parent, there are countless things that you can worry about. Your nursery design shouldn’t be one of them. Find a piece that you really love that speaks to who you are as a couple and what you want for your little one and go from there. You can use these five décor tips to help you. But the most important thing to remember is that it doesn’t have to be perfect. Even if you don’t have all the artwork you want on the wall or you can’t find just the right linens, don’t worry. Once your sweet little one is mooning away in their crib, the last little design details won’t matter. Relax, have fun, and create a space that you enjoy that you can share with your bundle of joy!

Author Bio: Jules Hopkins is a writer and editor. She enjoys writing about home decor, DIY projects, and renovations, as well as gardening and lawn-care.

Guest Post - How To Organize Your Home When You Have A Baby On The Way

Are you thinking about having a baby or do you have one already on the way? When you live in a home for many years, it can be easy to have it your way – but does this need to change once you have a baby? There are many things to consider when you are bringing a baby into your home, not just about the safety but also about the space that you have for them. 

Here, we are going to give you some of our tips for organizing your home for when you have a baby on the way. Keep reading to find out more.

Get Rid Of Danger

The most important thing that you need to do when you are having a baby is to get rid of anything that might be dangerous for them to be around. This is a massive task that requires a lot of organization as you might need to keep certain objects like knives and tables with sharp edges, but you will need to organize them and put them away from the baby. Take a look online about how you can babyproof your home and make sure that they are safe.

Losing The Junk

Do you have a lot of junk lying around your home that is going to get in the way once your baby comes along? Things like old TVs, mattresses and other electronics can easily be picked up by a junk removal company to give you more space to live in an organized home. Click here to book a junk removal company that can help with organizing your home when you have a baby on the way. Once you have got rid of the junk, you can get organizing. 

Prepping The Baby Room

One of the most exciting things that you get to do when you are organizing your home is prepping the baby’s room. This is their first room and so you need to make sure that it is perfect. You will need to spend some time organizing everything that you have bought for them and making sure that everything is put away neatly. This will usually come after the decoration stage.

Convenience

Our final tip for those who want to organize their home in preparation for their baby arriving is to think about convenience. You are not going to have a lot of spare time as a parent and so you need to think about where your items are placed and how convenient that is. Is your fridge very far away from where you keep the baby bottles? Do you have your microwave on the counter or in a cupboard? Make sure that your home is organized for convenience and you’ll thank yourself later.

If you have a new baby on the way, make sure to follow our advice for organizing your home. This way, you will be ready for whatever comes your way.

Author Bio: Emily Roberts is a young aspirational writer who spends as much of her free time as possible on the web. When she's not writing, she's reading. She's always trying to learn and digest new information so that she can stay on top of whatever stories she wishes to write about.

Guest Post - Why you should sell your home at the beginning (not the end) of summer, and tips for getting the job done

If you want to sell your home, summer is the season to do it, with 80 percent of people planning to move in the U.S. between April and September. That’s when buyers have more time to look for the perfect house and are getting ready to have their children start at a new school in a new neighborhood. 

But there are a few reasons why you’ll want to target the beginning of summer to put that “for sale” sign up on your home. According to data from HomeLight, 71 percent of top real estate agents across America recommend listing your house during this time. You may be wondering how you can show your property’s best face when your kids are home for the summer and running around — but don’t worry, we have you covered with these tips.

Don’t overpack your schedule but keep the kids busy

Some parents might think a packed weekly schedule of camps, playdates, and swim lessons is the best way to maintain a clean and kid-free home. However, digital parenting coach, Shelley Jefsen, who has sold both her family homes in the summer, advises against this tactic, because it can create more stress.

Instead of focusing on set activities, allow for some flexibility to accommodate last-minute home tours. Keep a list of places where you can take your kids without much notice, like a library, arts center, or a local pool, to keep them occupied during a last minute showing.

Minimize personal items

When staging a home to sell, you’ll want to pack up a majority of the items in your home. Some specific items to target during the summer when kids are home are messy toys or activities, like painting sets. You can instead find a space for your child to enjoy those activities outside of your house for a few weeks. You’ll also want to keep clothing to a minimum, to avoid overflowing laundry  baskets. Ideally, you want to pack away all but a week’s worth of clothes for each person in your family during the selling process. 

Make meals easy

There’s no faster way to make a mess in your house than cooking. To keep the mess in the kitchen under control, prep meals before you show your house, so you can grab something from the freezer, or fridge and serve it quickly without appliances, knives, and cutting boards. Doing meal prep will save you time and money from ordering take-out — and it will also be healthier for everyone.  

Keep your cool

Showing your home while it’s on the market is stressful — with or without the kids being home. Make sure you have an agent who understands your needs and can help plan showings that will fit your schedule. The process will no doubt cause some disruption, but the key is controlling what you can. Stay flexible, plan ahead, and in moments of chaos, remember the end goal is turning that “for sale” sign into a solid “sold.” By starting early, you may even get to take a last-minute summer vacation. 

Author bio: Liz Shemaria is a journalist and founder of the organization Echopop. A third-generation Northern Californian, Liz launched a news site for AOL, where she spent two years covering real estate development, business, crime, education, and politics.