man. this site is super slow no matter if i'm at work or at home. wonder what's up with that.

anyhoots, if there's anyone willing to give me advice off line, i'm also cool with that.

As far as a uhaul, go with budget...they are much cheaper and if you sign up for email offers, there is always 20-30% off coupons.

A uhaul or trailer type thing is probably easiest. Interviews can be done via phone or internetz. Finding a living space can also be done by internetz.

Keep the shirts. What kind of project is it?

*watches blog*

I don't know. I want to move as well. Let prospective employers know you're out of state and they'll probably manage to deal with a phone interview or skype interview or if you're super cool and classy (which you are) they might fly you out for an interview. maybe

Having moved to another country and back a couple times over, I can tell you depending on your industry, Ryan and Steve's advice is spot on. Use your cover letter to say that you'll be in the city/state at a specified date.

Depending on how much stuff you have you'll have to look into renting a UHaul & the cost of gas versus something like PODS or a moving company versus shipping your stuff. Major airlines have cargo services also.

I think the first thing to do is edit all your belongings into two piles - keep, or get rid of. Be completely ruthless and only keep what you absolutely need. Donate the rest to charity, or post it online on craigslist or kijiji (extra money for the move!) The less you have to pack and transport, the more painless the whole process will be.

Pack everything into organized boxes labelled "kitchen" bedroom" etc. Use the size of the U-haul to gauge how much stuff you can actually take so that you can make the move in one trip.

threadless shirt project - i don't have one, but i hold onto them in case anyone else does. once upon a time i thought i'd learn to sew, but now i know that isn't so.

ok, it's good to know that companies will still give me a chance even if i can't be there in person at first. i do have skype and have used it a couple of times. thought that means i have to get internet at home so i can sit somewhere more professional than a mcdonalds.

thanks! i will keep PODS and cargo services in mind. not sure i can afford a moving company. ideally, this move will also include 2 other adults and another kid.

doesn't anyone get nervous renting an apartment online? like...maybe it'll be a shit hole.

thanks opifan64! i don't know when i'm moving just yet, so i have a little time to purge. i plan on selling most of my cd/movies/books, but the rest of the stuff really isn't of much value. mentally, i'm trying to figure out a way for it all to fit in the smallest trailer possible.

doesn't anyone get nervous renting an apartment online?

I'm shooting to move by the end of the year, and this is what scares me the most.

If you have zero connections to where you're moving, do your homework on neighborhoods and see if you can find an apartment complex with a short term lease to start that you can look up reviews regarding the management.

There are also plenty of house/apartment hunters out there who get a commission from placing people - these agencies/people also usually have reviews online - and will help guide you to what you're looking for.

I'm shooting to move by the end of the year, and this is what scares me the most.

you could find a place w/ a month to month lease

i don't want to do this because the move is going to be traumatic enough for the boy that making him move yet again would be asking too much

I'm shooting to move by the end of the year, and this is what scares me the most.

you could find a place w/ a month to month lease, then find a better place

i don't want to do this because the move is going to be traumatic enough for the boy that making him move yet again would be asking too much

(stupid double posts!)

i didn't know there were apartment hunters. that's pretty neat.
in fact, that's a neat job. *ponders*

hey chellz, i have only done this once so I can only share 1 story. what happened w/ me is that i was dead-set on moving from santa barbara to portland, so i put my resume up on the interwebbles with that clearly stated as my objective (along with my career objective, of course!!). i got a few hits, but one recruiter in particular sounded like he had a job that was a good fit for me. he put me in touch with the company, and the company arranged me to fly up to portland for the day for an interview. it was all paid for by the company, which was nice. it was a tough day of interviews, but it was worth it, because I got the job.

once i was offered the job, i filled out the paperwork via email and gave 2 weeks notice at my employer. my job start date was in 1 month (negotiated due to my need to move up there and all). i went to work getting rid of as much stuff as i could, but what it came down to was that i needed movers, anyway. it's not the cheapest way to go, but i had too much stuff to move myself, so that's what i did.

finding an apartment was interesting. i was semi-familiar with portland due to a few business visits, but didn't have much to go on other than google maps, online descriptions of neighborhoods, etc. i ended up choosing a place that looked very nice in the pics, and was in a safe and pretty location (mostly based on google maps!). i was able to sign a month-to-month lease so i could bail in case it really sucked. they allowed pets, which was important to me.

the movers took most of my stuff, but as you know, i have a dog and 2 parrots, so my mom volunteered to drive up from SB to portland with the pets and me. we chose to stay at comfort inns because they allow dogs. it was interesting sneaking parrots into hotel rooms. we only needed 2 nights though, as it's really only about a 16 hour drive (we broke it down so we wouldn't go nuts), and we were never caught. ;)

once we got here, it turns out the apartment was nice and i'm actualy still living here 2 years later. the only hiccup we had was that the movers showed up a week late, so if you happen to use movers, PACK A SLEEPING BAG. fortunately i had done that, so i had a place to sleep. the birds were another story-their cages were on the moving van, so they had the run of the house!

it was stressful and a total pain in the ass, but it was totally worth the move. let me know if you have any questions about my move. i'm happy to share anything that will make others' moves a little smoother! :)

wow! that's great to have such a positive story. thank you! it's nice to know that this kind of thing can work out.

but 2 nights stops for 13 hours? yikes. i expected 1.
i'm going about the same distance, maybe a little further.

no pets for me though.

sonmi made the trek across several states. hopefully she'll chime in here when she gets a chance!

ladykat moved pretty far too, didn't she?

