Thursday, January 19, 2017

Ahhh, the chaos

I'm still here, but in the midst of the mad house closing scramble. It's been a very stressful few days - lots of paperwork & number crunching, and document signing. We are making good progress, but I haven't even thought about the actual move. My first goal is to prepare for signing & get all of our assets liquidated in time for closing. No small feat given the number of accounts & multitude of investments we are talking about.

But, I'm focusing on the positives. We close on the 8th, and my birthday is on the 10th. I've decided to take the 10th off, and have a glass of champagne while packing. Baby steps. :-)

I'll provide more of a financial update, but it's safe to say that things will be tighter than I'd prefer for at least a few months, until more of my stock vests. And, then we will sell our Seattle house & have a cushion again. Woohoo!

I'm also mentally creating a list of things we don't want to move & will either donate or sell in advance. The boys & I are going through their rooms this weekend for the sorting process: toss, donate, sell, keep/move. Should be a hoot!

In other news, we've spent no money of any kind, because, well, when you are plunking down a big bunch of money for a down payment, it makes you feel really uninterested in spending anything else. :-)

The to do list! As you can see, it's a mix of big & small tasks, but they all need to be completed.

  1. Sort out a nanny for next week. Mine had a family emergency (her grandmother passed away), so I need to either plan to work from home in the afternoons, or trade off a few days with M.
  2. Liquidate remaining assets before next week (x3). Have a call out to my broker on one that's particularly tricky.
  3. Provide paper trail of all money to the bank.
  4. Figure out moving date. (This is dependent on our landlord getting our house rented).
  5. Start packing
  6. Book exterminator for new house. (This is a thing before people move in, apparently. Wasn't required in Washington, so a new process for me). 
  7. Sort out work travel plans based on move date.
  8. Finish new cash flow model based on expenses. After 11+ years of marriage, M & I have finally come to terms with needing a combined cash flow, vs each covering specific expenses and managing independently. Should be a fun exercise to put it all together. Random trivia - my cash flow spreadsheet is 20+ years old. Why fix what's not broken. 
  9. Provide notice to tenants that we will not renew their rental contract.
  10. Book a camp for the kids in February, when we were supposed to be skiing. 

And, that's it for me! What's the #1 item on your to do list today?

12 comments:

  1. I know it is a lot of planning and organizing but how exciting! My plan for the day is to be a couch potato, except for a major kitchen clean up.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is exciting! Crazy, but it's nice to have a firm plan of where we'll be until the boys finish school.

      Delete
  2. WooHoo! Don't forget to check craigslist for FREE moving boxes:-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This was a great reminder! I'm picking up free boxes tomorrow. :-)

      Delete
  3. #1 is cleaning up from having new flooring put in throughout the entire house. Sort of like moving in a way, in that I feel like I've moved almost every item in our house in the process!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We are looking into having new flooring put in before we move in - for exactly that reason. Not sure if we'll be able to swing it financially, or with move dates. Fingers crossed.

      Delete
  4. Wow, that's a list, but you're up for the challenge. I'm so happy for your family, and that you're putting roots down.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It feels really, really good to have a solid plan again. I knew it was haunting me in the back of my mind, but now having that off my plate tells me how stressful it really was to be undecided.

      Delete
  5. Don't worry about the packing part, just worry about the completing purchase part, one day at a time :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's been my mind set as well. Two more stock transactions to complete, and I'll be wrapped up with my end of the financing. Just leaves M, and all of the paperwork. ;-)

      Delete
  6. Oh wow, that's quite a list. You can do this!

    The down payments here are staggering, aren't they? I'm seeing the most run down homes going for more than $800 / square feet.

    I didn't know that an exterminator was required, but I suppose that's logical when homes are frequently quite old and haven't had a change in residents since the 50s! Thanks for sharing that tidbit, another thing for me to be prepared for.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. With the downpayment we're putting down, it would buy a house in almost any other city in the US. It's really crazy to me that people bring this much cash to the table. It's come down to liquidating every account we've ever had. There will be some really really squeaky months until things build up again with stock vests.

      The exterminator thing is really common before you move in, I learned. At first I thought my realtor was full of it, so I asked around the office, and everyone confirmed that you spray before you move in. So, I guess it's a good practice. I'll keep you posted on other tidbits I learn along the way! :-)

      Delete