Project Management Drill

Now that we’ve gone and purchased another home, we have a lot of planning and re-planning to do. Our original retirement blueprint had us selling the condo and buying a new home in 2013. Now we are going to own 2 homes for about 2 years, so we have substantially jostled the financial apple cart. It’s all manageable – just a matter of timing and adjusting cash flow – but our decision created some work for Ron and our financial advisor.

My head is spinning with the logistics of setting up a new household without dismantling our current one. But it’s not unlike what we did when we purchased the condo while still owning the home in Memphis. After we closed in Chicago, we “camped out” here for a week. We slept on an air mattress, used paper plates and plastic utensils, and had a folding table and chairs. It was almost like setting up house for the first time after college, except this time we had money! Much of the furniture we had in Memphis wouldn’t work for Chicago, so we bought a lot of new things to establish our smaller, urban home.

The Prescott situation is different in some ways. We’ll want to use quite a few of our Chicago belongings in Arizona. In my mind, I’m already shopping and decorating, and trying to figure out what our “camping out” period in Prescott will entail over the coming months. Here are some of the things clanging around noisily in my head:

• We’ll need a new sofa, because the one in Chicago is too small for the great room in Prescott. Besides, we need something to sit on when we’re there.
• Although we’ll sleep on an air mattress at first, we need to shop for a bed for the master bedroom. Our current master bedroom furniture will eventually be the guest room suite.
• A few essentials need to be shipped ahead of us, including the air mattress and bedding.
• I’m making shopping lists for things like towels, dishes, utensils, glasses, cleaning materials, etc.
• Some clothes will travel with us and stay in Prescott, streamlining packing for future trips.
• I must call and put the utilities in our names.
• We need cell phones that work there (AT&T doesn’t have coverage on the fringes of Prescott).
• Our car (we only have one) will relocate to Prescott, to eliminate the expense of parking in Chicago. Now we need a plan for getting from PHX Sky Harbor Airport to Prescott when we visit…

It goes on and on. I am equipped with a brand new spiral-bound notebook, a fresh yellow highlighter, and project management skills. Who needs Microsoft Project?!