Wishes And Pixie Dust

Follow the journey of a Wisconsin family of 4 who relocated to the Walt Disney World area in July 2011


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38

Today the number 38 is significant for us.

Why 38?

Because we have 38 boxes packed as of today!   And yes, we counted them, and we not only counted them, but we have an itemized list on the laptop.  It’s all in the details, my friends!

We are slowly moving forward.  Mark found a video on YouTube, which gives a tour of the apartment complex we are most interested in:  The Gardens at Citrus Tower.  We really like what we see, but we still need to wait until the end of May to submit our application and finalize details.

Yesterday it was a beautiful day in Wisconsin, and we took the opportunity to drive to Sheboygan and go by Lake Michigan.  Needless to say, it was significantly cooler by the lake, so we only stayed for a short while, but still managed to snap a photo of the kids:

We also did a little shopping in Kohler, Wisconsin.  We found this fab little lamp that was clearanced down to $20 from $45, and snatched it up.  It will probably end up being a bedroom lamp, but it was just so much to walk around and look at the items and think about how we plan to decorate our new home!

 

As this post goes through, we have exactly 102 days and 50 minutes until we leave for Florida!  Be sure to check back in two days and check out our fun post for our 100th day out!


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Attitude Makes The Difference!

As I was browsing through Status Shuffle on Facebook last night, I came across this status:  “Attitude is the difference between an ordeal or an adventure!” Even though I’m sure a move from Wisconsin to Florida was not the intent of whomever came up with that particular status, I realized that it really has become our philosophy.

Every single person who learns of our move says one thing:  “take me with you!”  Some express the sentiment that they could never do that themselves due to various commitments.  Moving across several states can be considered a huge ordeal.  There are so many considerations to think of:  hiring movers, the packing, researching the area, the packing, finding a new home to live in, the packing, and settling the children in schools, just to name a few.  Did we mention the packing?  :=)

As we have mentioned previously, we choose to think of our move as an adventure.  Things are falling into place nicely, but it’s not all a bed of roses.  There are so many uncertainties, such as where will we live, what do we need to pack in the car with us, what if the movers lose some of our boxes?  The packing itself is a huge proposition and not for the weak of heart.  We have given away a lot of our belongings, some we will not miss, some it hurts to give away.  Even though it’s just “stuff”, it’s funny how we can become so emotionally attached to things.  Mayflower has estimated our box quantity as 102 packed boxes; it will be interesting to see how many boxes we end up with.

Overall we are very pleased at the progress we have been making.  Our original goal was to be done with the downstairs by April 18th.  I don’t foresee that happening; the kitchen itself will probably take a couple weeks in itself, and we haven’t started there yet.  We pack as we have time, but we are not in super packing mode yet.  Our goal is to pack one box a day:  some days this happens, some days not.    We however feel very fortunate that we have had so much time to sort through things, discard what needs to be discarded, and put certain items on Ebay/Craigslist/Freecycle.  It ensures that we will be taking only those items that are meaningful to us.

As we approach our 100th day out, we have been working on a special blog post.  Be sure to come back and visit us to check it out!



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This ‘n’ That



We have been slowly moving along, and just wanted to share our latest thoughts and activities.

We did hear back from The Gardens at Citrus Tower, and right now they remain our #1 choice.  As we mentioned before, we really cannot apply until mid-May, so we are kind of in a holding position until then.  Our original plan was to apply at all three complexes in May, visit them all once we arrive in Clermont on July 25th, and then make our final decision. However, all three complexes do require an application fee, as well as a deposit.  The deposit is non-refundable if we choose not to live there.  In the interest of not throwing money away, we have decided to make our decision here in Wisconsin, without physically viewing the apartment.  We realize this does pose some risks, but we feel we can get a fairly good feel from the websites, we have friends in Orlando who have promised to scope out the area for us, and we go with the realization that we can always move in twelve months if we’re not satisfied with either the neighborhood or the apartment.  We will feel more secure leaving Wisconsin knowing that we have an address we are moving to.   We will probably have to stay in a hotel in the Orlando area for a few days, if for no other reason then we have to wait to get beds delivered.  We are looking for feedback on the best place to buy beds in the Clermont area.

We are slowly packing up our belongings, and our new goal is to pack one box a day.  If we do more, great!, but the minimum is one box daily.  We average about one Goodwill trip per week now.  Downstairs we are pretty well at the point where most of what is left are things we are bringing with us.   Mark is working on moving our music CDs over to our external hard drive, and we are both trying to duplicate our videos to DVD.  Our Disney videos we will need to make a decision on, as they are write-protected.  We may look into re-purchasing them over the next four months, and only saving the ones that are currently not available on DVD.

