Compact Packing Series: Part 3- Bedroom

It has been a busy week and I haven't been feeling well so excuse my lack of posting this week. I have learned what it is like to work while ill...its not much fun, but it had to be done. Earlier this week I was dealing with a sore throat, which has gone away now, but yesterday and today I have been sneezing up a storm. I can usually work through any illness, so long as it isn't abdominal pain...I am a baby when it comes to that. I digress...
SO continuing the CPS, I am moving on to the bedroom. I am staying with the same idea that I have to be able to pack everything into my car so it is very minimal. My "bedroom" currently is actually the living room of my apartment. I didn't see the point of taking up space when it would just make my living  room seem very empty and lonely. Not only that, but I would just have more space to clean when I do move out. I have posted pictures of my living room/bedroom previously. There are 3 things in my bedroom; my air mattress, end table, and TV.
I chose to use an air mattress for my bed as it is much easier to transport and relatively comfortable. I bought a fairly nice mattress. Its a queen, double high, with interior bracing. So this mattress is more stable than the traditional air mattress. My husband and I have slept on it a few times and the top surface stayed relatively level unless he was laying directly next to me. I made sure to get a double high since it gets old having to, literally, get UP out of bed. Sheets and bedding are fairly simple. I have a fitted sheet and mattress cover, which stay on surprisingly well. I also have a quilt under the fitted sheet to help keep heat in rather than escaping through the mattress. The rest of my sheets are one top sheet, one quilt, and one throw blanket. I don't keep any extra to save space. I do throw them in the laundry and I just have to make sure that I get them dry before bed.
My end table is one of those small TV trays. It is strong enough to handle my lamp and random assorted things. It is also the perfect height for my bed. I chose this because it folds flat for easy  transport and very light weight.
Finally the TV. I don't have cable or anything like that. My original plan was to just use my computer to watch movies. Since my computer took a dive, my husband and I had to come up with another solution. I don't necessarily need movies, but that is one thing that makes me feel at home. So, as his grandparents gave us a very nice TV for a wedding gift and he already had his Xbox, he gave me the TV that he had in his bedroom. It is not too big or small and has a DVD drive built in. My only concern is that I have not traveled with this with my car fully packed. So we shall see how that goes when the time comes.
So that is how I manage my bedroom on a minimalist level. In other news, I spoke to my supervisor today and there is talk of extending my current assignment to another 13 weeks, or whatever I would be willing to do. This is mainly up to me, and I will probably consider extending my stay, at least until the holidays are past. I also have the option to work New Years day and the weekend to follow. I would get paid well for it but it would also take away from time with my husband. He said he didn't mind if I took the hours but I will have to find out the specifics to see if I will have to be at the hospital all weekend or just available. Well, that is all for the excitement of my life and how I'm managing things. I hope everyone is staying healthy and warm (its turning into winter quickly here).

Compact Packing Series: Part 2- Clothing

Alright, we are resuming our Compact Packing Series to talk about clothing. When you are a professional it is important to have the appropriate dress. When you are a traveler it is important to have versatility and practicality to your wardrobe. As a physical therapist, it is also important that my clothing allows me to move easily. For my pants, I found an amazing brand of pants that are dress yoga pants made by BetaBrand (follow the link to check them out: Betabrand Dress yoga dress pant.) I have the navy, herringbone, and glen-plaid. I have two more on the way- hazel and pinstripe. I also just looked at the website and they have silver and tan herringbone available for pre-order. I have 5 pairs, one for each day of the week, and all different colors to go with any top I have. One word of warning for anyone considering ordering them, the herringbone and glen-plaid run large so order a size smaller. I found this out the hard way. The average cost of a pair is $75 but that is totally worth it! The pants are stretchy enough for any activity and dressy enough for any meeting. 

This is the black boot cut dress yoga pant. 

They really are as amazing as they sound and 

they do look professional enough for any office.

As far as tops go, I like to have variety of colors and patterns. The more variety you have, the fewer items you need to have without your wardrobe getting stale. You also need to be conscious of what is appropriate for work. I have to keep my clothing modest and the tops have to be long enough that I won't show my midsection if I reach up to set up equipment or demonstrate an exercise or stretch. I have a combination of single options and also several layering items so I can switch up colors and outfits without much trouble. I am not great at color coordination and stuff, and the only reason I might look like I know what I'm doing is because I had my best friend come shopping with me to help pick tops out. Now, lets take a look at what my closet looks like.

