Author Archives: Andrej Zivor

Simple Ideas To Reduce The Stress Of Moving A Big Family

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A big family is a lot of fun, but it also comes with big responsibility when things come up. If you ever plan to change homes with your 5 or more family members it may be overwhelming to realize all that will be involved. How can you manage a hassle-free relocation and make sure everything is checked off the to-do-list and still guarantee that everyone in the home is taken care of, pets included?

The reality is, moving with a big family will involve challenges and stress, you can’t avoid that. However, you can make it a little hassle-free and efficient by making sure your belongings are secure, making sure your family is doing ok and get everything done. You just need to be aware of the best practice for this type of process before succumbing to the stresses. Here are some easy and effective ways to move a large family and make it fun and adventurous at the same time.

Make A Plan
Of you know, moving requires quite a bit of planning as it is. Moving with a big family actually requires more than the average move planning, plus picking the best date, creating a calendar, budget, getting good affordable movers. You will also have to coordinate the plans with your household and make sure the plan works for everyone. Hold a meeting when you have the main details ironed out, the where the why and the when. Give as much information as possible to keep everyone’s stress levels down.

Include The Kids
Make the children feel included in the decision. While you’re communicating with them push the point of why your decision is better for them and how they can enjoy the area and setting up a brand new room.

Pick The Best Moment To Move
The time has to be workable for everyone so you have to consider all things such as, leaving jobs, starting new jobs, deadline to leave home if there is one, when new home will be ready, mid-school year or summer better break better for children, which season is best to move, any previously planned family events that need to be rescheduled.

Prepare For Your Plan To Change
Even though you have planned ahead, you must keep your plan flexible in case anything comes up, which will most likely happen. If you’re prepared, it won’t be such a disaster if things needs to change direction. There are apps available to help you keep track of your inventory and stay organized as well as help you calculate moving costs.

Perfect Organization
Have a detailed checklist, create a moving inventory, hire the best movers for your situation and book them ahead of time. Make sure you have the supplies you need including cardboard boxes to pack up your house but also coordinate with others. Give everyone a clear understanding of their responsibilities and timeframe in the moving situation. It may be best to assign tasks and deadlines to help you stay on top of things as well. Look at what needs to be done and assign it according to who would be best at handling the specific task. Meet weekly if necessary to keep everyone up to speed on where you are with the process or any changes.

DIY Decorative Candy Boxes

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I was browsing around on the internet and realized that I could purchase paper mache candy boxes online. I became hooked on the idea of giving homemade chocolates in heart-shaped boxes. Instead of paying $10 a piece for a box online, I decided to use a efficient way to save some money and make it happen.

After looking around, I bought some heart-shaped boxes from the store with flat lids for $1 each and chose to give them a makeover, to avoid paying ten times as much for just the plain ones.

After making over the boxes, I stuffed them with homemade chocolate cereal truffles and for just a few dollars extra, I included handmade gifts for everyone of my guests.

Materials For DIY Candy Boxes:

  • boxes from store
  • decorative paper
  • pencil
  • non-toxic acrylic paint
  • paint brush
  • glue stick
  • scissors

Directions:

First, remove the candy from inside the plastic container. Then, paint the top and bottom of the lid with acrylic paint. You may need a second coat of paint after the first layer has dried if you chose a light color. To style the box you can paint the inside if you prefer.

Outline the lid of the box onto decorative paper after the paint has dried. Then, cut out the ornamental design and glue it onto the top. If you desire a more official look, do this for the back of the box too. After all the glue has dried, add the homemade chocolates and homemade liner made from crepe paper, and you’ll be all set.

Chocolate Cereal Truffles Ingredients:

  • 2 + 1/2 cups of crushed cereal
  • 1 (14oz) can of sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 (7oz) container of marshmallow cream
  • 2 (12oz) bags of white chocolate morsels
  • gel food coloring
  • sprinkles

Directions:

Use parchment paper to line your pan.

