Any tips for moving across the country?

[Eckskalibur]

Light the BG signal. I need some advice.

Background info:

I live in New Jersey. My family is in a pretty shitty situation. Worked for the same company as my mom, she got laid off, thus forcing me to lose my job. I just graduated college and am kind of tired of the same bullshit all of the time. I have a friend in Arizona and he suggested that we move out there. I visited him a few times, seems like a nice place. It's cheap as hell and seems like a nice break from what I have here.

It's kind of the clean slate that I need.

Anyway, it's looking like some people are making the move with me. A friend, my cousin, mom, sister and three year old niece. My cousin, friend and I will be getting a place together, while my mom/sister moves in with my friends that live out there currently. The problem is, it's two months away. We have a very limited time frame to save money. We're each looking to save enough to pay a security deposit, and first two months rent so that we have a sufficient amount of time to find some kind of work down there. But yeah.

Now to the point:

What is the most cost effective way to move across the country? From the looks of things it will cost about 2 grand to rent a box truck and drive out there. We've considered buying a box truck, and reselling it out there hoping to cut out some of the costs. But there's always the chance the truck breaks down somewhere along the way, and we're fucked. We've also talked about buying a truck/suv and towing a trailer out, since that's significantly cheaper and at least we would have use for the SUV/Truck as my friend currently does not have a vehicle.

Any advice for moving across the country? Money saving tips, etc. Anything advice or experience is welcome.

[MaachaQ]

Does your area not have U-Haul trucks? I used to work at a gas station and we also rented out those trucks, the biggest truck would normally be plenty unless you have a ton of stuff to move. I forget the costs now, and they've probably gone up, but a 1 way trip of 2 days or so would only cost a couple hundred dollars. It all depends on how much milage you put on the truck.

http://www.uhaul.com/

[Eckskalibur]

Does your area not have U-Haul trucks? I used to work at a gas station and we also rented out those trucks, the biggest truck would normally be plenty unless you have a ton of stuff to move. I forget the costs now, and they've probably gone up, but a 1 way trip of 2 days or so would only cost a couple hundred dollars. It all depends on how much milage you put on the truck.

http://www.uhaul.com/

Even for a 14" truck and a one way trip, Uhaul quotes the rental at about $2500. It's a long drive (2500-2700 miles) depending on route. The cheapest I found for renting a truck was Penske, and it was about $1800 for a 16' truck with a AAA discount.

[MaachaQ]

Even for a 14" truck and a one way trip, Uhaul quotes the rental at about $2500. It's a long drive (2500-2700 miles) depending on route. The cheapest I found for renting a truck was Penske, and it was about $1800 for a 16' truck with a AAA discount.

Wow... I had no idea the one-way prices went up by that much... It seems to me they were alot cheaper when I rented them...

[Militant]

Are you dead set on Arizona? Are there no other options? What part of Jersey are you in? There are lots of cheaper alternatives that are closer than Arizona if you are open to suggestion. In my area (Bergen County, Close to NYC), you're lucky if you can find a shit-hole studio Apt for like 1000/month. My boy just got a 3 bed house on like 10 acres of land for like 1600/mo I think about 40 minutes from here.

[Eckskalibur]

Wow... I had no idea the one-way prices went up by that much... It seems to me they were alot cheaper when I rented them...

Yeah, it's pretty pricey. I couldn't believe it myself when I was looking. I thought that they would be much cheaper. But yeah. That's why I was wondering if anyone had any other suggested methods. I know some people use the PODS things. But I have also heard that they're not that much cheaper, and that your stuff isn't all that safe/secure in them. We're selling a majority of our furniture. Well, anything that we think isn't worth moving.

The majority of the stuff that I'm bringing is big screen tv's, computers, music equipment, etc.

[Eckskalibur]

Are you dead set on Arizona? Are there no other options? What part of Jersey are you in? There are lots of cheaper alternatives that are closer than Arizona if you are open to suggestion. In my area (Bergen County, Close to NYC), you're lucky if you can find a shit-hole studio Apt for like 1000/month. My boy just got a 3 bed house on like 10 acres of land for like 1600/mo I think about 40 minutes from here.

