Pregnant, Packing, & Pop!

I am beyond happy to be pregnant with my Rainbow baby this year. Besides all of the ups and downs that typically come with pregnancy to think about, I quickly realized my due date was also post move out date for my apartment. Here’s how I made it happen and some advice for anyone looking to move while pregnant or near their due date.

First, I couldn’t choose to stay. My roommate and I had lived together for a year and a half, most of which she spent living at her boyfriends house. They had decided to move in together. I love my apartment and would have loved to stay before I knew I was pregnant. I had thought about getting a new roommate. I also had thought about making moves to go active in my Army career which could move me anyways. Our apartment is a super perfect 2B 2B on the third floor. We qualified for income based rent which saved us about $75 a month. We only had to pay internet and electric! It’s also one of those places that has a community pool, playground, etc. a great place to raise a kiddo even! Well, even if I could move to a 1st floor apartment, I couldn’t quite figure out how I would pay my rent by myself. I’m getting no support from baby daddy and I want to finish paying off my small debts and hopefully a good chunk of my student loans I have left. Now, I’m better off than most in that I don’t have a car note, my military insurance is amazing, and I live a pretty minimalistic lifestyle. I don’t even need a gym membership because I have an army base near by I can use. I turned off some subscriptions and cancelled some memberships I thought I could live without, saving me about $200 a month and I still couldn’t see myself raising the money to pay rent/bills in 2 places, a deposit, a pet fee, and moving costs while also saving enough to have bills paid and basic needs covered for me and baby while on “maternity leave.” Unfortunately, my job doesn’t offer paid maternity leave even though I work 40-70 hours a week. My parents were gracious enough to offer to be my Grandma daycare and let me move home for a few months while I don’t work! Insert official move plan. I’m super lucky I’m still living close to home and my family is so amazing!

Now that we had a plan I had to start packing and figuring out logistics. I’m big on writing things down on paper. I have a bullet journal and a planner so I started mapping out pages for the big move and setting stone cold dates.

🚨 Tip #1 🚨 set a timeline with specific deadlines! Stick to them and communicate plans accordingly with anyone who will be helping you. Obviously moving at 8-9 months pregnant I won’t be much help so I decided right away I wanted to start packing immediately! My stepdad and my little brothers with be a big help with lifting and moving things so I have to plan for a weekend. Not the best for me since those are my busiest days at work, but I gotta make it happen. I’m also at risk to deliver early so I decided to talk to my roommate about potentially moving out early. She was actually looking into a new lease wit her man to start soon anyways so the next step was to talk to our leasing office. We put in our 60 day notice and our new move out date went from May 9 to March 25th! I adjusted some of my timeline to fit the new deadline. My timeline consists of packing a section of my apartment each week until mid March when we will move it all. To be honest, I have ended up packing more per week! I think it’s nesting and excitement! Make sure you plan cut off or transfer dates and set them with your utilities too! I decided to shut my WiFi off a whole month cycle early because I can save almost $100 to help with moving costs. I have internet on my phone and I’m mostly at work anyways. I can read books for entertainment at home and I can also go to a coffee shop or somewhere to use free WiFi for a couple weeks if need be.

🚨 Tip #2 🚨 start downsizing and packing what you don’t need over the next few months. This was super easy for me to do since i live a pretty minimalistic lifestyle as it is. I also spend more time at work than at home during football/basketball season. I started in my closet. I buckled down and made myself donate anything and everything that I hadn’t worn at least twice in a year. I had a lot of nice business clothes and workout stuff in this donation pile. Some stuff was hard to let go of but I had to be strong and stick to my rule. I ended up removing over half my closet! I also ended up being able to donate most of the clothes to one of my employees who had just started her new college internship. Talk about a boost to my happiness to be able to help someone I care about versus wondering if those things are just sitting in a stock room somewhere. Next, I packed up all of the clothes that I wouldn’t be wearing in the next 6 months either due to baby weight gain or seasons reasons. BOOM! Another 1/3 of my closet packed. A fellow soldier and friend of mine donated all of her girls baby clothes to me (again, I’m sooooo lucky with the support I have around me). So I immediately went through all of them and decided what I could use/keep and what I would donate onward. I actually ended up with a ton of stuff! Yay! I separated them into sized and boxed accordingly. Newborn to 3 months I’ll take to my mama house with me and the rest I’ll stick in storage until we move into our own place again (hopefully this fall). I went through my shoes next and did the same thing as my closet. I don’t have a ton of shoes so I didn’t ditch a whole bunch but I did a little shoe donation to a friend who has the same size feet. Feels good to share. I was also able to donate an old coffee table, a small extra entertainment center, a bench, and some kitchen stuff too. I also went through all my water bottles and got rid of things I hadn’t used in months or that we’re missing lids. (I have an addiction to workout shakers, water bottles, and coffee cups). I already felt like my apartment was halfway done!

🚨Tip #3🚨 start using up your pantry & only buy the groceries you need as you need them! I started getting creative with meals and forcing myself to cook a bit more than I had been with working so much. My goal is to use up most, if not all of my pantry and freezer items before I move out. Less to pack and move but also won’t end up going to waste either. Before going to the grocery store I double check what I have and try to plan my meals for the week based off what I have stored to use. When shopping, I always ask myself, “do you absolutely need this?” And “will you eat all of this by March 1st?”

🚨Tip #4🚨Get your work request in for moving if you need to ASAP Rocky! Don’t wait. Early planning and open communication are the keys to success with just about anything. Your boss will appreciate the early notice I’m sure. In my case, it ensures I’ll get the time off as well so I can stick to my deadlines and I don’t have to stress or worry about not being able to help as much as possible.

🚨Tip #5🚨 I know fewer boxes aka big boxes to pack lots of stuff in sounds great and all, but remember WEIGHT. The bigger the box, the more stuff, the heavier it may be. For me, I chose medium size boxes mostly and then smaller ones for stuff I’m actually taking to my moms house. For starters, I can help a little by carrying smaller boxes and second, nobody will hate me for making them carry super heavy or awkward boxes if they don’t need to.

🚨Tip #6🚨spread out the expenses you can but get them done before moving. I’m talking about oil changes, any birthday or holiday events approaching, and things of that nature. I had 4 months to do this by the time I decided my official moving plans.

Bottom line is… don’t stress it! You and baby don’t need any extra stress during this time. Learn how to take some deep breaths and realize things will be okay. When you start to feel overwhelmed, take a break and review the plan. Remind yourself that you got this! Good luck! Congratulations 🍾🎉

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