 Welcome to the Createyou86 Whimsical Holiday December Blog Series! We are so excited to be able to share one of our favorite times of the year with all of you. When i think of December because i grew up in the Northeast, and my mother has always had holiday magazines such as Southern Living, Southern Lady, Country Living, and other magazines like these around the house; I think of tons of snow, Ugg Boots, great food, holiday decorations, and the magic of the season. Last year this series revolved around how to simplify your holiday season. This year we wanted to take a different route with this series, and make it more FUN! Posts in this series will range from our come-all-ye traditional to unexpected treasures you never thought you would see from Createyou86. These posts will include planning, blogging, and organizational based tips, tricks, and articles. We have even surprised ourselves. Our goal with this series is to give you some insight into how our year panned out, what we are looking forward to next year, and tradition surrounding our holidays. We hope that you have looked forward to this series all year, because we have had it planned out for months just waiting for December to hit. Join us for this series on Monday's & Thursday's at 7:00 AM EST in December all the way up to New Years Eve. What has been your favorite series so far this year? Let us know in the comments below!  Our Christmas card this year Happy Holidays From Createyou86 
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 Welcome to another Transformation Tuesday here at Createyou86. Today i want to share with all of you one simple thing that we did / are doing this year to save ourselves some time, mostly money, and energy. Lets talk about Christmas Cards, and the crazy amount of money that people spend on creating, and sending them. This year we figured out as a couple that we wanted to send 15 Christmas cards. You wouldn't think that fifteen cards would cost that much money, but I was looking into using Shutterfly which is a pretty basic place for people to purchase photo Christmas cards, and my sister had given me an awesome 50% off coupon for a BARE BASICS cardstock (the type of cardstock you can buy at Michael's for 50 cents) photo Christmas card. I created the card that i wanted, and the price before the coupon was $27.50....WHAT? $27.50 for 15 SUPER BASIC cards? after the coupon it would have been about $13.75 + postage stamps? I decided that there was no way i was spending that much money on Christmas cards when i have leftover ones from last year that i could send out. However, what i did decide i was going to do was:
Stay Tuned for our December Blog Series beginning November 30th for a sneak peek at our Christmas Card! What is your LEAST favorite thing to have to purchase during the holidays? Let us know in the comments below!   Welcome to the last post in the Createyou86 Domestic Tourists November Blog Series. Throughout this series we have provided tons of tips on how to plan, and perfectly execute a more than affordable cross-country trip of your very own (one way with animals if you choose!) without pulling out your hair. Here are the final stats for our trip.
We hope that you have enjoyed this series. Check back next week for the first post in our December Blog Series. (OMG December is already here? Where has the time gone?) We truly enjoyed sharing our adventure with all of you. Do you want to go on a cross-country trip now that you know it is completely affordable? Let us know in the comments below!   Welcome to another week in review here at Createyou86. Our solution to weekly journaling. Since our trip has come to an end, things are starting to pick back up around the blog. We can't wait to share what we have been working on with you! 1. We have a few awesome reviews coming up soon. One of them is such a secret that we can't even legally talk about it yet, but when we can you will know about it! So stay tuned for that! 2. Last week we posted a review of our Blue Sky Planner that we bought at Target on YouTube. You can check it out here. 3.Tomorrow we will be rolling out the last post in the Domestic Tourists November Blog Series. This has been one of our favorite series to create. We have truly enjoyed planning, and sharing our cross-country adventure with all of you. If you haven't had a chance to read all of the posts you can find them here. Car Organization Clothing Organization Mapping The Journey Travel Essentials Best Travel Music Mix How To Let Go Of Clutter 4. If you enjoyed Novembers Blog Series you will LOVE Decembers Series. We are so amped up for the holidays, and we can't wait to include you in all of the festivities! The December Series begins November 30, 2015 at 7:00 AM EST, and continues EVERY Monday & Thursday up to the New Year. You'll have to come back on the 30th to find out what the name of the series is as well as the first post! Did you finish everything on your to-do list this week? Let us know in the comments below!   