We've discussed in the past the things to look for when buying a homestead property, but what should you do if you're trying to prepare your home to sell it? We're discussing why, even if you don't think you'll sell, these things are important to consider.
I know there are many of you who are thinking about selling your homes and buying a homestead property or something that gives you the ability to expand your modern homestead skills (like our new 40-acre homestead), or maybe you've already purchased a homestead many years ago, and what you thought was suited to your needs then, isn't cutting it anymore.
Even if you're not thinking of moving for a few years, this podcast episode will hopefully be helpful for you.
In this episode, I'm interviewing Michelle, who happens to have worked with me since 2015 and if you're a member of the Pioneering Today Academy, you may have had some correspondence with her.
Her family has lived on their five-acre homestead for 24 years, and what was originally their five-year plan turned into over two decades of life. She's sharing her family's desire to move to a larger property and the steps they're taking to get there.
In 2016 Michelle and her family decided it was time to get serious about getting out of debt because they wanted more out of life. The debt was hanging over them taking up too much mental space and adding too much stress to truly live the free lifestyle they desire. She's currently preparing her home to sell.
Stop Making Additions
This doesn't mean to stop making improvements on the home, we all know bathrooms and kitchens are what sell a home. But what we mean by this is to stop investing money in things like perennial berry bushes, fruit trees, and garden spaces.
None of these will increase the resale value of your home, and you'll be spending your hard-earned money for someone else's profit.
One caveat I would add is if you're purchasing plants and/or bushes that can move with you. If you know you're moving within a year or two, you could buy some potted blueberry bushes or herbs, or maybe even grab a Greenstalk Vertical Planter (use code “PIONEERING” for $10 off your order) that would allow you to still grow some food, but to also be able to bring that vertical garden with you when you move.
Check out this post on using grow bags in the garden. If you'll be moving during the growing season, these could still allow you to grow a garden that can travel with you to your new home.
Start Decluttering Now
It's a good idea to start decluttering your home now! Even if you don't think you'll move for a few months or even years. You don't have to do much, just a drawer at a time. But thinking in terms of moving can give you a different view on items in your home and the importance they hold.
Go through every area of your house and ask yourself, “do I want to move this with me to my new home?” If the answer isn't an easy “yes”, then consider selling or donating the item.
This will also help you get organized (it's hard to declutter without organizing at the same time), so when it comes time to pack, you'll have given yourself a head start.
Pack Strategically
Michelle has an incredibly organized mind and a great way of packing. Everything that gets packed ahead of time she knows she won't be needing before she moves, and she also won't need them right away in the new house.
For example, every time they eat something from a canning jar, she cleans the jar and packs it away since they'll be moving during the summer months and won't have a garden to preserve this year.
She packs like items (or at least items that belong in the same room together) in boxes then labels each box with a different number. This number (and the items in the corresponding box) are listed in a notebook along with whether or not it needs to be unpacked right away.
She will even mark the order in which each box needs to be unpacked once it arrives at the new house. But if there's a need for an item that hasn't been unpacked, she can go right to her list to find out which box it's in.
Get a Professional Evaluation
If you're wanting to sell your home, but even if you aren't quite ready yet, it's a good idea to get a professional evaluation. There may be some items in your home you think need replacing or fixing, but a professional may give you a different opinion.
For example, Michelle knew they needed to replace their deck, and they had a hunch they needed to replace their windows, however, after a professional evaluation, they realized only windows that had broken seals needed to be replaced.
Know What You Want
If you're feeling like you don't like where you live, it's important to know why you're not happy where you are.
- Do you need more space?
- Are you limited with what you can do?
- Do you have too much space?
- Are you wanting a more rural setting?
- Etc.
Knowing why you want a different home is important so you make sure the new home you're purchasing is going to fit into your desires.
For me, we've lived on our homestead for over 20 years and have built up an orchard and so many perennial berry bushes, so knowing we would lose all that if we ever moved is a big deal because those trees and bushes wouldn't come with us.
