What are your experiences with moving long distances? I've lived in the coastal region of Texas my entire life, and the missus and I are planning on going to Chicago for her graduate school, but it's a little overwhelming to think about all of the moving parts that need to be examined.

Pack everything yourself into boxes, hire moving company to move boxes and heavy items. Have moving company bring in boxes and heavy stuff, unpack boxes yourself.

ChemEAg08 said:

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Pack everything yourself into boxes, hire moving company to move boxes and heavy items. Have moving company bring in boxes and heavy stuff, unpack boxes yourself.

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Lol the only moving companies we can afford are those that accept a case of beer as payment.

Pack half of it, what matters. Sell the rest. Buy when you get there if needed.

Spend the money to have movers do it for you.

It will be expensive, but ultimately it's worth it.

Call me when you have to move overseas.

Did it several times. The last was the easiest (movers), but the first few were just us and assorted family and friends to help. The best was when we had a friend help that was a form Div 1 defensive lineman. Dude could move a couch by himself.

oldschool87 said:

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10 miles, or 2000... It still has to be put on a truck. You still have to make 5 trips to the dump. You still have to clean, and the broom, coat hangers and that box of nothing, needs to just be thrown away.

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and.... done.

last time we moved across texas we rented 2 PODS and loaded/unloaded when we could and hired someone to help each time

blindey said:

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Divorce. There's no reason for you to saddle yourself with student debt so your wife can get some pointless masters from Loyola Chicago.

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You do realize that student debt doesn't transfer to your spouse, right?

Iowaggie said:

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For grad school we did something similar, about the same distance.

Made 2 trips: once to find a place to live, once to actually unload crap ourselves.


Since you aren't using movers, sell or donate as much stuff as possible, and don't mess around. We had a garage sale, priced everything to sell, because if it didn't sell, it was getting donated or trashed. The more you get rid of, the less you move, and everything you take with you, you are probably moving it again in 2-4 years, so get rid of it.... hopefully you haven't accumulated that much stuff anyway.

While in grad school, don't buy stuff you don't want to move again.
If there is stuff you want to keep for somewhat sentimental reasons or don't want to move for size reasons, see if you can store at a parent's house. You'll probably forget about it, and 15 years later, wonder why you didn't sell or dump it now.

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Thanks for the actually useful tips that didn't include divorce! We've got a decent amount of furniture, mostly stuff passed through the dorm and on its way out anyway. Apparently the university has some sort of housing setup in Hyde Park that we're looking into, and we'll be visiting in the summer to get a good look at everything.

Pack nothing. Buy a futon.

Moved to a gorgeous town in northern Utah for work after graduating from A&M. I found it easier to just buy new stuff once I got there, and it allowed me to "trim" down my possessions into what could fit into a truck and small Uhaul.

Had enough of the mountain life after two years and moved back to Texas. During the move back, I went through a storm in Wyoming which ruined everything that was packed in my truck bed. Skidded into Fort Worth on two wheels and promised myself that I'd never move out of Texas again.

YoungWaltonAg18 said:

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blindey said:

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Divorce. There's no reason for you to saddle yourself with student debt so your wife can get some pointless masters from Loyola Chicago.

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You do realize that student debt doesn't transfer to your spouse, right?

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Inassuned you'd be co-signing on the loans since she'll be a penniless grad student and you'll be the bread winner.

Burn your house down and collect the insurance money.

Use said insurance money to purchase brand new shiny things for your 600 square foot apt in Chicago that will cost twice your mortgage.

Grats on the sex! As for the whole arson thing, who cares? If Texas tries to prosecute you in Chicago say you're an illegal alien and Chicago will protect you.

We had a custom home in Texas, and lived in an apartment in the Boston area until we sold our Texas house and found a house up here: 16 months. Knowing that was what we were going to do, we separated the "have to haves" from the "nice to haves" and put the "nice to haves" in storage. After getting along just fine with just the "have to haves" for 16 months, we realized that we would have been better off just getting rid of all the other stuff before we moved. So my advice is get rid of as much as you can, or put it in storage. Take as little stuff up there as you can.