Welcome to the sixth post in the Createyou86 Domestic Tourists November Blog Series. Clutter it might be something that you deal with every day, and you might not know how to avoid it. To plan a cross-country trip you can't have clutter. Here are a few ways that we got rid of the clutter, and packed for our trip. I have dealt with clutter most of my life. I'm not a hoarder, but i like stuff, and especially paper stuff. This would explain my love for stationary, and other paper products (this started when i was little, and liked to play school or teacher. I would make fake tests on paper, and keep stacks of paper for later use). When i found the Filofax, and planner world i was in heaven. This gave me more reasons to buy stuff, and add clutter to my life. However, when we decided that we were going to be driving cross-country everything changed. In preparation for our trip i began to de-clutter my life, and my belongings. A Hyundai Elantra is not a large vehicle to fit tons of stuff in. In fact, it is relatively small. This made it so i had to pair down what i would bring with me that i had accumulated over an almost two year period of time. Here are a few ways that i did that. 1. Take Your Time I didn't just throw everything away in one fell swoop to make room. I took my time. This meant starting about two months ahead of time, and cleaning out my things little by little. It sucks to throw out or donate things that you have grown attached to, but with enough time you should find it easier to get rid of the unneeded, and unwanted clutter. I started VERY small. I started with tiny post-it notes that i hadn't used in a long time or that there were only a few left of. From there i gradually eased into boxes that i hadn't used, and larger items that could be donated. 2. Divide, and Re-conquer This means that you should take things from boxes that you may have been storing, and divide them into smaller boxes. When you get to the point that the items can't fit into the smaller boxes anymore maybe its time to get rid of them, or donate them. As i said in previous posts in this series, i paired down from 7 boxes to 4 boxes, and even considered less than that. While you are dividing the items name them out loud. This small action can give you reassurance that this item might be too big, and needs to go, or remind you that it is important enough to keep. 3. You Can Help Are you keeping boxes of toys for your future grandchildren that don't exist yet? Chances are that popular toys will change in a couple of years. Some cool toys to keep would be (in my humble opinion) Tinker Toys, and Lincoln Logs. Those toys that you have been storing away could help a family in need at the holidays, or even a local shelter. Donating is the way to go when cleaning, and decluttering. You never know what someone else who doesn't have as many things as you would love to own. The same goes for clothing. Use the Salvation Army or The Red Cross to donate clothing that you haven't worn in the past year or so. I did this when packing, but gave the items to my neighbor who was around the same size as me. I saw her about a week later, and she said she had saved a ton of the clothes that i had given her, and donated the rest. I also made two trips to the Salvation army myself with containers that i no longer used, and other items like books. You can also trade in old video games, and systems at Gamestop for cash, or store credit. 4. How Many Is Too Many? Do you have duplicates of things? Ask yourself how many you REALLY need. There is no way you will use 5 nail polishes mostly in the same shades in the next few months. Also how many Cardigans do you really wear when it gets cold. Do you need several black sweaters, or are two okay? Can you make some room by taking ten sets of Christmas card boxes, and putting all of your Christmas cards in one box? This is what i do, and it saves a ton of room! 5. Do I Love You? I have a ton of things, but not everything makes me feel good. I find that it is easier to get rid of things that i do not have an attachment to. This applied for worn out shoes, clothes, books that i hadn't touched in about a year, and stationary items i though i might use one day, but really didn't need. If i held it in my hand, and had to keep it, i kept it, but if i got that "ehh" feeling it was a goner. 6. Guilty or Not Guilty Guilt is something that most people feel when they are cleaning. With as attached to things as we get there is no question that this would happen. However, you are under no obligation to keep things that someone else has given you. Chances are you are only making it harder on yourself, because that person forgot long ago about that sweater they bought you for your birthday 15 years ago, that you have only worn once. This is something that has happened to me, but i would rather give that item a new home where someone will actually use it, and it won't sit in an unmarked box in the back of my closet because i feel bad for not using it. 7. Use A Planner When i found the Filofax, and planner community i lost it. In a good way! All of a sudden i had a creative, and organized way to plan my months, days, and years. I put together sections for health, finances (bills), notes, blogging, to-do lists etc. This gave me an excuse to put my bills, invitations, etc. somewhere where they could be kept safe, and would not be forgotten about. Using a planner helps organize your world, and you won't forget where your bills are when you need to pay them. Unfortunately in 2009 our family suffered a huge loss. Our house burnt to the ground, and many of the "things" that my