Preparing and Packing Part 2:

When thinking about packing up everything you own into various sized plastic tote containers, the task can be quite daunting. However, I had some ideas about what I wanted to do. We currently have seven 45 gallon sized plastic tote containers, four that are half that size and a few more various sized plastic containers. I wanted to approach packing room by room, but I also have to consider packing things into some of these containers right before we leave that we will be using up until August. I wanted to pack things together such as all kitchen items in 2 or 3 containers, keepsakes into 1 or 2, and then all bedding and blankets into 1 etc. As I packed a container I wrote on the card and when the container was full I taped the card (along with 4 more copies) to the top and all 4 sides. Others may not know exactly what items are what, but we will. I taped a card to the top and each side so that whichever way the tote is stored, we can always see what is inside. 

Our spare room is being used for staging:

This is the tote that has all of our Christmas decorations, vases and other breakable's, as well as Grandma Kona's tablecloths:

It is ready to go to North Carolina!!!

One thing I also like about these totes is that 1 can fit into the back seat of our car. So as we visit North Carolina we can carry 1 down each time. 

I also sought out the packing advice of David’s Aunt Joy and Aunt Anita. Joy and her family are missionaries with Wycliffe. They served in the Philippians and are now preparing to go to Africa. Anita and her family have served for many years in Bolivia with SIM. These ladies gave me some great advice about specifics for long-term storage.

Heeding to their advice and ideas about how I wanted to organize our belongings I continued to pack and stage things. I have a few containers that only have a few items in them yet because when we have a renter set, these totes will be filled with specific items that we are currently using but will not use when we go to our 1 bedroom apartment. When we do move to an apartment we will be living with just the bare necessities. We are praying that all or at least most of our bigger pieces of furniture get sold before we move from our house. My next post will be about what and how we are preparing to pack to go to Japan.