Moving alone is probably the most stressful and time consuming thing you do in your life. Not to mention that it is also extremely expensive…especially if you are moving across the country like I did.
When the pandemic started, I was living in a house I owned in Florida, at a job I was good at and surrounded by my family. Come September, I was offered an opportunity to take a job that I have never done before and move across the U.S. to California, specifically Los Angeles. I also somehow talked my boyfriend into moving with me and bringing our three dogs along. This meant that my boyfriend had to quit his job and leave his friends to go on adventure with me. We officially started our journey a few days after Christmas in 2020. My house had sold in 2 days, we had all of our belongings in a Penske moving van and my brother had helped us find a place in L.A.
This post is not about my long and drawn out journey but more so a guide on how to move across country and a few tips on how to do it in a pandemic because even though things are progressing, I don’t see things going back to normal just yet.
Before you move, you need to be prepared to move. That means boxes, tape, bubbles, etc. I’ve moved a few times and with each time I’ve learned various tips that make the whole process a lot easier.
What do buy before you move:
- Lots and lots of boxes. Sometimes you can go to warehouse stores and they will give you boxes, save your amazon boxes, ask friends, etc. I find it a little crazy to pay for boxes so use your resources! Retail stores also get a lot of boxes so if you have a friend that works in retail…hit them up!
- Bubble wrap. This is a must for all your breakables, dishes, plates, etc. Anything you do not want to break, use bubble wrap.
- Stretch Wrap. This comes in handy with couches, furniture, pictures, etc. This stuff was super useful in protecting my stuff!
- Coffee Filters. Random but these are great to put in between plates and bowls to help prevent breakage and you can get them at the grocery store.
- A really good permanent marker. I highly recommend writing what’s in the boxes on the side, not the top, because you won’t be able to see what’s in the box when they are stacked.
- A good and reliable moving van. I ended up using Penske because after a lot of research they came back as the most reliable and affordable option. I can contest that they were great!
- A car transport – if you have to move further away. This was a little bit of a pain in the ass so I won’t put who we used because I don’t really recommend them. They were so difficult to work with and very flaky.
- Labels – this isn’t a must have but definitely a nice to have. If you can use labels and different colors for each room, it really helps when you are putting your stuff back/unpacking.
- Packing tape – a must and goes super fast!
- Mattress protector!
Now there are a few things that you should think to bring in a pandemic. I’ve included what I specifically brought below.
- Hand sanitizer. I kept this in the cup holder so every time we got gas or food or really anything outside of the car we had it handy.
- Extra masks
- Extra mask filters
- Gloves – we used these when pumping gas
- Disinfectant – we used Microban and would spray it when we went to hotels and when we first got the car
Good luck on your move and if there’s anything I missed, let me know!
SavannaSippingChampagne 