We would like more space for our growing business, so we're currently adding infrastructure both in an addition to our home, but also with an outbuilding.
For some, expanding or adding buildings isn't possible, but it's good to know one way or the other.
Get Out of Debt
When you don't have debt you're much more likely to be able to pay for more expensive items in full without having to finance. Because you're not financing, in the long run, you're actually saving money.
Check out this post on five tips for cutting your debt, as well as this post on how to earn a living from your homestead.
Have a “Due Date” in Mind
If your home needs many repairs and updates before you're able to put it on the market, it's a good idea to have a “due date” in mind regarding the upgrades.
Michelle also shared that she and her husband wanted to enjoy some of the upgrades they were putting into the house.
If this is the case, you may have a due date that's further away, giving you time to make the upgrades and still enjoy them before selling.
Take Perennials With You
It may not be possible to uproot and move all your perennials, but as many as you can bring with you the better off you'll be on your next property.
Michelle talks about a tree that was given to her by her mother and she's going to try and take a clipping and graft it onto a new tree that she'll be able to plant in her new home. How to Propagate Plants – Stem Cuttings, Rooting Plants, and Using Rooting Hormones
Some people even write into the contract that they can come and get clippings or dig up a portion of plants to be able to transplant them once you're settled in your new place.
If there's something that holds dear memories for you, consider having a photographer come out and take some family photos around that item. Maybe, like Michelle, it's a tree and you could have a memorable photograph framed for your new home.
Verse of the Week: Ezekiel 34:24-27
More Posts You May Enjoy
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- Avoid Overwhelm – Choosing What's Right for Your Homestead
- Homesteading With Children (With Rebecca Rhodes)
- Staying Prepared on a Homestead
- Orchard Planning to Keep Pests Out (Live Coaching Call)
- The Homestead Documentary Project
- Creating a Homestead Business that Makes Money
- Maximizing Your Homestead for Profit & Production (With Joel Salatin)
- Homesteading Myths & Tips for Success
Melissa: Hey pioneers. Welcome to episode number 338. On today's episode, we're going to be talking about how to prepare your homestead to sell. Now, this is an episode worth listening to, even if you are not planning on immediately selling your homestead, or you're like, "Gosh, I don't know if we ever would sell our homestead." And the reason that I say that is because we, my husband and I, have went back and forth with, "Should we sell our place and move to a different state? Should we move to somewhere where we have more acreage so that we can expand our cattle operation and be able to raise more beef cattle and or be able to raise more pigs?" Basically just have more space available to pasture raise, because that's the only way we like to raise our animals, to increase our livestock operation and or the possibility of looking at states, we live in Washington State, at looking at states that are maybe a little bit more friendly to homesteaders.
So we've kind of had that battle back and forth and we have decided for the time being that we're staying exactly where we are. We are not planning on moving. But a lot of what we layout into today's episode are still steps that you may wish to take even if you don't think you're ready to put your place on the market right now, or are ready to sell and move. It's still worth listening to. Now, if you are considering selling, then you definitely want to listen because as homesteaders, there is a lot more that comes with moving and selling a homestead than just a regular home. Especially if you have put things into place using permaculture design, perennials, fruit trees, herbs, if you have livestock, even your food storage, those are all things that are going to be different when a homesteader is looking to sell and move and can add levels of complexity versus just a regular household.
So today's episode, we're diving into all of that. You're going to get all of the tips. And I'm really excited because today's interview, it's not really a coaching call, even though we've been doing a lot of those with members for the Pioneering Today Academy, which is my membership, and opening for the first time since last year. On March 23rd, 2022, we are opening again for just five days for new members. And so we've been sharing a lot about that as we lead up to it. But today you actually are going to be introduced to Michelle Hedgecock. So Michelle was first a member, one of the very first members of the Pioneering Today Academy when we opened the doors back in March of 2016. As far as my knowledge goes, we are one of the very first homesteading memberships to open online, digitally, that I'm aware of and still going strong.