Yeah, we're kind of dead set on Arizona. I feel like if I'm going to get away, I'm going to get away. I've been rather miserable the past few years here and I kind of need a clean slate. I know that I can't "run away" from the problems that I have here, but I feel like being somewhere entirely new removes me from my comfort zone and will force me into trying something new. The only other option really was Florida. I had always wanted to move to Florida because it has a similar low cost of living, and I loved it when I was down there for a few weeks. But one of my best friends from Jersey moved out to Arizona. I've visited him a couple of times and liked it a lot. He keeps telling me I should move out there, and I've finally been put in a situation where most of my ties have been cut. (Job, house, girlfriend, etc).

The prospect of moving out there seems like a great change of pace and everyone seems kind of set to make the move out that way. Even if it's a temporary move, it just seems like a good place to go for where I am at in life. The low cost of living is just an added bonus. I can get out there and purchase a house for $140,000 that would cost me upwards of $400,000 where I live currently (suburbs outside of Philadelphia).

I do know that jobs pay less out there, but not that substantially. I've already assessed a bit of the job market and begun applying. Got a few call backs this week, and have set up phone interviews in the next week or so.

[Militant]

I do know that jobs pay less out there, but not that substantially. I've already assessed a bit of the job market and begun applying. Got a few call backs this week, and have set up phone interviews in the next week or so.

Well that was going to be my next suggestion. Do your homework. Find out exactly where you are moving and the first step is securing a job. It will probably be difficult since anything above minimum wage will likely require you to come in and at least briefly interview with someone, you can get your name out there and at least have a bunch of interviews set up so you aren't just winging it when you get out there. Other things worth noting are little things that can be easily over-looked when you move. Find out where as many local places as you'll need to be going are. Banks, grocery stores, pharmacy, entertainment/etc. I have a lot of friends that went to ASU or just moved out to AZ for the heck of it also, and most of them loved it.

[Telliani]

I want to throw in the moving to a new state, etc, for myself and some of my husband's family was the BEST thing we ever did. Then boyfriend and I were on the verge of splitting up, but we wound up moving down here (from MI > St. Louis area), started over.. he finished his degree, and got his foot in the door with a great job. Granted, it helped his dad's got money and helped us the first couple of years, but now we've got a house and I no longer have to work outside of the house (I'm an artist).

Probably would've wound up back with my parents if we hadn't moved in 05. Neither of us had a job coming down here, he wound up with school and bestbuy for part time, and I did office work at a plant.


Friends of ours went from MI down to New Orleans and the husband had to leave a month earlier than his wife and kid to find a job before they got down there. My husband had done the same when we decided to get out of MI. If you can squeeze in some time for a plane ride out there to find a job, do it.

[solanis]

I'm curious what you mean by forced to leave your job?

[Demosthenes11]

Why the fuck would you willingly move to Arizona. You are so close to the best state, just go a little farther

[solanis]

Why the fuck would you willingly move to Arizona. You are so close to the best state, just go a little farther

this nigga and I have our disagreements but he is 100% right here

[Souj]

Also curious as to how your mom getting laid off equates to you being forced to lose your job.

[Despain]

Also curious as to how your mom getting laid off equates to you being forced to lose your job.

Reiterating the same question for the 3rd time.

[volcanicweather]

Questions:

1) Where in Arizona are you moving?

2) What is your level of education / career skills?

Arizona has fairly high unemployment rates (http://www.bls.gov/news.release/metro.t01.htm) and competition for decent entry-level jobs is pretty strong. So I hope you have good credentials and are moving to Phoenix.

As someone who moved from Minnesota two years ago, I could choose basically anywhere in the U.S. to move to. I chose Dallas because of career opportunities and climate. My one suggestion would be to sell all the material crap you don't really need. Get rid of your big screen TV, your oversized amp, your stero equiment, etc. If you list it now you can get a fair price for it and just re-buy it when you move to Arizona. You'll save money moving and it will be easier for you to survive in Arizona with no job. Good luck.

