Use Paper Towels

City Living Lesson 2: Pretreat Daily, Wash Weekly (and use paper towels)

I love microfiber cloths. I adore them...I don't love them as much after they've been mouldering in my rag bag for a week. My step ladder is now doubling as a rag drying rack and I grab for a paper towel if I have a bad spill to clean up. Clothes that get stained get a quick squirt of stain remover and then get added to the hamper.

It's different for me, but probably most different for our son. He used to be able to get away with adding clean discarded clothes to the hamper-now I grill him on each item because I don't want to haul any more than I have to down to the laundromat.

The tiny closets in our apartment and in the houses we've looked at are also inspiring me to cut down on the amount of clothing we have. Now that the boxes are mostly unpacked I can start thinking about that sort of thing. I'm surprised at how much we brought with us that we don't need.

Wear Good Shoes

In addition to shaking up all our stuff, moving has shaken up how we do things in our household.  The most important lesson so far?  


Wear good shoes and always carry a good shoulder bag/tote.  


We have no garage or even a reserved parking spot.  At best we walk 30 yards from the street to the apartment. At worst? Well, let's just say it's a good thing I've got experience as an AT hiker. I never leave the house now without good shoes on. Our son learned about carrying a good bag when we left the public library with armfuls of books and had to hike to our parking spot.


On the plus side, I'm going to leave some excess baggage in Kansas:  I've lost 5 pounds in this first week alone

One Week in New York City

I've been married for 15 years and doing laundry and other chores for as long as I can remember, and it's interesting how one week in New York City can change the way I look at and plan my household chores.

First thing I've learned? Wear good shoes and always carry a good shoulder bag/tote. 

I also have a list of things I've changed: 

Old rule: a load of laundry a day

NYC change: spot treat stains daily, head to the laundromat once a week

Old rule: once a week grocery shopping

NYC change: a little at a time (and I'm considering delivery service)

Old rule: keep the box

NYC rule: reuse/recycle/remove everything!

Stay the same: do the dishes immediately

I'll tell you more about these throughout the week.

In the meantime, what's your moving/getting settled tip?