Place one bag of white chocolate in a bowl and place it in the microwave for 30 seconds, periodically mixing until the chocolate has rendered down.

In a big bowl stir the cereal, sweetened condensed milk, marshmallow cream, and melted white chocolate thoroughly. Then, pour the mixture into the prepared loaf pan and place it in the freezer for 3 hours until its firm.

Once the truffle mixture has firmed up, use a spoon and ladle out a tablespoon and form it into balls. Place the balls onto a cookie sheet and place it into the refrigerator.

While the chocolate cereal truffles are in the fridge, melt the second bag of white chocolate morsels. Use the food coloring to color the white chocolate any color you choose.

Take the truffles out of the fridge and drop each one into the white chocolate to coat each side thoroughly, then put them back on the cookie sheet and use the sprinkles if you want.

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Cardboard Boxes

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It’s not easy to move. Most people consider moving to be a traumatic experience. The process is simplified when you have a plan. That is the only way you can prevent all that trauma and inconvenience. No matter what happens, you will need some help.

1. Organization

The first step is to begin early. You need to know how many cardboard boxes you need and how much the whole move will cost. Time is what helps a move run smoothly. Create a list to help the organization process. It’s imperative that you also have a list. That list should include a plan for everything. Here are a few items that should be on the list.

– What to pack
– How to organize it
– What to buy for the packing process
– Who to hire as needed for the packing and move
– Time schedule for each day as the countdown to the big moving day

That type of organization will allow you to reach your moving day with complete success. Most of your stress will be relieved when you have everything organized and planned out. The beauty of being well organized promotes calm. You know what to do each day. There is no chaos. That sense of organization brings you peace.

2. Decide On Your Movers

There are so many choices for movers. Some companies specialize in various aspects of a move. That is the first step to decide which moving company you should use. Factors about cost and availability should also be considered. The most important part of the process is to get the agreement on a contract. That legally binding contract protects both the movers and yourself.

3. Contact Your Movers

Let your movers know where you are moving to make sure your moving day is set. Make sure to be as detailed as possible when discussing your moving day. Cover all of the things that your move requires. Discuss packing materials and any other issues that could be important.

4. Create a Printout

It is not too extreme to have a list for each day of your countdown until your moving day. That way all you have to do is print out the day’s agenda and accomplish that. This prevents the panic attacks that can happen when moving. The whole process feels organized. It never hurts to have backup plans as well.

5. Celebrate the last week of the countdown. After all, you have remained on course the whole month or so to the big day. Go celebrate with the family and spend some quality time with the people you love. That way you are handling all of the stress from the move.

Everything will be ready on your big moving day. Simply print out the moving day agenda the night before and make certain that everything has been completed. Maybe give a day or two as a safety feature to catch up in case you got behind on your moving day countdown. Then enjoy the ride. Moving day is an exciting time. You’ll get to decorate a brand new home. Enjoy it by planning ahead.

How To Make A Gift For Everyone

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Holidays and or special occasions are important days of the year where you want to give something nice to someone. Usually, when you have many gifts to get for many different people, you want something that you can be able to afford and at the same time you want the gift to be personable and something that they would appreciate.

Hand Making gifts are usually something that almost anyone can appreciate because of the effort and creativity that you put into making the gift. Paper made gift boxes that can be filled with anything light, are one of the best handmade gifts that you can give and give to multiple people. Making handmade gift boxes filled with candy is one of the best ways to give everyone a gift because it is affordable, personable and creative.

If you are someone who is looking to provide gifts to everyone around you, then you should consider creating a handmade paper gift box and inserting something fun inside that they can enjoy, like candy. Candy is always something that is appropriate for gifts, since candy is a real treat that they can be able to enjoy it anytime.

In addition, these handmade gift boxes filled with candy are fun activities that both you and the children can all make together, making you time to bond and have fun. In order to begin making the candy boxes, you want to first start off by collecting all of the material you will need. The materials that you are going to need are: color construction papers, scissors, scale, cutter, satin ribbons, tape, pencils and decorative mirrors. Depending on how many handmade boxes you are planning on making, make sure that you have enough materials by first deciding how many people you are going to give these gifts too, that way you have more than enough supplies. Always make sure that you have extra, just to be on the safe side.