Rent the smallest truck that will hold your stuff, keeping in mind that once the boxes have been packed in Jenga-style you'll be saying 'Why did we get such a big truck?', and when you're partway through packing in the non-boxed stuff you'll be panicked saying 'Why didn't we get a bigger truck?'

Everyone is saying to get rid of everything, which I generally agree with, but don't go overboard. When throwing something useful out ask yourself 'Am I going to have to repurchase this item new at the destination?' Getting rid of perfectly functional things that eventually get repurchased at full retail is a trick the missus was able to pull on me once. Once!

Having spent 9 years in the Army I did my fair share of moving. Simply put.....it sucks. There is, in my opinion, only one positive takeaway from a move. It affords you the opportunity to clear out all the crap and clutter that you have accumulated over the years. When you pack up your things start trashing all the items you don't use or no longer need. You'll be shocked at how much crap you have sitting around that is just taking up space.

Moving company employees are gypsies.

Buy a ton of wrapping materials and box your own stuff. They box it; they know where stuff is; they will take it later.

Rent a UHAUL and move anything of value yourself. DVD's, CD's, electronics, fragile glass etc; take yourself.

When in doubt; throw it out.

Make sure you check the drawer under the oven and the cabinets over the fridge. You will leave stuff behind.

After spending my entire working career in Houston I retired two years ago and moved to Chicago (May-Oct) and Austin (Nov-Apr).

Don't believe all the negative stuff about Chicago, it is a great town and we really love being there. Like any big cosmopolitan city there are issues and you need to be careful about where you choose to live but if you stick to the northside (DePaul, Loyolla, Northwestern) you won't have any problems. The U of Chicago area on the southside is great too. Winters are long and rough but other than a week here and there I choose not to be in town. In my opinion the winters are no worse than the Texas summers that I have hated all of my life.

Just start the planning and packing process early and get rid of everything possible. We used smaller professional moving companies for both moves and had absolutely no problems.

YoungWaltonAg18 said:

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blindey said:

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Divorce. There's no reason for you to saddle yourself with student debt so your wife can get some pointless masters from Loyola Chicago.

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You do realize that student debt doesn't transfer to your spouse, right?

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Depending on how you obtain it, yes it does.

Aren't you the guy that threw his Aggie ring in the trash and bragged about it on social media?

Nope, I actually just got my ring the other week!

YoungWaltonAg18 said:

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Nope, I actually just got my ring the other week!

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Oh okay. Good on you

I can echo everything said here. Start getting rid of crap now. And it is amazing how much crap a person can accumulate. It is so much easier to just basically start over. May not always be the cheapest but I consider the cost a convenience fee. I mean, no one should be attached to a bed, dresser, couch, etc. Sell it all and replace at new destination.

Also, use movers. They are pricey, but again then convenience is beyond worth it to me.

I have close to double digit moves under my belt that are more than two states over. I did it all wrong in the beginning. Took everything and did it all myself. And I mean everything. I packed up and moved a ream of copy paper for example. So stupid... Last two, I packed out my truck and movers got the rest. It was so much better that way I nearly wept.

I can also add that driving with a large uhaul trailer through a crowded northern city is an absolute nightmare. Never again.

If you're class of '18 then odds are you don't own much worth moving. Pack a pickup truck with the essentials (clothes, cookware, dishes, small appliances, electronics) and get rid of everything else.

We moved overseas in our mid-20s with nothing that didn't fit in a suitcase. Rented the smallest storage unit available in the US to keep things that couldn't be replaced. Lived in a 300sqft studio in Dubai and didn't buy anything we didn't need. Sold or gave away everything we'd bought there when we were ready to come home. It was glorious. Minimalism is underrated.