We're coming up on our anniversary here, which is really exciting. Anyhow, Michelle was first a member, and then she quickly moved into helping me virtually. And that has evolved. We are now really good friends, and she's actually a really big part of both this podcast. She's actually the podcast manager. So she helps me book guests and get them scheduled and get them all the information that they need to have in order for us to record. She also books me on, which is also weird. There's also weird things to say, but true. She books me on other people's podcasts for interviews and all of that. She helps me manage that. She also helps inside the community and she also helps with the courses. You've probably seen Michelle on the webinars whenever I do any of the free live trainings. Usually I do about one a month. She's in the chat portion of the webinar while I'm teaching.
So if you've hung around with me for any amount of time online, you probably have bumped into Michelle, even if you didn't realize it because she helps out a ton with all aspects, really, of all of the homesteading online stuff that I do, which is fun. So I'm really excited to bring her on the podcast because this is something she and I have been just talking about as friends. And I'm like, man, this is really helpful info. Some of the things that she's doing, I hadn't thought of, when we were thinking about moving, that I know is really going to help you out a lot.
So we're going to jump into the interview. And if you want to hop to the blog post, because we will link to some other episodes that go into some things that we'll be discussing in more detail and depth. So you can go over to MelissaKNorris.com/338, because this is episode number 338. So MelissaKNorris.com/338 to get links to further resources as well joining the waitlist to get first option when we open the door for new members on March 23rd. So let us go to today's episode.
Well, hey Michelle. Welcome to officially being on the Pioneering Today Podcast.
Michelle: Well, thanks for having me.
Melissa: Yeah. It's so funny because you and I obviously talk pretty much daily, usually multiple times a day. Yeah, but I think the podcast is the one thing that you have not been on because you're in all of the other things. So this is fun to have you here too.
So I'm excited for us to talk about this topic because I think that there's a lot of people in this boat, especially with homesteading, it's one of those things like you start out as a beginner and you start out with maybe a few core things. But if you stick with homesteading, you quickly begin to evolve in every year, maybe every season, depending on you add more and more and more. And so what felt like was probably the perfect house, or if not perfect, at least well suited to your needs at the time, we're even going through this right now. But you quickly realize if 10, maybe even 15 years go by, sometimes even five years, you're like, "Oh man, this really isn't suiting all that we want to do now." And you have to evaluate, can we change things here at our current locale to make things work or do we look to move? And I know you guys have went through that journey. And so I kind of want to walk through that. So the property that you are on now, in your guys' house, how long have you guys lived there?
Michelle: We have been here 24 years. We bought the property from my grandmother and when we started out, homesteading wasn't even an inkling for us. We didn't actually start doing that until 2014.
Melissa: So I'm curious, what was it that put you into homesteading? If it wasn't an inkling, you didn't grow up with it, was there a certain thing that really pushed you to be like, okay, we're going to do this?
Michelle: Well, yes there was. And it was mostly so that I could quit my job.
Melissa: Okay. I love that.
Michelle: Yeah. I needed to get out of where I was at. And my whole idea was that I could save money if [inaudible 00:07:29] this stuff on our own. So that's where it started from.
Melissa: Okay. So yeah, the goal was I'm going to save money and we start producing our food. I'm now buying that from the grocery store. Okay, actually did not know how you actually came to it because by the time you and I started working together and I got to know you, you guys had already been homesteading for at least a couple of years at that point.
Michelle: Correct.
Melissa: Yeah. Okay. So you guys have had the property for 24 years and then as you evolved into doing homesteading and doing that more, when did you decide or when did you think this is not going to be our forever place and you guys decided that you're going to be moving, rather than just staying there and maybe doing some adjustments?
Michelle: When we bought the place, we initially had only planned to stay here five years. I then we had the recession in 2008 and we were upside down on the house, so we wound up staying. And once our daughter started going to school, we made the commitment that we were going to stay here until she was done with school. We wanted her in the same school system for her entire school career. So that's why we stayed.
Melissa: Okay.
Michelle: So when she became a freshman in high school, that's when we said, "Okay, we really need to start looking and evaluating. Are we going to stay here? Are we going to move?"