To the left is my three drawer storage for all my under garments, work out clothes, casual clothes, and pajamas. I keep about 8 pairs of shoes (again I like variety). I have a carrying bag for my laundry and that folds up very small in my boxes during moving. 

For clothing, I have all of my work clothes hung and mostly organized. I also have those hanging shelves for extra storage for casual clothes. Those shelves also fold up small for moving.

Here we have a few other items. Laundry needs are to the left. I also have a small iron and starch spray. The last things I have is my scarves and pashminas. Again, these accessories are just nice additions to keep my wardrobe interesting. Accessories can really make the same clothing seem different.

In general, I have about 5 pairs of work pants, 10-15 tops, 5 scarves, enough work out clothes for 6 days/week, and 3-4 outfits of casual clothing for weekends. I am able to transport all of my clothing in a large rolling suitcase and the 3 storage shelves I keep in the closet. It seems to work well and it keeps me from acquiring an exorbitant amount of clothing. I hope that has shed some light on how to organize clothes as traveling professionals. Have a lovely evening everyone!

Compact Packing Series: Part 1- Kitchen

Probably one of my favorite rooms in any home, the kitchen is one room that can accumulate unnecessary items very quickly. From specialty appliances to excessive amounts of tupperware and coffee cups, things can add up quickly and that means a lot of wasted space. This is especially true if you are trying to move your entire kitchen every few months.
Currently I pack all my kitchen gear in about 4 boxes:
One for pots, pans, and baking ware
One for silverware, tupperware, dishes, and utensils
One for all electric appliances, and kitchen linens
One for any nonperishable food items I have
After unpacking everything, this is what my cupboards and drawers look like:

Top shelf: plastic bags, shaker cups
Middle shelf: tupperware and water bottle
Bottom shelf: cups, bowls, plates, collapsible storage and lunch containers

As you can see, I try to keep things minimal. I've got enough dishes that I don't have to do dishes every night after supper. The greater portion of this is tupperware and storage containers. I always bring my lunch to work (its healthier and much cheaper). The idea here, is to have enough that you don't have to do dishes every day but not so much that you are weighed down. Another thing is that everything here is plastic. No breakables! It makes packing boxes and loading my car that much easier and less stressful. Also, breakable things are usually heavier so I'm saving weight as well when I have to carry everything in/out during moving. Finally, the bottom shelf is half full of collapsible items, which are wonderful for saving space in boxes and cupboards! If I could get all collapsible...everything, I would! Best part, is after I retire from traveling, the collapsible items are great for camping!

Top shelf: hand mixer, hand blender, chopper

Middle shelf: large blender, food scale

Bottom shelf: smoothie mixer and bottles

This is probably a shelf that people would say I am being redundant and wasting space. And looking at it now, I would probably have to agree. I have a specific purpose for all of these items and, for the most part, there is no cross over possible among their uses. For instance, I use the large blender to make my own oat flour with when I bake and I use the smoothie maker for smoothies (obviously). Now I could use the large blender for both but if I want to make a smoothie for breakfast on the road, it requires much more time (and is usually a large mess) if I try to pour into a bottle with my large blender. So, I keep the smoothie maker around. The hand mixer could probably be left out but again, some of these things are to my preference and this happens to be one of them.

Left: soup bowl, coffee/tea mug, to go mug

Right: mixing bowls and strainer

Now, I know I said earlier that I didn't carry breakables, which is mostly true...outside of the soup bowl and coffee mug. Again, these are two things that I do not feel at home without. Especially my tea mug. I will usually have a cup of tea every night when the weather starts getting cold. The colander is probably a little large since, at most I'm cooking for two (me and my husband), but I didn't think it was really worth it to buy a whole new colander when mine worked perfectly fine.

