Excellent idea Theresa. ;^) Kellie don't forget a small spray bottle to bring along. It seems to really help on the droopy ones that are not happy with the long trip. Also don't do like I did (musta been that labotamy) and crank the heat & fan. Most of them were most displeased with that.

Oh boy can I relate. We went through that so many times....but we were by ourselves. DH is an only child and my brother never helped with anything. We did DH's grandmother's NYC apartment, his parent's NYC apartment, my mother's house of 50 years (plus 3 barns full of stuff!) when she moved to her condo here, and then after she passed, the condo and her house in FL. Then we had to pack or toss everything from the old house that was on this property (DH's family's summer place) and move it to our old house while we tore it down and rebuilt. Then we had to pack and move everything to the new house once it was built so we could sell the our old house. There's a reason why my attic looks like a goodwill store! My cousin is going through the same thing with her Dad's house of 60 years. We spent an evening together trying to determine who was who in the boxes of photos we've amassed as everyone from that generation is no longer with us to ask....so please label your photos! It's also a key reason why I don't have a bread maker and a rice cooker et. al. It's also a reason why I try to decorate with what I have...it's so hard to justify buying more stuff, even if it isn't perfectly my taste. After you go through that, you realize that yesterday's "gotta have" is tomorrow's "gotta get rid of this drek!"

Barb5, I think you are right -- cleaning out the room is dredging up feelings that she did not expect. Compounding the issue is that none of her friends have to deal with this. They have larger homes, no younger siblings w/space needs, and are financially better off which makes this even more "unfair." I keep reassuring her that the rest of the house is exactly the same and will still feel and BE home, even if she's moved down the hall. I also said I will pay for her transportation home and she can come home any time she wants, no questions asked (within reason of course) so she knows we're here for her and this is her home. As for the timing, well we have talked about it for weeks and she didn't want to be surprised by any changes. She thought it would be harder on her to be uninvolved. Now that we're in the middle of it, I can see there'd be problems no matter how we approached it. From a practical standpoint, Sooner was better because DH is a hoarder. Every wall covered with magazine clippings, posters, etc, piles of books, notebooks, art supplies, dishes, etc. everywhere. I didn't know how I was going to get her organized and packed if we didn't strip it down. There's also a scheduling issue -- she's due at school Aug. 19, and since we're on vacation the first week of August and packing her up the second week the last two weeks of July are the best time (given my schedule and vacation schedules) to get it done. I've tried coming up with a compromise to ease her worries but my husband takes a firm line: it's not fair to keep the younger child crammed into his room once she's gone. She's had the bigger nicer room for 15 years (we lived elsewhere until she was 3) and it's now our son's turn. We've always repurposed space as the family's needs change, and that's what this is, in DHs opinion. He doesn't want to coddle her at our son's expense. Maybe I'm the coddler -- I'm feeling very torn here...

You had me at "everything has to come off the floor at some point". No short term solutions, move it once and be done, and I cannot say this firmly enough. We did a whole house update/remodel and addition, and that POD was absolutely a life saver, and we should have had it in place sooner than we did. We also had work being done on the garage and in the basement, so those areas were not so great for storage. Trust me, when the demo/building gets going hot and heavy, the very last thing you guys want to do is find somewhere else to put those boxes. We had to do this with some boxes that we stored downstairs and it was, to put it bluntly, stupid. We should have had that POD in place the week before demo began. Live and learn--and then share here! The POD will be worth every penny you spend on it. (unless you have a large, unused room somewhere else that's not being worked on at all--then use that) Put things that you think you MIGHT need towards the front of the POD so you can get to them if you end up needing them. We started out with basic plates/glasses/silverware in the temporary kitchen and quickly packed those away and bought disposables from a warehouse club. You can even get disposable paper bowls that can go in the microwave. Washing dishes in a basin in the bathtub just wasn't working for me--it was the only water source on the main floor available at the time, and it was also our only bathroom. I had made and frozen a lot of meals in advance and we thawed and ate those, interspersing pizza and other brought-in foods as needed. I am a cook from scratch person and my kids were simply amazed at the amount of pre-cooked food out there that they never even heard of! :-) I had a single induction burner and a rice cooker that also came in very handy in the temporary kitchen, located in one corner of the living room. For boxes, find a supply company like U-Line or Associated Bag--you can buy boxes in bulk for less than you'd pay at the UPS store or somewhere like that. We used paper, but you can buy bubble wrap in bulk there if that's what you want. If it's local, they'll usually let you come and pick it up, saving you even more. Label clearly--you will thank yourself when the time comes to unpack! It's too early in the game to be fighting with DH about anything remodel related. Save it for the big stuff that will undoubtedly come later. Or better yet, discuss now how you will deal with those things, because when the tension is high you don't need to be fighting about details. Best wishes for a fabulous remodel! Cj