Melissa: When you were doing that, did you guys plan to move completely out of state or were you planning to look for property just in the area or was it more like, well, we'll just see what we can find, where we can find?
Michelle: We don't want to move out of state. We want to stay in Michigan. We actually like living in Michigan. But we want to say in a near area, at least I want to stay more local to where we are now because family's here and I don't really want to move too far away from family.
Melissa: Yeah.
Michelle: The other reason I want to stay here is because I have relationships with local farmers and I'm going to have to start all over again.
Melissa: No. I completely understand that there is something, when you're homesteading and you finally find places for the things that you can't produce yourself. In fact, I'm going through this right now. We have finally found a raw milk source, like really, really local. I'm going to the farm. And that is something that is actually taking me, even though I have lived where we live my entire life, it's taking me a long time to find it this local without having to drive out and it's just a family that have their own milk cow, that type of a milk share. And if I had to move farther away from that, it's a big deal.
Michelle: Exactly. Exactly.
Melissa: Yeah. So knowing that you guys were going to be moving, that you weren't actually going to stay where you were, you guys did something that I thought was really smart and especially for anybody who's, "Well, I think that we're going to be moving someday" or you have a plan like in so many years, if you have kids in school, that type of thing. But you guys did something really smart, both for the rest of the time that you had left in the home, but then getting your maximum resale. And so tell me about how that process worked and what you guys did.
Michelle: Okay. So about four years ago, we actually met with a realtor and had him come out and walk us through exactly what he saw that we needed to do to get the house marketable because he's looking at it from two different viewpoints. Is a lender going to have an issue with something in the house? For example, on the deck, the railings were too far apart. And then from the fire perspective, do we need new windows or does the bathroom need to be operated? Something like that. So he walked us through it and we had a whole list. And from that, we broke that list down into years of when we thought we could achieve it. So the, I don't want to say the cheaper ones, easier ones, we were able to do rather quickly. And then some of the more expensive time consuming ones, they were saved for later. Just how that worked out for us.
Melissa: Yeah. But I think that's really smart because there's often things that you can do... When you've lived in a play for, especially if you've lived in a place for a long time, I will say that there's things that probably could be upgraded or you would like to remodel just because you know that it would make flow better or it's just something that you would like done. Maybe even it's just aesthetically, you're like, "Oh gosh, this feels really outdated, I'd like to redo this." But when you do it from an actual resale standpoint and what's going to make it more marketable and get you more money, I know there are certain things that I might not even think about or realize how much more they could bring in if we were to have them done, or like you were saying, even a bank willing to lend money on it.
So I think that was really smart of you guys and that you did it far enough in advance, that it wasn't where you had to have a $100,000 budget to redo all of this stuff and you're trying to do it while you live in the home and have it done in six months because you need to sell in six months. So I think having that was really smart.
Michelle: It was definitely less stressful because we didn't have to try to get everything done in a very short period of time. We were able to space it out.
Melissa: Yeah. One of the other things, and I think this is where, as homesteaders, even though it is a life of simplicity, it can make things more complex, especially when it comes to moving and selling. And because this is things that my husband and I have went back and forth ourselves is I look out and I'm like, my orchard. We put in, and our orchard is now going on almost 15 years old. So it's really producing well. And then I look at the medicinal herb garden. The annual vegetable garden, that's not a big deal. I mean, you can put a garden in pretty much anywhere and take your seeds with you, et cetera. But those perennials, I'm like, "Could I leave all of this?" Because I know you guys had some special plants and stuff, so how have you walked that line?
Michelle: Yeah, it's definitely been challenging knowing that we're going to be leaving everything that we've already have established. So some of the things, what I did last year, I started it last year, was I took divisions like the rhubarb and strawberries. So some of those perennial fruits and vegetables I am taking with me. I'm just taking a piece with me so that I can put them in my new garden. There's an apple tree here that my grandmother planted. So it was here when we moved in and it hadn't been producing until after we moved in. But turns out it's the best apples for apple sauce. I have no idea what the variety is. I'm going to try grafting. I'm going to take some tip cuttings and see what I can do to take that with me.