mother had been saving since pre-school such as toys, or artwork (there were BOXES of artwork from myself, and my sister) were ruined. When the inspector went through the house he had to take count of everything in the house EVERYTHING (for the insurance company to be able to reimburse us)! You never really think about just how many things you accumulate over 24 years, but here are some examples, and we are by no means a hoarding family, and we regularly (at least once a year) donated items to The Salvation Army. My mother has worked for the Gap for fifteen years, and when you work there you have to buy the clothing that they sell (essentially you are a walking advertisement). Of the items that were not burnt or ruined otherwise here are a few of the things that the inspector counted. Belts- 45 Flip Flops- 30 pairs Sweaters- 20 4 Huge stacks of National Geographic Magazines (basement ruined by water) 300 Grateful Dead CD's (my dad's love!) This was over 400 items without even counting any other items in the house!!!!! On the flip side this huge loss was actually a huge gain. The house was rebuilt, and new systems for organization were put in place. There aren't anymore stacks of magazine that nobody reads anymore, and the closets are much smaller so there isn't any room for unused clothing. My mom was able to save a few choice pieces of artwork from when we were little, and framed them for us. All of these methods were methods that we used when planning our cross country trip. We hope that you find these tips useful. What item (s) do you think that you have the most of in your home? Let us know in the comments below!   Welcome to another Transformation Tuesday here at Createyou86. With Thanksgiving right around the corner we wanted to make a post about being thankful/grateful. This year has been a whirlwind. We certainly didn't think in January that we would be where we are here in November. 1. Generosity We owe our family for the generosity that they have shown us the past few years. We needed a new start, and that is exactly what we were afforded. We couldn't be more grateful for their love, and support. 2. Sacrifice In the past few days we have seen the oldest ally to The United States go through a horrific event that we went through fourteen years ago only on a larger scale. We will remember, and are grateful for the sacrifice that these people made, that the law enforcement made, and the sacrifice that France itself has made. Our hearts go out to the people of Paris. #peaceforparis 3. Health We are grateful that we are healthy, and that we have been relatively healthy for the past few years. We have lost a few good friends in the past couple years that we will miss dearly, but we are grateful everyday that we have our health, and we realize that things could be much worse. 4. Great Friends Although we have been away from our long time friends for the past two years, we are so grateful for the friends that we made in California. We are grateful for their continued support, and love. 5. Having The Love Of My Life Having the love of my life by my side is amazing. We help each other learn so much about the world, and ourselves. We are grateful for each other, and the loving support that we provide each other on a daily basis. 6. Our Pets Our pets are amazing, and they are the perfect example of unconditional love. For this we are eternally grateful. Do we spoil our animals? YES!.... Do they love us for it? YES! 7. Laughter Laughter is the best medicine. The past two years have been pretty interesting, and at some times really, really, really hard. Laughter has helped us get through the good times, and the bad so we are more than grateful for laughter. 8. Time We know....most of us think that there aren't enough hours in the day, but when you lose someone close to you, you realize that you sometimes take time for granted. We are grateful for the time that we have had thus far on earth, and being able to spend it with people we love. 9.The Kindness Of Strangers When moving to a new place it is REALLY scary. I don't care if you are moving a half hour away, or 2,969 miles away like we have done (I moved to California first, and now James has moved to Pennsylvania). Sometimes you are grateful for that one kind word from someone who you don't even know. This is what i can say about the church that we joined in California. They offered us a place of worship, financial help when we needed it most, and most of all friends that we will never forget. 10. Wisdom That Comes With Age Over the past two years we have learned A LOT! Today i wouldn't dream of doing some of the things that i did two years ago, or even longer than that for that matter. We live, and learn, and grow wiser which we can all be grateful for. We hope that you have enjoyed reading some of the things that we are grateful for this holiday season, and we would love to know what you are grateful for. Let us know in the comments below!   