Lists

We are roughly 4 months from leaving for vacation.  Do you know how incredibly fast that time will go?  There is a lot I want to get done before then.  Everything falls into two categories:  House or Trip

Makes sense, right?  

Here’s an updated to-do list for our trip:

*Book hotel in Belgium - DONE!  We are confirmed delegates.  I received our stamped confirmation form from our hotel in Ghent. Yay!

*Renew passport - DONE!
     -get certified copy of marriage license from Nebraska to include with      passport application
     -take passport photos
     -copy and mail passport renewal paperwork

*Find a 'watchdog' app for flights that will alert you when flights go on sale – DONE!  I chose Skyscanner.  I get an email each time there are changes to the ticket prices.

*Research cheapest cities to fly in/out of.  We are going to Belgium first, but it may be cheaper to fly into/out of a different city.  Like London or Paris and then take a train to Ghent.  – DONE!  This is a feature of the Skyscanner app.

*Decide on a 'pull-the-trigger' amount for purchasing plane tickets - DONE!

*Register with the Belgium branch (can’t do this until May, according to the website)
     -arrange a day trip to Brussels
     -arrange a day trip to Bruges
     -tour the Belgium branch
     -ask about transportation, meals, etc.

*Purchase plane tickets (hopefully this will happen by April)

*Start contacting friends in France to see if we can stay with them for part of our trip - DONE!!  We have a place to stay in Paris AND a car to use if we need it!!! 

*Plan side trips (one or two of the following…Paris for sure)
     -Paris
          ~day trip to Normandy
          ~day trip to Versailles - purchase tickets online to get discount
          ~purchase Louvre tickets online to get discount 
     -Possibly London
     -Maybe Amsterdam
     -Maybe Germany (!)
     -Maybe Switzerland (!)
     -Possibly southern France (!)

*Attend a free European packing class at Liebers Luggage

*Start gathering gifts for our house/dog sitter (gift cards, wine, etc.) - IN PROGRESS

*Finalize budget for the next six months – DONE! (thank you YNAB!)

1-2 months before we leave:

*Order Euros from the bank to have some actual cash on hand

1 week before we leave:

*Contact bank/credit card companies to alert them where and when we will be gone

*Confirm hotel reservations in Ghent

*Write out detailed instruction sheet for our house/dog sitter (to include itineraries, contact info, etc.)

*Put mail on hold

*Pay all bills that will be due during the time we are gone

So….some progress made.  Once we purchase our plane tickets, we’ll be able to plan a lot more. But finding a place to stay in Paris is HUGE....that will save us loads of money.

Here is my ‘Home’ to-do list:

*Go through ALL of our movies, pull out the ones I will never watch again and add to ‘sell’ pile for Hastings – IN PROGRESS

*Update our movies/tv series on our ‘My Movies’ app and put in appropriate envelopes and file

*Organize linen cabinets in laundry room

*Hold garage sale at my mother-in-law’s in March

*Finish going through kitchen items (garage sale)

*Go through bedroom closet one more time (Goodwill – in my experience, adult clothes and shoes never sell well at garage sales)

*Go through handbags (garage sale) - DONE!

*Go through cookbooks (garage sale) - DONE!

*Go through all books, add to ‘sell’ pile for Hastings

*Completely clean out/deal with personal email account (stuff I have scanned and need to save to our computer, etc.)

*Start pricing things for garage sale

*Make signs for garage sale

*Drop off 5 Goodwill bags that are in garage

*Sell back items to Hastings

*Take DSLR basics class from abeautifulmess.com (class is purchased, but I haven’t taken it yet…it’s a self-study with videos and pdf documents)

*Clean out coat closet

*Go through buffet in dining room - DONE!

*Start gallery wall in entryway….get framed family pictures off of surfaces

*Make eye appointment (new contacts)

*Make doctor’s appointment

*Remove and store rugs (new puppy + rugs = messes) in the garage for a while - DONE

I want my house to be completely overhauled and clutter free by the time we go to Europe this summer.  The garage sale will be a huge help in this regard.  We have a snow day today and I've made some progress on some of these items already!