[pohibaba]

I moved from CA to MO a few months back so I may have some tips for you:

1) Start applying to jobs now. Use your friend's address on your resume to seem like a local and just tell them that you won't be able to start immediately. The entire situation will be much easier for you if you have a job waiting for you when you get there.
2) Get rid of everything you own. My fiance and I took nothing with us that didn't fit into our two cars. Then we shipped her Jeep to MO (cost us like $600) and drove my car. We just re-bought everything once we were out here.
3) Choose where you live wisely. Figure out what you want to do and then move to a place where there's actually jobs to do it. There's no point moving to the middle of bumfuck Arizona if you're an IT guy and no one owns a computer there. Also, figure out where you're going to spend most of your time and move there. It's expensive as hell to drive 30 minutes every day because there's nothing to do where you live.

[Brill Weave]

FYI, Pittsburgh has tons of job opportunities and the cost of living is extremely reasonable. And you wouldn't need to drop 1500+ on driving here. But our winters suck sometimes.

[Eckskalibur]

To answer the posed questions:

Why I was "forced" to leave my job:

Both my mom and I worked for the same company. By all technicalities, I was working under her. During the winter, I was the operations manager for an outdoor ice rink. During the summer, I was a bartender/bar manager. So, when she got laid off, I technically "lost my job" as well. Her lay-off wasn't on good terms. Could I go back to either job? Absolutely. They'd probably kill for me to come back. But I don't plan on going back because they treated both her and I poorly the past several years, and my winters sucked. I worked 60-80 hours a week for $12 an hour. Granted, I got plenty of overtime. It just isn't worth the headache. Also, I just graduated college with my second bachelor's degree.

Education/Work background:
I have no idea what I want to do career wise. Possibly teach college in the future. But for now, I just want to get a real job and figure things out before I spend any more money on school. I have two bachelor's. One in Writing Arts with a minor in Journalism/concentration in Creative Writing, second degree is in English. Graduated with honors, blah blah. As far as work experience, I've been an operations manager, a bar manager and a technical support specialist the past seven years. Job title and duties changed with the season, but I've had a lot of responsibility and done a lot of work in all areas. Marketing, HR, Management, etc. We didn't have specific areas, I kind of was just responsible for everything from hiring/training to payroll to scheduling and dealing with media and sponsors.

I would be moving to Phoenix, or at least in that vicinity. My friend lived in Chandler for a short amount of time, and currently lives in Surprise. I'd look into moving to anything in that area. Probably Tempe or Phoenix since I'd be moving with others looking for employment and would want to go where the jobs are.

I'm not worried about finding things to do. When I went out there, it seemed pretty similar to South Jersey/Philadelphia. Given, I will miss the fuck out of the food here. But, I can always come back for that. I'm also definitely intrigued by trying new things. Being in Phoenix, I'm within a reasonable distance to a lot of pretty big cities that I'd love to visit. San Diego, Anaheim, LA and Vegas are all roughly 6 hours away. I am however, worried that I'd move to Phoenix and the Coyotes would leave. I'm a huge hockey fan. So that would be pretty heartbreaking. But I would always have the Kings and Ducks (fuck Corey Perry) that I could go to for weekend games and spend time in their respective cities.

Thanks for the responses so far. It really helps getting some outside perspectives. We've begun assessing the necessities and intangibles and posting them on Craigslist/Ebay/etc. So, we'll see how things progress.

[solanis]

you have two of the most useless degrees possible, no direction in life, enjoy jersey food, and would move to a city because of a sports team. oi vey.

[Serra]

I'd look into Pods for moving. I have a couple friends who have used them in the past and swear by them as the best option. If you haven't heard of them before, basically you rent the container from them and they drop it off, you load it up, and then they come by to pick it up and deliver it to your new location where you unload it. They're especially nice if you plan ahead, use some tape to outline the space of the pod, and then can see exactly what you can fit in it.

http://www.pods.com/