Welcome to the fifth post in the Createyou86 Domestic Tourists November Blog Series. If you are just joining us this series is all about how we planned for our cross-country trip. The car is packed your ready to go, but something seems to be missing....oh yeah.....its the music. Music is essential for any trip especially a really long trip. Here are some of the artists, and songs we will be listening to during our trip. Trip Tip If your phone can hook up to the speakers in your car you are set. You can listen to iTunes Radio, any music you have downloaded on your phone or ipod, and you can also listen to Google Play Radio which is brand new. Google play lets you pick radio stations (for free), and they are all based around certain activities that change on a daily basis. They even have a radio station for road-tripping. Don't forget that these services will use your phones data (unless the music is already downloaded to your phone or ipod in that case it only uses up battery) Travel Mix 1. "One Headlight" - The Wallflowers 2. "Gold Digger" - Kanye West 3. "Blister In The Sun" - Violent Femmes 4. "Ghost" - Ella Henderson 5. "Habits (Stay High)" - Tove Lo 6. "Cold In Ohio" - Jamie Lawson 7. "Applause" - Lady Gaga 8. "Bad Self Portraits" - Lake Street Dive 9. "Blackout" - Breathe Carolina 10. "Video Games" - Lana Del Ray 11. "Off To The Races" - Lana Del Ray 12. "Burn" - Ellie Goulding 13. "Don't Know Why" - Norah Jones 14. "Made In The USA" - Demi Lovato 15. "One More Time" - Daft Punk 16. " Neon Lights" - Demi Lovato 17. "How To Be A Heartbreaker" - Marina & The Diamonds 18. "Boom Boom Pow" - The Black Eyed Peas 19. "Helena Beat" - Foster The People 20. "Like A G6" - Far East Movement 21. "Let It Go" - Idina Menzel / Demi Lovato 22. "You Give Love A Bad Name" - Bon Jovi 23. "Give It Away" - Red Hot Chili Peppers 24. "Since You've Been Gone" - Kelly Clarkson 25. "I Will Be Here" - Tiesto 26. "Icky Thump" - The White Stripes 27. "Coming Home" Diddy - Dirty Money 28. "Royals" - Lorde 29. "Up In The Air" - Thirty Seconds To Mars 30. "Landlord" - Joss Stone Here is a list of just a few of the songs that we will be listening to on our cross-country trip. If you don't know some of these artists be sure to check them out. We love hearing new music, and finding new songs that we can play. What are your favorite travel tunes? Let us know in the comments below!   Welcome to another Week In Review here at Createyou86. Our solution to weekly journaling. We made our travels safely, and we are happy to report that things are returning to normal here at Createyou86. 1. This week we posted two new posts in our Domestic Traveler's November Blog Series. This series is all about how to organize a cross-country trip. You can find those posts here, and here. 2. We are working on some awesome new blog series that will take us right into the new year. You'll have to stay tuned for more info, and some sneak peeks which you can see via Instagram. 3. Did you know that we always post our blog posts on our Createyou86 Blog Pinterest Board? Now that things are back to normal we will have more to post in these Week In Review's. Did you get everything done on your to-do list this week? Let us know in the comments below!   Welcome to the fourth post in the Domestic Travelers November Blog Series at Createyou86. Do you find it difficult to pick which items are absolute essentials for trips long or short? When i first started traveling at a young age with my parents i would pack everything, but the kitchen sink. However, as i have gotten older it has become more apparent to me what items are absolute essentials for longer trips. For our current trip these are our essentials. 1. Directions / A Map / Navigation This might seem pretty obvious, but you need some way of knowing where you are going if you happen to get lost. Navigation doesn't always have the most up to date routes or road names. Most likely, a current map will. I always write directions down, and because we are going to four different destinations i will write down separate directions for each destination. 2. Food & Water Again, this may seem like a no-brainer, but it isn't hard to forget to pack food, or snacks, or water. These items are all essentials. Not only to save you money not having to buy fast food, but maybe you get caught in a traffic jam, or maybe you break down. You will want to have food, and water available. When traveling cross-country you are going to come across many different terrains (desert, plains, mountains, etc.). Each terrain can provide different problems, and being prepared is your best bet. 3. Money We are talking about essentials here. Money, not only money you plan on using during your trip, but extra cash or money on a debit/credit card in-case anything should happen, or if you come upon tolls that you might not have been expecting. 4. Toilet Paper Toilet paper is one of those things that you never expect to need, but from someone who doesn't know how to "pop a squat" (that's me), and who has absolutely been in a traffic jam that was miles long, and having to use the bathroom with no bathroom in sight (this was actually my sister, but i was driving the car). It is so simple to take a roll of toilet paper, and put it either in your trunk, or your glove compartment, and if you need it in an emergency you are set. 5. Emergency Kit As i said in my first post an Emergency Kit is essential. What you chose to put in your personal kit can vary, but here are some of the things that i put in mine.