But to take the divisions of everything that we want. There's also flowers that they have meaning. They have history because they came from my great grandmother's garden or my grandmother's garden, or by a friend who's no longer here. So those are important to me. So I started taking divisions of them last year. And the reason I started last year was so if they didn't make it, I had another chance to get them.
Melissa: Yeah. I think that's really important because there's nothing like the pressure of when you absolutely need it to take, that is the one time, even if you've done it hundreds of times before, it's like that's the one time that something doesn't go right. And for whatever reason, it doesn't turn out like it always has. So I think giving yourself that extra buffer, especially for those plants that you can't replicate because of those instances that they actually came from, those people and those memories.
One of the other things is when you have been, especially you, like you're in a family home, it was from your grandma. We're on property that my grandparents originally owned. And so there's emotional ties to places. And even if we know in our head that somewhere else is better suited to our needs, that's something, when it really came down to it and that's why at this moment, we're staying where we're at. My husband and I are both like I really don't think that either of us can move and leave, at least in this moment in time. But it really did come down to that emotional tie that we decided to stay. So how has the emotional part been?
Michelle: It is sad to be leaving someplace that we've lived here for so long and before that was my grandmother. I just keep reminding myself that we still have the memories, even if we're not still living here. We have the pictures that we can always look at if we ever want to. And if it really comes down to it, if we really, really want to come, we could probably stop in and ask the new owners if we could just take a walk around. In fact, I've had that happen because the original owners, I believe it's their son, has stopped by a couple times and just asked if he could walk around. And every time he comes by, he has a story to tell.
Melissa: Aw.
Michelle: So in that aspect, it's kind of neat. So I just look at it that way.
Melissa: Yeah.
Michelle: We've actually gone through this on my mom's side of the family. The house that her grandparents built is no longer in the family, and that wasn't until like 30 years ago. So we've already had gone through this because I did live in that home for a short period of time.
Melissa: I think it's good too, to even maybe put in, I don't know if you can put in a clause, I'm obviously not a real estate agent or not dealt with this, but even if you're put something in there, like just tell them like, "Hey, we won't bug you all the time, but we'd love to be able to stop by every now and then and reminisce or something," is definitely something I think that you could bring up, especially with those, if you know it's been an emotional tie and you've been there a long time. And speaking of the emotion part, or maybe unexpected is you were sharing this with me and I thought that this was so smart because you said you were so glad that you guys had started earlier with doing the renovations on things to make the place sellable before you actually had to move out. It wasn't like you were doing it and within a month of it being finished, it was going on the market.
Michelle: Yes. We've done things. We've basically upgraded the entire house. My favorite upgrade is the kitchen. We actually doubled the size. So that's going to be hard for me to leave because most houses, we've been looking online for years now, so we know, we've seen these kitchens. For a house this size, or even bigger, those kitchens are tiny. So to leave this kitchen to go to that, that's going to be really, really difficult for me. Because we can have multiple people working in our kitchen and I can have multiple projects going on and not really have an issue. So I just don't want to go to a postage size kitchen. But having done that renovation for the kitchen, we also did whole house flooring at the same time, that really increased the value of the home. And that was just something we did for ourselves.
Melissa: Yeah. And I think our homestead to kitchen has more put on it than most other kitchens because we're not only cooking and providing meals for ourselves, but we're also doing a lot of preservation and more of the base ingredients. So it's not like you're just sitting down to throw together a pizza, you're actually making the cheese yourself ahead of time to put on the pizza. You're making the tomato sauce that will then become the pizza sauce. So I feel like for homesteaders or foodies, the kitchen is a really big deal. But one of the things that I, as we decided, yeah, we're going to stay here for now, so let's start focusing on making this place as what we want it to be now, rather than waiting.
Michelle: Yeah.
