The Beginning

I decided in July of 2009 that I wanted to move to the East coast. My parents and I visited there after I graduated college, and I fell in love; particularly with Boston. After getting laid off from the magazine job I loved last May (I majored in Journalism in college) I decided that it was time to put my plan into action. My roommate decided that she needed a life adventure as well and we started planning. It took us a little less than a year, but we finally saved up enough money, grew the courage and started the move.

The first obstacle we had to overcome was how to get all our worldly possessions there. We first considered taking both of our cars and towing our stuff on the back. Well, after we took a look at my Chevy Aveo and her Honda Civic, we decided against it. We then thought of driving a Uhaul truck and towing her car on the back. For awhile, this was the actual plan. We knew it was going to use up all our savings on gas money alone, but we were determined. Roomie then stumbled across a company called ABF that rents out relocation cubes. All you do is jam all your stuff in a tiny cube and they move it for you. It was way cheaper that the Uhaul truck and once we decided to just drive one car, it was going to be way easier.

If you’ve never moved across country before, let me give you some tips:

1)      It is going to take WAY longer than you anticipate. We wanted to leave our apartment at 10am at the latest on Tuesday April 19. However, because we didn’t get all our stuff packed on Monday, we left at 5:30pm.

2)      Have multiple yard sales beforehand. This will help you get rid of all the stuff you don’t need and give you a little extra money.

3)      Get rid of all the stuff you can bear to part with! It will make everything so much easier. Due to lack of space, Roomie and I abandoned our vacuum, toaster, cleaning supplies, and various other seemingly important items in the apartment complex’s laundry room.