6. Phones & Chargers Phones have become an essential in travel. Weather you are meeting someone somewhere, or you need it fornavigation purposes. You can now buy affordable chargers that can be pre-charged ahead of time, and stored until you need them. You can also get chargers that plug into your cars lighter. Either way some kind of charger is a good idea to have in the vehicle. 7. Appropriate Clothing As said before knowing the climate of the area you will be traveling in is essential. If you are driving through the desert you aren't going to want to be wearing a hoodie or a sweater, unless of course you happen to be in the desert at night when it gets very very cool. On the flip side you want to be able to add layers should you come across an area that has recently had snow or it is raining which brings cooler temperatures as well. 8. Toiletries This might seem like a repeat from the above, but the types of toiletries i am talking about are shampoo, conditioner, body wash, tooth brush, tooth paste, moisturizer of some type, and a face wash. Not only do women use these items, but men do as well (at least James does!) How many times have you been on a trip, and forgot one of these things only having to purchase more, and waste money? I used to do it a lot when i was little (my parents didn't pack my overnight bags for me). I now pack anything liquid based in gallon plastic bags to ensure that they stay sealed, and nothing else gets ruined if one pops open. 9. Blankets Traveling in the winter months can prove to be a challenge. Last year we heard about a group of people who were traveling, and were stranded in their car snowed in for a few days. In this type of a situation blankets are essential (along with your other emergency kit items). Body heat of any kind is essential. You don't want to run your car for too long (you will be wasting gas). We hope that these simple travel essentials will help you prepare for your future trips. Having these items really helped us feel more prepared. What is your travel essential? Something you can't travel without? Let us know in the comments below!   Welcome to the third post in the Domestic Tourists November Blog Series at Createyou86. Are you good with directions? I'm not at all....in fact i would say i am terrible with directions, so this post will be all about how we planned, and mapped our trip. We will let you in on the little things we did to help us manage planning our cross-country trip without pulling our hair out, and how you can too. 1. Map Your Route This couldn't be more important. In order to plan a trip you need to have a map of where you are going (unless you have been there before). We used Google Maps to map our route out. Google maps will most times give you several different routes which allow for different types of scenery, and locations. Google maps will also let you know traffic patters, and weather you will need money for tolls For our trip we chose the southernmost route because we wanted to stay away from The Rockie Mountains, and the possibility of large amounts of snow. *The below photo is not the exact map of our trip, but i used very similar locations to make it appropriate for this post.  Photo Credit: Createyou86 2. Manage Your Time Everyone knows that driving can be tiring. In fact, it can be exhausting. One of the most important tips i can give you about planning a cross-country trip is to manage your time driving effectively, and safely. We decided that we were going to travel 600 miles per day which came out to four days of travel time. When i drove from Idaho to California it was about eight hours, and i felt like this amount of time was manageable for me to not be too tired while driving. Some days will be slightly longer depending on traffic, and distances. We also decided to make early morning starts (around 6 AM) so that we could be to the hotels well before dark (All of our hotels have a 3:00 PM check in time), and maybe even have some time to walk around the cities we are staying in. 3. Affordable Hotel Stays If you have been to a hotel in the last few years you know that there is nothing "cheap" about hotel stays. Even lower rated hotels are charging more. Imagine traveling cross-country with two animals, and the additional charges that are added because of this, even if the hotel is animal friendly. The total of our hotel charges for our 4 days (4 hotel) trip was $250.00. Included in this total are the extra charges for the animals. You might be thinking "Yeah right....no way did you plan four nights at hotels for that cheap!" YES WE DID, and you can too! How did we do it? RESEARCH! We spent a good couple of weeks researching where we were going to stay. Don't forget that hotel prices get higher the closer to the day that you need to stay there (the same as airline flights). Be sure to call the hotels that you choose if you are traveling with pets to find out what their policy is regarding how many pets you can have in your room, and the rates that they charge per night. When i was searching for pet friendly hotels i found this awesome sight Petfriendlyhotels.com. Not all hotels allow animals so this site made it easy to find super affordable pet friendly verified hotels in any city that we were staying. The rates for animals are charged on top of any original room prices, and they vary greatly. If we had a $40.00 room there might be an additional $10.00 charge per animal per night making the overall price $60.00 (per 2 animals). 