Melissa: In order to find that perfect home. I'm more focused on that now. Whatever our reality is or where we're at right now, let's make this the best it can be. Still be smart about planning for the future. Because it's one point we're like, well, we may decide to remove this, because it's a manufactured home. We thought we might move the manufactured home off and do a completely stick built house. And so we held off on doing any of the upgrades or any of the renovations that we knew we wanted to do from the get go, when we actually purchased it and put it on the property. And so for years, we didn't do any of those upgrades. And then it was like, this is silly. We should do the things for where we're at now that need to be done.
And now that we've started them, we actually realized we really like this place, we like the layout and we're not going to do a stick built home. I mean, this is 2 x 6 complete construction. It's just silly. So now we're like jumping into that full board and making all those changes. And I'm so glad because for years, we just held off. And it's making such an impact now to actually have things functioning. And some of them are just aesthetic, like they're just prettier. But I enjoy my phone more. And so I guess that's kind of where you guys have felt that too, even though we're not looking to sell, we're going to stay here. But even you guys in looking to sell, and obviously it goes with budget and if you can afford it. Neither one of us are advocating just go willy-nilly and create your dream home just because. But if you can, don't hold off and wait because you have a much more enjoyable home. You're enjoying the time you have left there more with doing that work. Is that correct?
Michelle: Yeah, absolutely. One example of that for us is the fireplace. We got a new fireplace and that was more for our enjoyment than for anything else. The deck, we redid the deck and that was so we could actually enjoy it before we move. And doing these improvements, as long as you can afford that, do it for your enjoyment. And you don't know what's going to happen. You may plan to move, but you don't know if something's going to happen that prevents that from actually occurring. So you might as well just do it so you can get benefit out of it.
Melissa: Yeah, I agree. I'm not saying don't take a vacation. Most of our vacations are camping trips. But I think of how much money people can spend. And of course, spend your money how you want to. This is not like if someone's planning a vacation, don't not do it. We're not trying to guilt you. But I think of how much money is spent on some types of big vacations, which is great, but you only get to enjoy it for maybe a week or so while you're there. And instead, if you can invest that money into your home where you're at all the time, that just makes so much more sense to me.
Michelle: Absolutely.
Melissa: Yeah. Now, one of the things, when you guys were getting closer to moving, because you guys are actually planning on putting your house now, at the time of this recording, on the market within just a few months, correct?
Michelle: Yes. Yeah, we plan on putting it on the market in June after my daughter's open house.
Melissa: Okay. So were there any plans that you made previously that you're now rethinking as it's getting really close?
Michelle: Yes. So if you had asked me this question in January, I would've told you that our plans were to reduce our food stock, our supply, so that we didn't have to move as much because food is heavy and it can take up a lot of room. So to have to move all of that plus everything else, all of the normal household stuff.
And then there's all the homesteading stuff because the normal household doesn't have a canner or the cheese making supplies or any of that sort of stuff. So now you have more stuff to move as well. So my thought was just, we'll just try to reduce as much as we can. So we decluttered, and we're still decluttering. We're always going through stuff. And I think that's just something that you need to do in your life, anyway, always be decluttering something. It doesn't have to be like a big marathon session. Just do a drawer at a time. So we've been doing that. But with all the recent events and price increases and supply issues, we're no longer reducing our food storage. We're going to replace as we can or as needed. But the goal is not to get down to the minimum.
Melissa: Okay. I have to tell you that makes my heart so happy. I didn't want to say anything when you told the original plan, because I know if you have a plan and then someone speaks negatively to it, it can bring anxiety. But I want you to know I'm so happy to hear that because I was like, "Oh, I don't know if that's the best idea." So I'm actually really happy to hear that.
Michelle: And I originally wasn't going to have a garden, and I'm still not going to put an in-ground garden in, but I am going to do container gardening. I have the green stock, which is the vertical planter with the deep pockets. Then I have the leaf green stock planter, which has the shallower pocket. So I'm going to plant things in there and then I have some containers, then I'm going to plant some other things like tomatoes and probably zucchini, stuff like that. That way I can take it with me.