Top: mini muffin tins, baking pan, regular muffin tin

Bottom: large frying pan, sauce pan, 3 different pots, 

small frying pan, dutch oven, and 4 lids

Here we have all my bake ware. Its not the fanciest stuff or the newest (bought it in college), but it is functional and I'm not worried about scratching it. I don't have a cookie sheet for two reasons: one, my old ones rusted and I had to throw them away; and two, I couldn't get one to fit in the box properly. So for any baking, I just use the baking pan. It works fine and it saves me some space. 

Silverware, kitchen linens, and clips and twistie-ties

So, this looks like an empty drawer. The kitchen linens are very scant because I only keep two wash clothes and two drying cloths. At no given time are both in the wash when I need/want to do dishes, so we have some space saved here as well. It is also helpful to have these, as I use them to wrap my soup bowl and tea mug during packing so they don't break. Use what you will bring with you to pack what you will bring with you!

Utensil drawer...you get the idea

Well this is a bit of a mess but utensil drawers usually are. Now, I do have a redundancy here that I will be fixing this weekend. I have two sets of measuring cups. (Its the end of the world as we know it!!!)  One is the set that I used in college (and I am fond of). The other set is a collapsible set that I bought specifically for traveling. Although this seems like a small detail, it is helpful to identify things like this so you can eliminate excess clutter.

Toaster, salt and pepper, oil decanter, spoon holder, and drying mat

These are all things that I like to have around. The oil decanter, however not necessary, makes me feel at home and enjoy cooking that much more. One of the best space saving items is the drying mat, instead of using a drying rack. The mat folds up very small (that is only about 1/3 of its full size) and can be used as padding in boxes to keep things from banging around.

So there you have it! My kitchen. There may be things there that I have that you would have no need for or I may have left some things out that you can't live without. Just keep in mind that you will have to be moving everything every 3-4 months, so whatever it is you can't live without, better be worth it.

Compact Packing Series

Hello all! It has come to my attention that I haven't really given much of an idea of what things I keep with me to allow me to furnish an entire apartment with only one car load of stuff. So I am creating my Compact Packing Series of blog posts that will go through each room and the items that I keep as essentials. Keep in mind that these are according to my personal preferences and you may require different items. I will be including pictures of each room and descriptions of the things that I keep, and also why I may have left out a few things that would seem necessary. Also keep in mind that I try to be frugal and healthy, so many things I have are geared to that.
It is important to keep things with you that make you feel at home. Some of the things that I have aren't practical, useful, or necessary, but they do make me more comfortable. When you are away from your family and friends (and in my case, spouse) it is important to keep yourself happy and positive in the place you are calling home for awhile.
So if you are wondering how to turn a whole room into compact packing or how to get an entire apartment into a Chevy Equinox (that is the car I drive), continue reading my blog. Thanks all and I look forward to sharing my experience with you. If anyone has any ideas of how to slim down the items or pack more efficiently I would love to hear it! Please post a comment at any time!