4. Check The Weather Good weather is a key factor to traveling for any trip. We have been checking long term forecasts for about a month. You want to be sure that you are aware of any major storms that may be in the area of your trip so you can plan accordingly. You also want to be aware of the weather so that you can plan what you will pack in your overnight bag. You want to make sure you are comfortable when driving long distances. 5. Comfort Is Key I can't tell you how many times i have been driving, and part of the way through my drive i realize that the outfit i am wearing is completely uncomfortable. You aren't going to a fashion show, you are traveling 2,690.5 miles cross-country, and being comfortable is essential. If i could wear yoga pants everywhere...i would. Comfy pants are perfect for driving. Be sure that you won't be needing to adjust yourself, and if you do need to there are always rest stops to get changed in. 6. Hunger Pangs? When planning any long term trip make sure to pack some food with you. Not only will this save money from not having to stop, and order fast food, but it will keep you from wasting unnecessary time. YOu will probably even have leftovers that will last the rest of possibly the month. We have pre-purchased some food ahead of time. We purchased snacks such as multi packs of chips (ones that you could put in a lunchbox two 20 packs for $10.00), and crackers. We will go shopping the day before we leave, and grab some granola bars, pop tarts, and even some bread, and peanut butter (peanut butter does not need to be refrigerated after opening). However, if we get sick of just snacking, and want something more substantial we have been saving coupons from our favorite fast food restaurants that we might see along the way. James is lucky i'm a cheap date (i love ordering from the dollar menu at fast food restaurants). We hope you have enjoyed these simple tips that helped us map out, and organize our cross-country trip, and keep it affordable and non-stressful. What is your best travel tip? Let us know in the comments below!   Welcome to another Week In Review here at Createyou86. Our solution to weekly journaling. We did it! We drove cross-country, and it was an awesome experience, and one that i can check off of my bucket list. 1. This week was the beginning of our November Domestic Travelers Blog Series. This series is all about how to organize, and plan long, and short trips. There are tons of awesome tips that will probably work for you. You can check that out here. 2. We made it to Pennsylvania safe, and sound. We took some awesome photos which we will share with all of you at the end of this blog series. We traveled 2,697 miles in 4 days, and passed through 11 states. We spent $183.00 on gas, and $350.00 on hotels. You can learn how we did all of this by checking out the blog each Monday, and Thursday throughout this month! There isn't a lot to post this week because we were traveling for the most part, but look forward to next week when we will have more to share. Did you get everything on your to-do list done this week? Let us know in the comments below!   Welcome to the second post in the Domestic Tourists November Blog Series. Today's post will be all about how to pack clothing for a long term move or cross-country trip. This may seem simple, but there are plenty of tips, and tricks to help minimize space, and save you a ton of hassle and time, and we want to let you in on the secrets that we used to pack for our own trip. Roll Your Clothes Not only will your clothes be wrinkle free, but this will save you a lot of room in the long run. By rolling your clothes instead of folding them you can stack clothes more easily. I did this in our overnight bag (we only packed one small workout bag for our trip clothing), and everything fits perfectly. This doesn't have to be done for just individual pieces. You can pack an entire outfit in one roll to save even more space. We have enough room for four days of travel, and then some. This also includes our own plastic gallon size toiletry bags. Clothes Can Be Heavy! In my previous post i let it be known that i paired down from 7 storage containers to 4 storage containers. Most of those containers were clothes....lots of them, and half of them were winter clothes because i was coming from Pennsylvania, and didn't know what to expect in California outside of summer. Winter clothing can be extremely heavy (sweaters, sweats, anything with more weight than a t-shirt) Be sure to do your research about the area you are traveling to. On our way to Pennsylvania for example we will be encountering beginning of November temperatures across the country which will vary from (40's, 50's, 60's, and 70's) which is way off from the current California forecast which remains in the mid to high 80's. This means that we needed to pack a variety of clothing, from hoodies, and jeans, to t-shirts, and shorts. By pairing down i literally got rid of bagfuls of clothes that i hadn't worn in the last two years. I either donated these clothes to The Salvation Army, or i gave them to a neighbor who i knew was around the same size as myself. These simple actions will not only make you feel better (because donating is awesome!), but it will take a significant amount of weight off of the