tips for moving across the country
Nothing makes me feel more like an adult than finally getting a Tilemat. I’ve been following them and wanting one for a long time and grateful for this little housewarming gift from my grandparents! Also, wearing bare feet because I’m here like 95% of the time.
We have arrived! We’ve now been in Indiana for one month! Time seriously flies. We even had our first visitors a couple weekends ago! Can you tell by the exclamation points I’m excited?!!
So yes, we’re here, and we have unpacked, bought new furniture and are pretty settled in. It’s funny to think about the progression of places I’ve called home, especially since we’ve been married. From living above someone’s garage, to our one bedroom in Utah with bikes in the living room, to our kind-of two bedroom house last year with bikes in our kitchen, and now this little condo on a lake with bikes in our very own garage — it feels like a nice step, at the very least toward my bike sanity.
I also realized this is my third cross country move (first from LA to Nashville, then Nashville to Provo, UT, then one minor move across town in Provo, and now Provo to Warsaw, Indiana). Each time has been very different, especially as the years go on and we get in bigger places, our stuff just seems to expand.
Here’s some things to keep in mind when moving, and action items post-move to make you feel more at home sooner.
Pre-Move
go through everything and heavily edit – and by that I mean, get rid of as much as you can and look at it as an opportunity to see how you can literally and figuratively lighten your load
if you are able to, hire a moving company – when I moved to Nashville, and when we moved to Utah, we did not have a moving company and we just consolidated as much as we could fit into one car; with what we have now, a moving company was a lifesaver going from Utah to Indiana!
alert your bank that you’re moving so they don’t cancel transactions
about two days before you move, fill out the usps change of address – they update it within a couple days and then you won’t have important mail coming to your old address
ask for help! Even when we moved across town it took a lot of car trips and a lot of help
Post-Move
treat each unwrapping like a present – we ended up having to go through over 40 boxes and when you hire movers, they pack everything including the trash that you forgot to empty out – so from little to big, you’ll have a lot of things to unwrap and when it got frustrating we tried to remind ourselves how fortunate we were to have so many things to unwrap
go through one room at a time – personally, the bedroom to me is one of the most important things to unpack first so you can go to sleep without stressing out about the boxes still sitting there (or maybe that’s just me)
make sure you’re getting mail to the right address
update your insurance and addresses
get a new drivers license
register your car(s)
get involved in the community
look for your community’s Facebook/social media pages to get updates on what’s going on
look for volunteer activities through websites such as VolunteerMatch or JustServe
use Meetup to find specific interest groups you can join in on
if you’re moving to the midwest, you’ll likely be asked “do you have a church already?” which I think is so sweet – find a nearby community church as a nice way to get to know the community; all visitors are welcome at my church (expands globally) if you’re not sure where to go, check it out
And most importantly, if you’re missing the place you moved from despite how excited (or even non-excited) you were about starting in this new place – that is a-ok! I find myself missing parts of Utah, especially family and friends, even though I never planned on staying there and love the midwest.
Moving to a new place is kind of like starting a new relationship – it’s exciting, but it also takes some time to find your place, your people, your community. Soon enough, you’ll find your favorite spots to eat, explore and enjoy.
Anything else you’ve found helpful in moving?