Melissa: Yes. I love that because if it's going on the market in June, you're right, you're going to be showing and the likelihood of it selling right in the middle of harvest season, you'd put all that work in, but you wouldn't get to reap any of the harvest. And, because I have moved those containers, not to a completely different home and address, but I've moved them multiple times around our property as the seasons dictate. And they are, even full of soil, like fully planted because of the way they stack, they are very easy to still be able to move. They're not too heavy.
Michelle: Right.
Melissa: Yeah. I think that's a wise idea. I'm very happy to hear that. And with the recent events, because at the time of this that we're recording, there's a lot still going on in the world, including rising prices, supply issues, sounding like that could definitely go on further. But is there anything that you've done to help alleviate any of that type of anxiety that you may be feeling, beyond deciding I'm not running down the food storage low and doing the container gardening?
Michelle: Yeah. I made sure that I got all my meat orders in with my farmers so that in the fall, my plan is to have moved by September. So in the fall I can take delivery of all of that. Knowing that I have the orders in, it just provides a level of comfort. So I needed to do that.
Melissa: Yeah. I completely understand. In fact, as I don't order my meat from anybody else, because we produce that for ourselves and then also people in our community, but I'm seeing the same thing. People have already reached out to me and they're like, "Hey, I want to make sure that I'm on the list as a 100% getting the meat from you this fall already." An I totally understand, I'm like, "Yeah. Yep, we've got you down."
But also for me, is confirming with the butchers because we don't butcher everything here ourself on the homestead, we do all of the chickens and the meat birds. But for the beef, we don't have a way to hang and dry age it in a cooler spot. And so we still rely on our local butcher for that. And so for me, making sure that I'm booked with them far out so that I can then pass that piece of mind on, there's just something about knowing you have those dates confirmed that it allows for peace of mind, both from the farmer and then from the person getting it from the farmer. So completely can relate to that. Is there any advice that you would give to somebody who is considering moving that we haven't covered yet?
Michelle: And we touched on it, and that's definitely for them to plan ahead. Don't wait until the last minute to do these fixes or make your decisions because when you plan ahead, it just helps alleviate stress and it's already a stressful time. So the more you can do to reduce that, the better you're going to be.
Melissa: Yes. Now you, and I know this because I'm working with you, for many, many years now, you have an organizational mind like nobody I've ever worked with before. So you have a system with how you pack things because there's some things you guys have been able to pack ahead of time. Right?
Michelle: yes.
Melissa: I think that system is genius. And so for anybody who is like, "Yes, we are moving," I would love for you to share those tips for what you can pack early and then your system regarding the packing of things.
Michelle: Okay. So every box that I pack, it's stuff that I know that we're not going to use right away, or it's something that I hope that we get to use in a new house and it might not be fitting in our current house. So that's the stuff that gets packed away first. So as I'm emptying, canning jars, I'm packing those away because I'm not canning anything this year. So I'm going to be more of a consumer in that regard. But I just don't have the time to do it.
And with everything else that's going on in my life besides getting ready to move and my daughter graduating, and there's a bunch of other stuff going on. So I just don't have the time to do the canning. So I'm packing those up. So as I do that, I am labeling each box with a sticker that has a number. And then I have a notebook. And in that notebook I have the number, what room it goes to in the column, and then what's in that box so that when we go to unpack, we'll know which boxes we need to unpack first, which will be the ones that we've packed last. But if we need to find something, like I need to can something real quick and I need canning jars, I know what boxes I can go to find those canning jars.
Melissa: Okay.
Michelle: Just based on the number that's on the box.
Melissa: Yes. And I think that's genius, mainly because I rarely do that. I'm like, "I'm going to remember what's in X, Y, Z." I've learned my lesson. Never, right. Especially the older I get the less I retain that. So I've learned my lesson on like my tincture jars and even my canning jars. Sometimes I'll can a jam or jelly or maybe a sauce and I'm like, "Oh, I'm going to know this is" blah, blah, blah. And then once you put it on the shelf with all the other sauces that can be similar colors or whatnot, then it's like looking at it six months later. And you're like, "Oh, was that, that or was that, that?" So I love that you helped your future self right at the beginning. Yes, very smart. Well, I hope that you guys find the most perfect house and that everything goes smoothly.
