Not too long ago, I made the cross country move from New Jersey to Seattle, Washington for a new position within my company. They were expanding, and wanted me to be the office manager. Hearing this news brought a smile to my face; I was looking for a change of environment, not to mention the pay was pretty convincing.
However, if I was going to take advantage of the offer that was presented to me, my boss made me aware that I needed to be completely moved in within the next three months. Now I know my children and husband believe me to be a wonder woman, but how in the world was I going to pull all of that off? Well, I started with making a plan.
1. Find Long Distance Movers
First I needed to locate a company that was willing to relocate my things from my new Jersey home, to my Washington home. Luckily, my employer was paying for a rental property until I was able to find my own home. Therefore I didn’t have to go through the whole home buying process right away. There are several long distance movers out there, and narrowing my list came down to a few factors:
· Availability
· Costs
· Services offered (such as packing, unpacking, and driving cross country)
2. Find Moving Materials
After I squared away a moving date with the long distance movers, I needed to find a place where I could purchase moving materials. Though the moving company I was working with had their own supplies I could purchase, I was really looking to save a few bucks. Therefore, I began looking for places where I could get free boxes. Here are some of the places I was able to find some in pretty good shape:
· Empty copy paper boxes from my employer
· Boxes from local liquor stores
· Craigslist advertisements
I only had to purchase some packing tape and permanent markers to label the boxes.
3. Packing and Labeling
Now comes the fun part, getting everything into boxes and clearly labeled for the movers. This was a serious process that took some time (about a month), but I worked my way through it. Here’s how:
· First sort through your belongings and get rid of anything you don’t need (you can sell these things at a yard sale or donate them)
· Then place things in boxes, making sure to clearly label on all sides where it should go
Mommy tip: Now if you have younger children like I do, they’re going to make the sorting process a bit difficult. They’ll want to keep every toy they’ve ever owned, even if it’s broken… so I suggest that you enlist a sitter for a few hours so that you can sort their things without them being there to slow you down.
4. Cancelling and Setting Up Utility and Entertainment Services
After I’d gotten everything sorted and packed, I needed to tie up a few loose ends. So I started by contacting my utility companies to set up a shut off date. Then I contacted my new utility companies to set up a start date. Lastly, I contacted my satellite service provider and had them set up a date for shut off. All that was left was to find a new service provider in the state I was moving to.
Money Saving tip: Satellitetv-deals.com has a detailed page about DirecTV service in Washington State online. You can review the various packages, and make a determination as to which will give you the best service for the value.
After completing all of the above tasks, there was nothing left to do but wait for the movers to arrive, and catch our flight to Washington State. Needless to say, my moving experience was not without a few flaws here and there, but for the most part, having a plan in place made the process a lot easier to manage. If you’re moving in the near future, whether it’s cross country or across the street, my bit of advice is to make a list and check it twice (sometimes three times). Now on to my next struggle, designing my newly rented apartment to meet the needs of my family.