Moving Out Of State

A guide to getting you on the wheels!!

Figure Out Your Moving Budget

If you’re moving out of state, it’s important to know how much your move will cost you. There’s no sense in putting your life on hold while you wait for your moving budget to cover your expenses. Planning your budget can be difficult, especially if you don’t have any moving expenses in the past to go off of. Keep in mind that moving expenses will vary depending on where you’re moving to. Moving to a sprawling metropolis is likely to cost exponentially more than moving to smaller cities. Planning your moving budget can help you figure out what you can afford to take with you and what you’ll have to leave behind to make your move as affordable as possible. It can also help you understand what expenses you will incur during your trip that might not be covered by your moving budget.

A few simple ways to ensure you have enough money for moving expenses: Run a twelve-month budget for all your expenses. Research the cost of living in the area you’re moving to. Don’t forget about factors like your cell phone bill and internet connection. Consider using a moving estimate calculator to get a real idea of what moving will cost.

 

Pick a good moving company

When you have identified a few companies to move to, check out their reviews from previous customers. This can include ratings on popular platforms like Google, as well as specific industry resources. To make an informed decision, you can use this to determine which companies have a history of quality service and which are more likely to have complaints, and you can confirm these claims with your research. For example, if a company has more negative reviews than positive, you can glean that they have a lower-than-desirable customer satisfaction rating.

Not every moving company provides printable moving contracts, but most provide a quote on their website that you can print out and keep. This will detail the services they will provide and how much it will cost.

 

Make sure you’ve turned off the utilities in your old place.

You want to give your old place a nice, long vacate notice. You don’t want to be responsible for a few hundred pounds’ worth of water damage when you move out of state. If you moved into your current place within the past year, you may be able to ask your current utility provider to turn off your service. Otherwise, you’re going to have to call your old provider. Be sure to make a note of the date that you called and write down a brief description of your service. How long does your electric company require to turn off your service? It could be anywhere between a few hours and a few days, depending on the specific terms of your agreement.

 

Get to know your new place

You may also want to consider doing a web search of local news headlines. Living in a place with a high crime rate, a lack of job opportunities or a high cost of living is going to be more frustrating than if you discover this information before you move. Be sure to take into account the date of the news story, though. For example, a spike in a crime rate might be indicative of a larger problem if it’s recent news, but if it’s from several years ago and there are regular updates that point to continued safety improvements, then it doesn’t have to be a deal killer.

 

Get a new place to live

Another thing to remember is that there will be a delay between when you find your new place and when it’s available. The easiest way to get around this is to book a short-term rental while you’re in your temporary location.

 

Finding Temporary Work

After you’ve secured a place to live and know how long you’ll be there, finding temporary work is usually the next step. There are several ways to go about this, but the easiest is to contact your state unemployment office. From there, you can find temporary work in your new state. There are downsides to this, however. First, you’ll likely have to start at the bottom of the totem pole at your new job. This is especially frustrating if you were an office manager, for example, because it may take weeks or months to get back to that level.

 

Consider Your Financial Health

Finally, when you’re moving across state lines, you have to consider that there are some state-specific benefits of moving from one state to another. You’re going to have to do a little research to see what’s offered to you as an employee of your new state.

 

Remember, these are just tips and not actual advice on how to move across state lines. There are more suggestions on how to make your biggest move of all a little easier to handle. If you have any other pointers on how to make this process easier, please share!