And so we'll definitely have to do inside the membership. I know inside the community forum and circle that you'll be sharing once you guys find the place and all that kind of fun stuff. So if you're already an academy member, you'll be able to come along the journey and see where you guys finally end up landing. And for those of you who are not inside the membership, you can get on the waitlist because we will be opening up for new members March 23rd. And you can go to melissaknorris.com/PTA to get on that wait list. So Michelle, thank you so much for coming on.
Michelle: You're welcome. Thank you for having me.
Melissa: Welcome to our verse of the week. I'm actually going to read a couple of verses, but we are still in Ezekiel. I am reading from the Amplified translation of the Bible. And if you have been listening to many of our episodes, then you will recognize that I have been sharing a lot of verses from Ezekiel. And that is because I am reading through the Book of Ezekiel. I don't always pick a chapter and go through it in depth in my morning devotions, but that is what I am doing at this moment of time. So I wanted to read you from Ezekiel Chapter 34, and we are going to start in verse 24 and actually go down through verse 27.
And I, the Lord will be their God and my servant, David, a prince among them. I, the Lord, have spoken it and I will confirm with them a covenant of peace and will cause the evil beast to cease out of the land. And my people shall dwell safely in the wilderness, desert or pasture land, and sleep confidently in the woods. And I will make them and the places round about my hill, a blessing. And I will cause the showers to come down in their season. There shall be showers of blessing, of good insured of God's favor. And the tree of the field shall yield its fruit and the earth shall yield its increase, and my people shall be secure in their land and they shall be confident and know, understand and realize that I am the Lord, when I have broken the bars of their yolk and have delivered them out of the hand of those who made slaves of them.
I know that was a little bit long, but I wanted to share that because it is a picture and it is words and a promise of peace and what is to come. Now, this will all be when Jesus Christ comes back, when he comes back again. But also, if you look at it from a spiritual standpoint, which is often how God's word works, right? We have both the physical promises, sometimes it's of future events. But we also have the spiritual component. And oftentimes, both of those are there. And this definitely is because our lives, our spirit, us as a people and or a child of God, once you are saved by Christ, then our lives will be yielding of fruit and increase. Now, I don't mean this monetarily. Please do not misconstrue what I'm saying. That could be. But I'm really talking from a spiritual. So the gifts of the spirit. If you have read through with the New Testament where there's Bible verses, you can look that up. Look up New Testament Bible verses gifts of the spirit.
Those are really the gifts that I'm talking about out, that will yield their fruit and shall be increased in us. That will help us to be secure and confident and know that God is the Lord of our lives, as He breaks the bars of the yolk of our sin. So sin is something that often in times we become a slave to. We don't even realize it, in some instances. In other instances, we're quite aware of it, especially if it's something that we're addicted to, or if it's something that we do over and over again. We just feel like we want to stop, but we're having a really hard time stopping it. Usually, that is something that we are actually a slave to because it's not something that want and you're consciously trying not to do it, but it seems that it still keeps happening. So when God breaks those bars and those yolks, and then we are delivered. So it is a promise both for us spiritually and personally. But also for the world, whenever that does happen, that Jesus Christ comes back for his second coming.
So I wanted to share that with you because oftentimes, especially with all that's going on in the world right now, we need peace and we need hope of tomorrow and we need to remember that good things are coming to those that trust in the Lord now does, I mean that we're not going to go through hard things right now or anything like that, but ultimately the end is we will have good things from God. And that is where I want to be focusing my thoughts, and hopefully you feel the same as me. So I hope that encouraged you. That is what it is meant for. And I want to thank you so much for joining me on this episode of the Pioneering Today Podcast. I will be here back with you next week. Blessings and Mason jars for now, my friend.
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