car, and provide more room for other items. Shoes Are The Worst! Not only do i absolutely hate shoes (because of that i wear flip flops as far into the winter as i can), but they are a serious pain to pack if you aren't using boxes to store them in. As much as i despise shoes, and even shopping for shoes, i do have quite a collection. However, none of them are ones that can't get ruined or are high end. My personal solution for this was to take a clean mesh laundry bag, and fill it with my shoes. Not only does this allow for the shoes to be able to air out (i drive with my windows down most of the time even in the winter), but the bag fit perfectly on the ground behind my seat. This prevented me from needing to add a storage bin back into the packing equation. Random Items & Accessories This might sound crazy, but i had an entire storage container full of scarves, socks, wash cloths, and other random pieces. I made this storage bin the random items bin. If it wasn't clothing, and it didn't fit in any other bag or box it went in this bin. It is the equivalent of the "junk drawer" that most people have in their kitchen. I am perfectly okay with this as i know that everything is still in its place, and will make it to the destination. The Overnight Bag We have literally packed the basics. These are the actual clothes that we will be wearing throughout our trip I also packed several gallon size zip lock bags so that we can put our dirty clothes in them. This way the car won't start to stink, and our clean, and dirty clothes are separated. Apart from the items below the only other thing in our overnight bag are toiletries in gallon bags. Emily Flip Flops (i always wear flip flops which means no socks for me!) 4 t-shirts 1 pair of Jeans 1 pair of Leggings 1 hoodie (which will most likely just sit in the back seat for easy grabbing) 4 day's underwear 1 tank top (for sleeping) 1 pair of pajama shorts (for sleeping) James Sneakers 4 pairs of socks 4 t-shirts 1 Hoodie (back seat) 1 Pair of Jeans 1 Pair of Shorts 4 days worth of boxers (sleeps in boxers) Packing clothing is in my opinion the hardest part of packing. You need to figure out how to fit a whole lot of stuff into small spaces. We hope that this post has been helpful for your travels. How do you pack your clothes? Let us know in the comments below!   Welcome to another Transformation Tuesday here at Createyou86. Being a lover of planning, and organization i am always looking for new ways to make my day last longer (well i know it can't last longer), but making it seem longer by being more productive. Lemon Water This might seem a little strange to do right when you wake up because you are probably used to making that first cup of coffee, or tea to get yourself moving, but drinking lemon water in the morning spikes energy levels physically, and mentally. Make sure it is your first drink to get the full positive effects. You can find out more about drinking lemon water in the morning here. No Technology Mornings Do you feel frantic after checking your email first thing in the morning? Chances are that you do. Instead of checking emails or texts take some time to maybe write out a to-do list of your three most important tasks for the day, and drink your lemon water while listening to the birds sing on the deck outside. Its Time for Breakfast Eat a real breakfast . I have never been a breakfast person. It is something about acid (orange juice, or fruit) in the morning that makes my stomach hurt. I normally get hungry around 9 or 10 AM, but if you are eating any breakfast at all you are beating out most peoples morning choices already. However, healthy breakfast choices support short term memory to help you remember more at work, and helps you concentrate for longer periods of time. Goal Setting As stated above a great thing to do in the morning if it isn't already done is to set your goals for the day. This will give you a clear plan of what to focus on not only throughout your morning, but your whole day. Make sure your goal isn't stated as "i want to" make sure that it is a definitive goal that you break down into doable parts. This helps with time management as well. You can take certain chunks of time to work on certain parts of your specific goal. Cleanliness Is Godliness That is one of those old sayings isn't it? Making sure that your work space is clean is important to lessen distractions. Having a clean desk will help to keep you from unnecessary multi-tasking, and keep you producing at your best. What is your favorite productivity tip? Let us know in the comments below!   Welcome to the first post in the Createyou86 November Blog Series Domestic Tourists. This series will be all about our Cross Country trip from California to Pennsylvania, and how we planned, and organized it on a $2,000 budget with two animals, and had money left over! I have done my fair share of traveling, and so has James (The other half of Createyou86), but i have never been on such a long driving trip by myself (James doesn't drive). I drive a Hyundai Elantra which by no stretch of the imagination is a large car. In fact, although it is four doors you wouldn't think that it would be ideal for two adults, and two animals (small dog, and cat), but we managed, and this is how. You will actually be reading this on our first day of travel (Nov. 2nd). You can check out this blog series each Monday, and Thursday in the month of November We will be sure to add lots of awesome travel photos to the last post in this series so be sure to look out for that post later in the month.  