The steps to making the handmade gift box starts off with first taking a piece of construction colored paper of you choice, it should be about 21cm wide and 21cm long. Next, grab your pencil and make small markings of about 7 cm each in order to make 2 rows and 3 columns, each having 3 squares. Next, grab your scissors and cut off the remaining strips on the paper to form a perfect square shape. Next, fold the paper diagonally in each corners of the paper. Also, fold the paper horizontally and vertically along the lines you drew earlier, so that you should now have 4 creases. Next, fold the outer squares into a triangle shape in order to form a box shape. Once you have completed making the creases, you want to use glue to paste down the corners to form the box shape.

Lastly, in order to make the lid for the box, you will take another sheet of paper, preferably a lighter color. Measure out 9 cm for both length and width, make your markings, and cut out a perfect square. Make a 1 cm mark on every corner, draw lines down all of the four sides so you should be left with a 1 cm square in every corner. Lastly, cut a small slit in every corner so you could be able to fold them in and glue the sides together, making a box
lid.

Once you have made your box lid, you are able to fill it with candies of your choice. Once you have it filled, you can decorate it with decorative mirrors, or whatever decorations you have of your choice. Simply close the box, and tie the ribbon, and your gift is ready to hand out.

Tips To Follow When A Move Includes A Home Gym

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Individuals planning a summer home relocation can find that a particular set of problems are added to their task when it becomes necessary to move home gym equipment such as exercise bikes and treadmills. Now that it is summer, which is the time many people decide to change residences, is upon us, it is important to remember the following tips when executing a move that includes home gym equipment.

Cleaning And Preparation

Before packing and moving the home gym it is important to clean and sanitize all equipment. This will prevent the transferral of bacteria from the old residence to the new one while improving the look of the home gym once set up in its new location. Flat surfaces like yoga mats should be wiped down with paper towels and cleaning solutions and rags should be used for handrails and surfaces of large gym equipment like weight machines and stationary bikes.

Moving Yoga Equipment

It is wise to begin with the smaller items when packing a home gym for relocation. Yoga mats and accessories like towels and blankets should be the first things packed. It is also important to secure cardboard boxes that are large enough to contain the yoga equipment without a problem.

Moving Dumbbells And Hand Weights

The pertinent point to remember when transporting heavier weight equipment is to choose boxes and containers that are sturdy enough to handle the weight of their cargo. Smaller boxes tend to work best with weights as larger ones are often easier to break. Plastic bins are also good to use when moving weights.

Moving Larger Home Gym Equipment

Stationary bikes, elliptical machines, and treadmills are often quite heavy and careful planning is needed to execute moves of these items. The following general rules should be helpful when moving these pieces of equipment and owner’s manual for these pieces of equipment may also provide helpful information.

Treadmill:

  • Inclines should be reset to zero and the safety key should be removed
  • Machine should be powered off
  • Fold walking deck against console and make sure a click is heard
  • Assure walking deck is secure
  • Using moving blankets or other soft material to cushion equipment

Elliptical:

  • Once machine is unplugged unscrew all parts from machine that is possible
  • Parts should be wrapped in moving blankets and labeled before being either placed in original packaging, large cardboard boxes, or plastic bins

Stationary Bikes:

  • Moving bikes should be unplugged if electric and protected when packing with moving blankes
  • Position something beneath the bike when moving to protect floors or carpets from being scratched or damaged

Home gym equipment is an expensive investment and care should be taken to preserve this investment when making a move from one residence to another. For many tasked with making a move that includes a home gym, it may be a good idea to call on professionals to do the heavy lifting. A qualified mover with experience in all aspects of the business can execute the moving of home fitness equipment seamlessly while providing owners of the equipment with the piece of mind that their valuables are safe and sound.