So, how does a person go about moving across the country?
For one, I'm not a billionaire - I've only been out of college for two years, and I wasn't exactly raking in the big bucks during that time. I have a little saved up, but I'm still trying to cut as many corners as possible.
#1: Moving My Crap
The first thing I checked into were moving vans.
U-Haul was out of the question. The smallest vehicle you can rent for a one-way move is a 10' "Mini-Mover" - which was $800 for up to five days of use, not including fuel at about 12 mpg. Scratch that off the list.
When Andy moved to NY a year ago, he rented a mini-van from the airport - I forget the company the rental was from, but his brother managed to talk them down to something like $400 a day for the rental, with gas at maybe 20 mpg. I considered enlisting Andy's brother's help again, but I wanted to check a few more places first.
I looked at a few different options -
minimoves.com quoted my move at a little over $1,000 - plus, they would move everything for me. Unfortunately for them, a couple of the reviews other people wrote on them scared me, so I scratched them off the list. I would rather pack and drive my own stuff across the country than worry about someone I don't know losing everything I own.
Option 4 came as a bit of a surprise - my parents offered to let me borrow their Suburban, and then my dad would fly out to New York and drive it back. It gets about 17 mpg, and there wouldn't be any charge for a rental or insurance involved. One thing this move has brought to my attention is that there are a lot of people that care so much for me - I know my dad wants to make sure I'm okay and see where I'll be living and everything, but I still get choked up when I think that he would make a 19-hour drive by himself for me. My mom wanted to come too, but they own their own business, and somebody has to stay home and keep the shop open.
#2: Getting Rid of Crap
I have a lot of stuff. Yes, I live in an 445 square foot apartment right now, but I have made use of every possible space for storage. I've been accumulating "stuff" from Goodwill for the past two years, since I rented my first apartment alone. The past three years' birthday and Christmas wish lists have been filled with practical things - kitchen utensils, pots, pans, cookbooks, glassware - all of which are still "brand new" to me, and not worth giving away or donating, simply because I'd just have to go and buy them again. My little brother is moving into his first apartment by himself, so he's taking most of my unwanted furniture - bookshelves, chairs, etc. I swear I'm not a packrat. It's just so hard to get rid of things that are still functional. Still, I will be making a lot of trips to the Salvation Army across the road from my apartment in the next two weeks. Fingers crossed that whatever I have left fits into the Suburban...
#3: Packing, packing, packing
It's not as simple as it seems. I've made three checklists that need to be completed before I move out of the apartment in two weeks - one is a list of each room in my apartment, and what needs to be done to each of those rooms. For example, the bathroom:
-
Clean out medicine cabinet
-
Clean out cabinet above toilet
- Clean out cabinet / drawers beneath sink
-
Move jewelry to "travel" storage
- Wipe down empty cabinets
- Take apart jewelry armoire
- Take everything off walls, fill nail holes
- Clean shower
- Clean toilet
- Wipe down sink / mirrors
- Mop floor
See those three I've crossed off the list? That took me an entire day. Mostly because I was sorting out what was good to keep, what was good to donate, what I had to throw away, what I could pawn off on my friends...
The second list I have is a list of goals for each week. So, for example, this week I was scheduled to:
- Apply for 3 jobs per day (minimum)
- Follow up on last week's applications
- Make a run to Goodwill
- Finish Living Room, Bedroom, and Closet checklist
- Take pictures of furniture for Freecycle
Umm... yeah. It's the end of the week, and that's what my list currently looks like. Granted, I might make a run to donate some stuff today, and I might finish my closet, but the rest of my goals will most likely not be finished today. Oops.
And the third list: my "paperwork" list. A list of bills that need to be paid, accounts that need to be transferred, canceling cable and utilities, address changes, job apps, apartment walk-throughs... this list stresses me out.
On that note... we will continue this discussion in a later post. And hopefully, by the next time I write, I will be in much better shape for moving. Eek!
Malice
