Moving can be one of the most strenuous activities that you ever do, and not being prepared can make for a real nightmare.

Have you ever watched a friend or family member -- who wasn't organized and didn't have some kind of checklist -- move before? If so, then you know what I mean.

It's usually a total disaster when you try to do everything for a move at the last minute -- especially if everyone else is standing around watching in amazement and you're about to lose it. It's not a pretty picture.

However, with a good moving check list in hand, your move will be more organized, simple, and far less stressful.

Here is my best moving checklist... it got me through a big move recently!

Earlier, I told you how we decided on ThermoSpas for our very first hot tub.

Now, I'll share a little bit of inside scoop about the ThermoSpa hot tub delivery process. It wasn't exactly as we thought it would be. That doesn't mean it was a 'bad' experience -- just different than we initially thought.

The good news is, we're thrilled with our ThermoSpa hot tub and we've used it every day since we got it (...except for a few days when we were out of town).

This is what our backyard looked like -- before the ThermoSpas hot tub... and after.

 

What's on your to-do list these days?  Does it include one or more projects around the house that you might be able to hire a professional to do for you instead?

I've already told you about my recent carpet cleaning experience (...where I wish we would have called a professional to clean the carpets for us instead of spending 2 days doing it ourselves!).

We learned a valuable lesson there.  In addition to paying to rent the carpet cleaner machine (and the carpet cleaning solution), three of us ended up spending 2 days moving furniture, setting up fans, and maneuvering the bulky carpet cleaner throughout the rooms of our house in order to get our carpets clean. In the end, we lost a lot of valuable time.  And we were all very sore!

Now, here are some other do-it-yourself projects that are usually best when left to the professionals.  Plus, great tips for deciding whether you should pay a professional or do the job yourself.

I'm here to tell you that sometimes doing it yourself does not pay off.

My family and I spent the past weekend cleaning our carpets.  My husband rented a carpet cleaning machine from Home Depot for 2 days. 

Along with the cost of the cleaning solution ($108.27 with tax) and the carpet cleaning machine itself, my husband, my son and I spent the better part of 2 days moving furniture, setting up fans, and using this behemoth of a machine to get our carpets clean.

Soap scum is a combination of soap, bacteria, dead skin, and body oils that builds up builds up on showers and bathtubs.

This waxy film can often be difficult to remove, if you don't have the right products.

Throughout my cleaning career, I have cleaned a lot of showers and tubs -- many times without great success. But over time, I've found what I consider to be the best products and methods for soap scum removal.

Jim and I always want to call it "ThermaSpa"(with an "a"), but technically the company name is ThermoSpas (with an "o" and usually plural). Confusing name, but their hot tubs are a supurb quality and we couldn't be happier that we are the proud new owners of a ThermoSpa hot tub.

I just thought I'd share a little about how we were introduced to ThermoSpas and why we think they make some of the best hot tubs around.


I'm Not Really The Hot Tub Type
By the way, I never thought I would be the owner of a hot tub. It's just not anything I've ever been interested in. I mean... we've had a swimming pool before (at a house we rented in Florida), so I know how we actually ended up using it much less than we initially thought we would.  And I've always put hot tubs in that same category as swimming pools, trampolines, jungle gyms, and weight machines -- expensive things you always think you'll use a lot. But in the end, you don't.

That said (and much to my surprise), I'm actually extremely glad that we got a hot tub! Jim is, too. But I don't think we would be as happy with just any hot tub. We like our ThermoSpas hot tub for several very specific reasons. (For what it's worth... ThermoSpa says that their demographic is 35 to 64, with most being in their mid to late 40s. Yep, that's us!)

Moving is hard enough, without it being such an overwhelming job time-wise that you feel exhausted before you even start packing!

The truth is, most of us feel this way about moving.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

There are several things you can do to both save time and make packing less stressful when you are preparing to move...