"need more input," short ciruit

ugh. looking for jobs and places to live is daunting.

so, save money for:
-gas/food/lodging
-moving vehicle or shipping or both
-deposits and start ups at new place
-rent
-everything else

bump

this blog will get lots of bumps

I've never moved more than 10 miles so I am of no use. Good luck! What state are you going to end up in?

i'm trying to go from kansas to michigan

and i research until my brain melts

http://www.etsy.com/shop/chelly?ref=si_shop

everything is on sale here to help raise money so i can go check out some of the cities i'm thinking of moving to

HERE'S THE CORRECT LINK

So you are moving to move, not because you already have a house or a place lined up?

i don't have anything lined up. i need out of kansas. my son's dad needs out of kansas. if i find a job and a place, then i can convince him to move there too and i will continue to be able to spend time with my son. otherwise, i might have to move where ever he goes and i might hate it very much (very likely).

Why Michigan? (I'm being nosey)

I moved because I had to be out of Arizona but I did not have the same responsibilities as you. I essentially relied on the generosity of a few people, being able to couch surf and rent rooms for cheap.

From my understanding, the couch surfing website (http://www.couchsurfing.org/) is more than just staying at people's homes for cheap. You can meet up with people in cities you want to visit and they can offer helpful townie tips. Perhaps it would be worthwhile to set up an account there and talk to people in the cities where you want to move and arrange meet ups if and when you visit there.

i am a member of that site, although maybe it has expired. i've always thought it was neat.

michigan for personal reasons. :)

Ann Arbor is rad, you should aim for there.

SOOOOOO glad you're finally to moving to Seattle, Chells!!! OMG!!!!!


Right?? Right???? *nudge, nudge*

michigan is pretty dope.


their mayor ok'd a dispensary giving out a free gram to those who registered to vote at that dispensary.
apparently it was ok'd becasue the dispensary wasn't promoting one party or another...just TO party!

i was *this close to going to school in kalamazoo.

michigan is pretty dope.


their mayor ok'd a dispensary giving out a free gram to those who registered to vote at that dispensary.
apparently it was ok'd becasue the dispensary wasn't promoting one party or another...just TO party!

i was *this close to going to school in kalamazoo.

Ok well I'll throw in my 2 cents since I've done the big moves quite a few times already!

I've been NJ to NYC, NYC to San Francisco (the biggest move), San Fran down to Los Angeles, and I did a partial move from LA up to Bellevue, WA and back since that job didn't work out.

For the NYC to San Fran move.. I found the job through a headhunting agency. I interviewed with them twice, once with them coming to NYC and once with them flying me to San Francisco. I gave my notice and left work on a Friday.. flew to San Fran over the weekend with my boyfriend and I started work that next monday. We hired movers to do all the work aside from the actual box packing. We purged A TON. The movers charged by weight :/ They also were supposed to take 2 weeks and ended up taking 4.. but whatever I got my stuff eventually. For the apartment there I just picked a place with a 6 month lease that was walking distance to my job. We did move after a year cause the rent was stupidly expensive but it was nice living walking distance to the main shopping area of San Fran and the trolly cars and buses. The only reason I hired movers aside from the fact that they needed me to start ASAP... was because the company gave me a signing bonus to cover the moving costs. (Not normal btw..)

San Francisco to LA was a huge hassel. We moved with me having a tenative job offer and nothing else. In order to get the job offer I had taken the car and driven down to LA probably 4 or 5 times. No signing bonus or anything.. the economy had tanked by this point. We got a uHaul which broke down about an hour out of San Francisco. I had a sick boyfriend and a screeching cat in the uhaul and it was like 3am. We had to unhitch the car and find a hotel for the evening and sneak the cat in. We had to wait a day for the uhaul people to come and tow the truck to a repair facility and for them to move all our packed stuff to a new truck. Back on the road it wasn't so bad. We landed in LA and found the new apartment which I had picked from photos in an area I had never seen before.. but I knew a girl at the new job lived there and she said it was nice and I'd have someone to carpool with till I could get a vehicle of my own.

I've moved tons of small moves within the various cities I've lived in and a few things always come up.