Trials of a Traveler

Well I don't have any pictures to add this time but I do have a few new pieces of wisdom that I have gained in the last few weeks. As a traveling therapist I am guaranteed by the company that I will get paid for 40hrs/wk. This is a nice situation if there are not many patients. I can go home an hour or two early and still get paid for a full 8 hour day. The down side to this arrangement is that the clinical site does not like the idea of paying anyone for hours they didn't work. (Can't say I blame them.) The result of this is that my schedule is the first to be filled...with any and every patient possible. Another problem with this (mainly because I am a new therapist) is that I am not the fastest with documentation and still have trouble with point-of-service documentation occasionally. So, that leads to me having a lot of working lunches while I finish documentation if I have any evals in the morning and staying a bit later if I have an eval in the afternoon. It does not pay for me to put it off till the next day because I always have a full schedule. I am getting faster at this so its becoming less of an issue. Another aspect that adds to this difficulty is the travel time between facilities...but I am getting ahead of myself...
Now, as far as working in more rural locations and being a traveler in those areas... If you planning on doing traveling therapy, you need to understand that you will have a lot of opportunities in more remote, rural geographic locations, as these are less desirable for most individuals who want the convenience of living near larger shopping opportunities. This also may mean that the same clinic you work at is also responsible for the home health therapy in the area and therapy services at any nursing homes in the immediate region. For example, I am working out of the hospital therapy clinic. However, the facilities I work in include the hospital outpatient, hospital inpatient, 3 nursing homes in the region, and any home health patients within the general area of the hospital. Having the requirement to travel between locations during the work day adds to the complexity of time management and I am constantly watching the clock to make sure that I won't be late for my next appointment.
In addition to those aspects, I also have to be familiar with 5 different documentation systems (one for each location). During my first two weeks I spent time at each location learning the systems and paperwork. However, I do not work in each facility consistently. This presents a problem when I go to do an eval at one of the facilities that I have not worked at for 3-4 weeks after orientation, causing me to be very forgetful on all the steps of documentation. Then I "get" to spend an extra hour at work fixing all my mistakes. (This happened this week actually.) Now, this could have been avoided, had the evals been scheduled properly so there would have been another therapist there to help walk me through all the steps (and which my clinic manager felt very guilty about), but as it didn't, it was a very intense learning process for the 3 evals that I had to do that day.
Please note that I am not complaining, nor am I angry with my company. They do what they can and sometimes things do not work the way they should. And on a positive note, the company is going through a trial period of selecting a documentation system that will become standard company wide. This means that any employee who knows the documentation system will be able to work in any facility (provided the have the proper state license) without having to go through training for a whole new computer system. Not only will this make my life easier but it will also allow for more crossover of therapists between clinics.
So that is what I have learned over the last few weeks. I will work 40hr/wk...at least, and can expect a full schedule every day (I can get overtime). There will be days where it feels like I do more traveling than treating. (My company does pay mileage for traveling between clinics and on home health visits.) I need to embrace being flexible with documentation, but I am VERY MUCH looking forward to only having to know one computer system. If this has shed any light on the life of a traveling therapist for you, I am glad, and I also hope that it has not turned anyone away from the idea if they are interested. It is not an easy job, but I would not give it up.

Sisseton and scrap booking

Well it has been a while and an adventure. I have been working in Sisseton SD now for 2 weeks of my 13 week rotation. Things went well in Milbank and I enjoyed my stay at the Valli Vu motel. It was nice to have someone make my bed every day. Currently I'm staying in Wheaton MN at a lovely 2 bedroom apartment. About a month ago, when my rotation was confirmed, I found this apartment complex and sent an email inquiring about open apartments. To my great fortune, I got a response from the manager stating that there were no 1 bedroom apartments open but he was willing to offer me a 2 bedroom apartment for the price of a 1 bedroom. He was also going to include all utilities into the cost of the rent since I will only be here till mid-December. All in all, it is a wonderful arrangement and I can only hope to be this lucky in the future.

Currently I am managing to live comfortably. They have laundry here in the building so I don't have to go anywhere. That makes it easier to get all my laundry, cleaning, and cooking done. You can see my drying rack there in the first picture. That second picture is my table covered in my scrape booking from my wedding. I'm not the most creative person but I do try.

I've been working on this for a few weeks and have about 12 pages done. Its a nice pass time and it's nice to look through my wedding pictures.
Since coming here I found out that our cell phone provider didn't cover the area very well. So my husband and I switched providers to one that covered the area better. We were very excited and had planned on me using my phone as a wifi hot spot so we didn't have to get internet set up at each location. Well, all the way from the twin cities area to Wheaton I had 4G and things were good. Once we got back to the apartment and I went down to my apartment I lost all reception. So this past week I figured out that the only way I would have reception was to have my phone propped in the windows. Well, I am very thankful for my amazing husband. He did all the footwork and got an internet provider set up for me so all I had to do was wait for the router to show up and set up the connection. It was even better because he said that we could just bring the router and transfer the internet to any new place I was staying. I am very thankful for him!
So this is my first weekend here at the apartment and I am enjoying myself. I got all my laundry done, dishes and cleaning done, and some cooking done for the week. I spend the rest of my time chatting with my husband, scrap booking and knitting, and reading articles for the continuing education class I have in 2 weeks.
I would like to do more baking but I do need to watch how much stuff I collect for when I move again. That is truly to main downside to traveling. I would love to have a fully decked out kitchen pantry but  that can get tricky with things that you don't use all the time. Well, when I discover a sensible solution I will pass on the knowledge. until next time, I hope you have a wonderful finish to your weekend.