Imagine since you were 18 years old you moved into a new home every year and a new city every couple years. Sounds kind of exhausting, doesn’t it? A lot of reasons pulled me to different places like two study aboard programs plus moving on and off campus. It was fun for a while meeting new people, new living space, new city to learn but it got old. I wanted to be planted for a little while.
I have gotten to the stage of life where I’m tried of moving but not of traveling- of course. Moving is much more of a process that involves moving more of your belongs and staying somewhere for longer periods of time than a few weeks. Some people glamorize it but it’s really not. This post is for people thinking about moving to a new place and want someone to be real with them. It maybe worthwhile considering these issues before deciding to make a big or even small move. Here’s the thing about moving:
Nothing ever goes to plan with a move. My plans always have other plans. I thought because I had the summer to prepare for my move to a Florida that I would be good. Easy breezy. I had a plan of when I was going to pack what items, sell what items, visit what apartments, sign up for services, etc. Unfortunately things took unexpected turns (hurricane season in Florida) so being flexible in a move is key.
Prime time to explore minimalism. It’s a perfect time to re-evaluate all the items that you own and see what you want in your life and home. Moving to a new places forces you to face all the things in your life. Why? Because you literally have to take things from every corner of your home and move it to your new home. For my hubby and I, when faced with all our things 75% of it was sold, donated, or trashed. Everyone loves being forced to change.
Making friends is no joke. Even though I see myself as an outgoing person who’s willing to go places by myself it still takes a lot of energy and time to make friends. It usually takes me weeks to solidify genuine friendships in a new place. I’m not talking about just any kind of friends but genuine friends that you plan to share birthdays, weddings, heartbreaks, vacations, and the hustle with. I try to push myself to try something new in a city so I can meet people I have never would have met on my own.
Spending a lot of money up front. The amount of mula you spend in a move is truly heart wrenching. It feels like your cute ripped jeans are betraying you and all your money is falling right through the pockets, out of the holes, into a ditch- never to be seen again. There are so many sign up cost for an apartment lease, WiFi, cable, and other utility services. My hubby and I sold 75% of our things to make our move across country easier but that meant we needed to buy “new” things once we got to Florida. In effort to not feel overwhelmed, we estimated a budget of our spending cost in the move so we had a sense of what to expect.
You will loose things. I don’t want to think of the countless things I have lost in a move. Accessories, pictures, clothes, and things I don’t even remember I lost. The things I lost probably became trash and “someone else’s” problem. It hurts to loose things that you wanted to keep- adding another level of frustration to the moving process. Since I hate loosing things in a move I try to make a list so I can keep track of things but that list ends up getting lost.
Moving to new cities has been a part of my life since I was 18 years old if it wasn’t D.C. it was Houston or Minneapolis. My years of moving have shown me I don’t plan to move any time soon. I’m ready to settle down and build a community and a career in a city I love. Less moving for me and more traveling. So at the end of the day I can come back to my home.
Wardrobe: Pants: Thrifted at Sunshine Thrift for $4 |Blouse: Secondhand|Blazer: Mama’s Closet|Necklace: Clothes Swap Event