Our second car is listed on Craigslist, and we have an interested party coming by to look at it this afternoon.  If all goes well, this will allow us to pay off the loan on our other car, plus have a little extra to bank.   We’ll go back to being a one-car family, but with Mark working at home full-time, it’s not too much of an inconvenience for us, and it will save us approximately $150 per month.  It will also save us on our renewal fees for AAA, coming up in June.

It really is amazing to see how God is blessing our family with every aspect of this move. It’s exciting to see how all the details are coming together nicely, and at times even better than we expected.  We really feel Florida is where we are meant to be, and while we will miss certain aspects of Wisconsin, we are so looking forward to creating new memories and experiences in Florida.  In some aspects, it’s difficult to believe that two months have passed since we first made the decision to move.  It’s hard to wait four more months, but we both feel it will be here before we know it.

Thanks for following along,

Mark and Jen


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Costco or Sams Club?

Although the calendar says Spring, it is definitely still Winter here in Wisconsin.  As we were trying to find something to do today that didn’t require spending time outside, we decided to take a research trip and visit Costco in Grafton, Wisconsin.  Up until January, we have been members at Sams Club for about 11 years or so.   It has served our needs, but we have heard that Costco is better.  So we went off to find out for ourselves.

We received a one-day pass which allowed us to look around, but not buy anything.  If we wanted to purchase an item, then we would have needed to purchase a membership.  The cost of memberships at Costco are $50, as compared to $40 at Sams Club.  Costco accepts cash, checks and American Express.   Upon reviewing their website, it also states that they accept debit/ATM cards; however, this was not revealed to us at the store.

The prices of the items are very comparable to Sams Club.  Mark noticed that the Costco brand, Kirkland, has a little more variety in the items offered as opposed to the Sams Club brand.  They seem to offer all the items that we purchase regularly at Sams Club.  There are two things we heard that sets Costco apart from Sams Club:  the meat department and the excellent customer service.  We cannot really speak to the customer service, as we really didn’t shop there, we just walked through.  The meat department, though, lives up to its claim.  The prices were reasonable, and the quality of the meat excellent.

Overall, we had a positive impression of our visit.  We did not purchase a membership, because we were not anticipating not being able to use our credit or bank cards.   At the membership desk the representative seemed to be encouraging us to apply for the American Express card, which is not something we want to do.  We are satisfied with the credit cards we have, and don’t need to add more credit to our financial situation.

We have decided to wait until we are settled in our apartment in Clermont, and see what kind of storage space we have available to us.  It makes no sense to obtain a membership if we have no place to store the items we buy.  We have found that in the past with our Sams Club membership it really does pay for itself, and we are certain the Costco one will as well, but we think it’s a decision best left until after we’re settled.

We’d love to hear your good/bad experiences with Sams Club and/or Costco!  Which one do you think is better, and why?


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A place to live

After years of living in rental housing, we have decided that our first choice in housing once we move to Florida is an apartment complex.  We don’t want the responsibility of lawn care, and we have discovered that some apartment complexes do included utilities in the rent.  One thing that has surprised us is that the asking deposit is a lot less than expected: most only require $200-$300.  (Our current security deposit is equal to one month’s rent). Mark is the guru behind our apartment searching.  He has done all the research in finding different apartment complexes, through craigslist postings and internet searches.  We have narrowed our search down to three different apartment complexes, all located in Clermont:

Cagan Crossings

Cagan Crossings is an apartment community located four miles west of Walt Disney World in Clermont.  It offers a “town within a town” setting, including a library, restaurants, and even an old-fashioned ice cream parlor.  Everything is within walking distance of your apartment.  Utlities are not included; however currently they do offer either a flat screen TV or $500 off rent upon move-in.   A washer/dryer is not included but can be rented for $35 per month.

Village at East Lake

The Village at East Lake offers 3 bedroom apartments within walking distance of favorite stores and restaurants.  No utilities are provided here as well, but they do offer move-in specials.   Water and trash was estimated to be approximately $35 per month, which is a pleasant surprise:  we are currently paying $130 per month, and no we do not use an excessive amount of water!    The water rates here in Fond du Lac are outrageous.  Washer and dryers are included in every unit, and the website makes the claim that the laundry rooms for the 3 bedrooms are larger than in most homes.

The Gardens at Citrus Tower

The Gardens at Citrus Tower offer ceramic tiled floors, gourmet kitchens and valet trash Monday-Friday.   Washer and dryers are included in every unit, and their website offers a fun feature where you can virtually place your furniture into their floor plan to make sure everything fits.

All places state that we need to wait until mid-May before submitting an application.  We are waiting to hear back from The Gardens of Citrus Tower, but have talked with the other two property managers.  Both Cagan Crossings and The Village at East Lake do confirm that we will be able to move in early, before August 1.

We would love to hear feedback if you have personal experiences with these complexes, or know of one that we should consider.  We are not totally ruling out renting a home from a private party; we are keeping our options open, but we’re leaning towards one of these three complexes at the moment.