#1 - Purge, purge, PURGE! Get rid of anything you don't think you'll need or want. If you want it and can't take it see if you can get a family member to put it in their garage. But mostly just get rid of it. Even if you don't mind packing it up .. think about when you get to where you want to be.. Do you really want to unpack it too??

#2 if you go U haul (which I don't have a problem with) make sure they double check that it had an oil change and regular maintenance before you pick it up!

#3 for moving.. you can always bribe friends with beer and pizza for their strong arms in lifting heavy stuff into the truck. When you get to where you are going you can do craigslist for moving help.. OR you can always get cheap hands at places like Home Depot

#4 if you know someone where you are going ask them to look at apartments for you. If you can't you can always do a google earth and zoom in to street level and like just click and drag around the neighborhood. It'll take awhile and more than likely be out of date but it'll give a decent idea.

#5 Google the neighborhood name and city and check the stats. You should be able to find a local government webpage that in most cases has charts and stuff showing a breakdown of income levels.. ages of residents .. school districts... school ratings.. crime etc.

as for the jobs.. thats the tricky part. I've always moved with a job lined up already.

All I can think of would be to check the craigslist for the area you want to move to and start applying to jobs. Also check any career specific job forums or recruiting sites. I'm not sure what you do so it's hard to point to any sites in particular.

But that said I really think that no matter what the job you will probably have to fly out and interview in person. I've never had luck landing a job without a face to face interview. And with the economy being as tough as it is.. most companies will not fly potential candidates these days. They also will most likely not offer any sort of relocation.. unless you have a job or skill that they cannot find in someone who already lives locally

yes, i am looking at the ann arbor area. but it's spendy to live there, so i'm checking out the surrounding towns.

that is a LOT of helpful input pyr4lis, thank you.

yes, michigan is pretty lenient when it comes to pot.

there is a company there (SPARKS?) that helps people find jobs and i was hoping to use their services quite a bit.

mostly what scares me (besides the major change) is how to save up enough money and have an income once i get there. that sort of stuff didn't bother me before i had a kid, but i need to be able to take care of him.


and if michigan is a complete failure, seattle is still on the list

My friend lived in Ypsilanti which is really close on the bus line to Ann Arbor and the rent I'm told is super reasonable.

*holds on to teeny-tiny glimmer of hope*

:)

how soon are you planning on moving?

we moved from wisconsin to california with no apartment and no job to meet us, but we did have some savings. i think having some savings, at least 3 month's worth to live off of, is pretty important to have.

we used PODs, but it was expensive. we had to use one of their larger trailers, and ended up paying $2000+, and then we drove our car out there holding more important/fragile/immediate items, like computer, sleeping bags, birth certificates, etc.

once we got to LA we stayed at a hotel for a few nights while searching for an apartment. it didn't take us long to find one we liked. this option is a little pricey, but at least you don't have to worry about committing to a place without seeing it in person.

good luck with your move!!!

yep, i'm leaning toward Ypsilanti due to the price of rent there being more in my range.

the goal is to move by next summer, so i'm not disrupting the boy's school schedule. but really, if i can find a job that pays decent, i'm heading there asap.

i love the idea of pods, but there's no way i could pay that much even if i split it with someone. my goal is to save $1000 as a start and then hopefully more. i've got about $5 right now. haha. wow. reality.

i'll probably get rid of 90 percent of my furniture and then have high hopes for craigslist once i get there. i do know someone who lives about 2 hrs away and i can stay there if totally necessary if the stay is short.

is it weird to pay taxes in a new state or 2 states? what about car tags and drivers licenses and any of that grown up stuff?

tuesday bump

more?

and just an update.

i sold a scarf for $20, which is going toward the $250 plane ticket i need to buy before the price goes up

*sigh*

Learn how to be really poor. Already poor? You're well on your way to financial planning. That's basically my advice. Look for any unorthodox way to save money now or avoid spending it over there. Try renting a room for a couple of months while you are looking for a permanent apartment. Eat cheap food. Paint your own nails, etc. You can also always donate plasma to get a couple hundred extra bucks a month(eep). Also try selling your stuff on craigslist rather than giving it away, since you are not leaving for a year, then give away what you couldn't sell. Start on it now.

This blog has some really great advice... We are thinking about moving to Australia for a bit, it's still a way off, but unless something drastic happens it's a pretty solid plan. Its quite exciting... I've never lived in a different city before, let alone another country :P

i know not much, but I wish you best of luck :)

I went to singapore from philippines and left most of my crap home and dealt with just one luggage and a backpack.

i know how to live poor. that's the problem. you live poor, you got nothing to sell. haha! but yes, very good advice.

i'm selling some books/cds/movies tonight to go toward the flight.

also, in case i haven't mentioned it enough

http://www.etsy.com/shop/chelly

i am ashamed how cheap things are right now