Moving nearly 800 miles from the place where I grew up and spent most of my life was crazy and chaotic, but I wouldn’t change it for the world. I honestly felt like relocating went as seamlessly as possible though. We decided that we were going to move in July and my husband was accepted to his new job in Tennessee by mid-July. By the end of August, we found and closed on our new home and within two weeks, finalized the sale of our home in New Jersey. In September, just two months after our decision to move, we were Tennessee residents!

I thought it might be nice to share some tips on our own experiences and opinions on how to make your relocation go smoothly!

Find job first

Everyone has their own way of doing things but we felt like this part was essential and was what everything revolved around. There would be far too much stress for us if were coming here without a steady income to rely on. My husband’s job is national so he was able to look within his company for openings where they wanted to find company employees to fill those particular positions. This is how we settled on Cookeville, Tennessee: job openings! After he found the openings in Tennessee, we slowly began searching the area for homes and settled in a nearby town.

Purge things before and after move

There has never been a better time to declutter. Not during spring cleaning, not right before Christmas. It’s when you have to pack everything you own into a truck and haul it across the country. If you haven’t been using it, it needs to go. If you won’t need it at the new house, it needs to go. Likewise if you show up at that new house and realize it rarely rains, get rid of the fancy umbrella you thought you needed before you started packing. We made the decision to treat ourselves to a few product upgrades after we got here, like the fire pit.

Used boxes

Ask around for people who have recently moved and have boxes that to get rid of! Also, grocery stores often have boxes to spare if you don’t mind the various shapes and sizes. We had all kinds of boxes!

Research the new area

I think that everyone searches for things like education statistics and crime rates but what about asking around for the best doctors, veterinarians, dentists, etc.? I joined the local Facebook groups to get recommendations for the best services in the area and began scheduling new patient appointments for my kids for once we arrived. I still haven’t gotten around to making appointments for myself but kids are adventurous and clumsy, I like to have established care in case of an emergency!

It’s also important to remember that many cable and Internet companies are not national, so you may need to research the option(s) where you’re going. The same goes for banks! Even cell phone coverage varies in each area (I would know, that’s my husband’s area of expertise!).

Get the kids settled

Speaking of doctors, be sure to collect your children’s medical records. Register them for their new school and deregister them from their former one, if that’s a thing where you live. I felt like it really helped the kids to have some friends when we arrived so I also joined local mom groups to have play dates to attend in our new area.

Set up mail forwarding

I LOVE mail forwarding! The USPS can forward most of your general mail, though it’s good to also let your mail carrier know in case anything slips by. Send the new address to all of your contacts and I’d like to add that I think you should follow-up to make sure they take note of it. Even though I did send out notifications to my business contacts, we still lost a few packages this way as forwarding is not readily available with FedEx and UPS!

Choose a reliable moving company

Hiring a moving company is so much less stress than doing it yourself and for the cost of the moving trucks, it’s often still a very cost-effective decision. I packed almost all of our boxes myself but as far as moving them goes, my husband knew that this lack of upper body strength would be of no help to him. Also, we’d just spent all of this time on everything else and had children and oodles of pets to focus on.

Moving Solutions is based out of Nashville and offers the full moving experience, including packing, if needed. They can also do just the parts you need, like labor only. They can help move your furniture, storage shed, or your office. Take my word for it that it is difficult to find movers who will move across country. I called all over the place and everyone seemed to have their limitations. Moving Solutions also offers long distance moving in Nashville as well!

Disconnecting from the old house

Read your gas, electric, and water meters before you have everything turned off. Make sure that they know where to send your final bill. Defrost your refrigerator and freezer, as you have no idea how long before the next owners move in and you don’t want a mess! Lock the doors, leave your keys!

 

Pack a “first day” box

Place all of the essentials that you might need in one box. You don’t want to have to go digging through all of your boxes to locate the toilet paper before you’re ready to fully unpack!

Reconnecting to the new house

Have all of your services turned on at your new home so that unlike us, you won’t arrive at 2am in the dark because oops, electricity is a thing. Register your vehicle (who wants out-of-state plates?!), which may require that you send your current license plate back. Get your license updated to reflect your new address and register to vote, while you’re at it!

 

*The Quirky Mom Next Door received compensation in exchange for including sponsor(s) in this article. All opinions and experiences are our own only.