You might be thinking to yourself. "How hard can organizing a car for a trip be?" I can tell you from personal experience, and now my second time packing my car for a cross country trip (the first time my car was shipped across country) that when you start packing your life into your car it can become overwhelming, and disorganized. Here are a few things that helped me in organizing my car in the past, and for our current cross-country trip. Clean Out Your Car You might be saying "But my car is the cleanest of anyone i know!" I believe you, but when was the last time you REALLY gave it a good cleaning out? Are there boxes, bags, candy wrappers, clothes, fast food wrappers, notebooks, books or anything else strewn around your car? You might be amazed at how much you can actually remove that isn't needed anymore to make room for the important things you are packing for your trip. Tupperware When i packed my car the first time tupperware became my best friend. When you have your car shipped by a carrier you have no idea how long it might take the driver, and what the vehicle might go through weather wise. In my case the car went from Pennsylvania, to Idaho, and took just about three weeks. That is two weeks longer than i was expecting (needless to say i was pretty upset). Those carriers get paid by weight. Not only the weight of your car, but the weight of what is inside your car as well. I was told there couldn't be more than 150 pounds inside the car. I didn't really listen to that because i had an entire life to pack into the car. ITEMS SHIFT (if you have ever flown you have heard that items in the overhead bins may shift in transit) this is also true in cars! Tupperware (preferably the kind that have handles that close the tops) were the best in my case. I started with 7 large, or long tupperwares. Tupperware are the safest way to make sure that your clothing, or any other valuables don't go flying if you hit a pothole or other roadway conditions. You can also pack A LOT into tupperware if you fold correctly, or roll your clothes. You can buy really decent tupperware with side closing handles at Target for $10.00 or less. That is where i bought mine. Large Plastic Bags I might be starting to sound a little bit OCD (Obsessive Compulsive), but plastic ziplock bags of the large, and gallon size can be a huge help. Not only are plastic bags necessary for toiletries when flying, but they can be a huge help when packing a car as well. I pack all of my shampoo, and body wash type products in plastic bags. Have you ever driven or flown (before 9/11), and had one of these products burst open while traveling? Another personal experience....it sucks. Everything in your bag, and i do mean everything can get ruined. I also pack electronic wires, cords, and devices in plastic bags, just to be able to keep everything together in one place. Emergency Kit Every car should have one of these. I created my own out of a ziplock bag that i can just throw in the backseat, glove compartment, or trunk. For emergency purposes i keep Q-Tips, Band Aids, baby wipes, and other small items in this kit. (i will cover this in greater detail in a future blog post in this series). Know Your Space This may be a silly reference, but packing a car with large, and small tupperware is a little bit like playing Tetris. If you don't know the space you are working with it can be hard to purchase appropriate tupperware, and can make packing very stressful. Because i had a pretty good idea of the height, and depth of the vehicle i was able to purchase the right size tupperware, and place them in the right areas of the car to make the best use of the available space. For this trip i have paired down from 7 tuperware to 4 tupperware This will make a major difference in how the car drives, and gas mileage. Below are a few before, and after photos of how we packed the car.      As you can see from the photos above, we really made the most of the space that we had available. The animals will have a blanket on top of the long box in the back seat. Which is nice because it is flat, and they will be comfortable enough to sleep (hopefully most of each day) BONUS HINT....If you plan on packing goodies or food for the trip that you think the little ones might want to eat ahead of time, or even yourself put them in the trunk of the car (after all......who really wants to have to go all the way out to the car to get a snack? Most kids also won't think to look in the trunk of their parents car). A cross-country trip is a huge adventure, and one that most people have on their bucket lists. We hope you have enjoyed this post, and we look forward to sharing even more tips from our trip with all of you. What item (s) do you find hardest to pack for a trip? Let us know in the comments below!  |
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Photos used under Creative Commons from jeffdjevdet, spinster cardigan, One Way Stock, regan76, M. Dolly, Thomas Rousing Photography, Post-Software, kevin dooley, Alan Stanton, Photoshoparama - Dan, campbelj45ca
