Thinking about packing up your things and moving to a new state?
Maybe you’re starting a new job in another state, or maybe you’re relocating there to continue your education, or possibly retire in style. You may also be moving there for love or doing it simply because you can no longer stand the climate in the area where you live.
Ultimately, it’s important to be moving to a new state for all the right reasons.
So, what is your major reason to want to leave your current state and go to another part of the country? Perhaps you wish to run away from where you are right now, longing for a fresh start someplace else.
Moving away and starting over in a new state may prove to be the perfect solution for you – the possibility to correct serious mistakes in the past and get a second chance to find your share of happiness in the state you’re moving to.
Do you believe that something new, exciting, and beautiful is waiting for you in that other state? Are you ready for a brand-new chapter in the book of your life?
If yes, then nothing and no one should be able to stop you from moving to a new state to start over.
1. Make sure you’re doing the right thing
You must have decided to move to another state and start over for a reason, or maybe more than just one good reason. And now, before you start working on your moving checklist, it’s time to double-check that the interstate move is the right choice for you.
There shouldn’t be any lingering doubt in your mind that what you’re doing is the right call. So, what you should do is go over your decision to move away once more in order to ensure it’s not a serious mistake that you may end up regretting after the relocation.
You want to start over in a new state but ask yourself if you are really ready for the big change. Because, for better or worse, many things are going to change big time for you after you find yourself in the new state.
After all, a cross-country move is a serious step out of your comfort zone and you have to make sure you’re mentally and financially ready to overcome the new set of challenges that are sure to come your way as soon as you arrive in the new state, and more specifically – in the new home.
The moment you confirm that your decision to relocate to another state to start over is the correct one, it’s time to start working on the scores of moving tasks so that you can give yourself enough time to complete the preparation on time.
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2. Find a job and secure a place to live
Starting over in a new state can be extra challenging in case you have neither found a job there nor secured a decent place to live. And this is exactly why you just have to take care of these two important details before you actually move away.
Unless your move is work-related, your top priority should be to find employment in the new state before you up and move there, or shortly after the relocation is complete. A job will provide you with the financial stability to sustain your life in the new state – money to cover the monthly expenses, including paying the bills.
A steady job will also give you the right mentality to handle the tough adaptation period that you’re likely to go through – read on for more information about this.
Finding a suitable place to live can prove to be harder than you think. First of all, you will need to assess your financial situation and figure out what type of place you can afford to rent in the first place. As a rule of thumb, your rent should be no more than 30% of your disposable income in order for you to live fairly comfortably in the new state.
If you conclude that you don’t have enough money to pay the rent on your own, then one option is to look for a reliable roommate so that both of you can share the rent and some of the living expenses such as the utility bills and maybe even the groceries bills as well.
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3. Be very selective about what you take with you
You don’t need to haul any big and heavy furniture to the new state, do you?
One of the major reasons why you may want to start over in a new state is that you wish to run away from your current place and/or the people you’re surrounded with right now.
You want to start a new life in a new state so it’s best to take as few reminders of the old life as possible – items that will keep reminding you of the things or the people you wish to forget after the relocation.
Therefore, you should be careful what items you move with you simply because you’re trying to stay away from things that will trigger bad memories. In the best-case scenario, you will only take a handful of your most-loved belongings and will leave behind the rest.
A fresh start in a new state is often not about surrounding yourself with tons of stuff – rather, it’s about clearing your mind and decluttering your lifestyle as well. When moving out of a bad relationship, then you should think twice before moving any items that will keep reminding you of the person you’re breaking up with.
So, go through your belongings and choose to take only the most valuable ones you own – the stuff that you won’t part with no matter what. Keep in mind that the fewer items you choose to haul to the new state, the less money you’ll pay for their transportation.
Generally speaking, you’d better refrain from moving any large and heavy furniture pieces across the states.
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4. Use a reputable moving company
When moving to a different state, you might get tempted to rent a moving truck, ask your good friends to give you a hand with packing and loading those heavy boxes onto the vehicle, and drive off in the direction of your new state’s home.
What you should know, however, is that due to the great distance, an interstate move is best handled by cross-country moving companies that specialize in long-distance relocation. A DIY move to another state will not only prove to be uneconomical in most cases, but driving a large truck across the country can also be both dangerous and risky.
Do yourself a favor and hire the services of a top-rated interstate moving company to help you protect and transport the things you’ve decided to take with you to the new place.
The good news is that securing the quality services of a cross-country mover is easier than you think. All you have to do is
- Use our Moving Cost Calculator to get a free quote from the best interstate movers in your area.
- Request an in-home survey from the moving experts for accurate cost calculation.
- Read customer reviews of the moving companies to get a feel of how reputable and trustworthy they are.
- Compare carefully the quotes you have received, and pay attention to the extra services offered by the companies.
- Pick the interstate mover that has offered you the best deal in terms of moving price, extra services, and general conditions.
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5. Use your job to ease the adaptation period
It’s inevitable that you enter an acclimatization period as soon as you arrive in the new state. Ultimately, it’ll be up to you to use various ways to shorten that adaptation spell so that you can regain your normal lifestyle in no time.
When starting over in a new state, it’s important to rely on your job to get you through the rough first days and weeks there. But how will your work help you fight off any troublesome signs of relocation depression?
First of all, the daily contact and interaction with your co-workers will help you out with the social aspect of your interstate move. You may not know anyone in the new city or town but pretty soon you’ll get to know some of your work colleagues, or maybe even all of them depending on the total number of employees.
And secondly, you won’t have too much time to be preoccupied with sad or nostalgic thoughts while you keep concentrating on your work. And this is a good thing – you have moved to another state to start over so that’s exactly what you should do.
Hopefully, spending time with different people with similar interests at work should make it easier for you to adapt to the new environment.
6. Make an effort to form new friendships
Making new friends in the new state is the key to breezing through the adaptation period.
No one says that moving to a new state to start over is an easy thing to do… but it might as well be the best decision you’ve made in a long, long time.
Once you arrive at your destination, you should consider keeping in touch with the best friend you had to leave behind. Or maybe you didn’t have any good friends in the old place and that’s exactly why you wanted to run away from there.
But if you do have a special person back there, then he or she can really help you survive those difficult first few weeks and months in the new state.
Nevertheless, the interstate move you just pulled off is all about getting that fresh start that you have dreamed about for so long. Therefore, your time and effort should be primarily invested in making new friends in the city you just relocated to.
But how and where do you find those individuals who you will later consider your good friends?
You can invite your new neighbors to a housewarming party in order to get to know them better. Besides the obvious advantages of being on good terms with the folks next door, you just never know who may become your next best friend, right?
Another painless way to meet and possibly befriend new people is to join an art class, a photography class, or a foreign language class. Going to a gym or a yoga studio is also a great opportunity to interact with individuals who have similar interests to yours.
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7. Arrange the new place to your own taste
One excellent way to feel like you’re getting the new start you want after the move is to arrange the new apartment or house in a completely new way from the place you just left.
Hopefully, this post-move change will help you get that sense of a new beginning, the feeling that you’ve broken away from your old life and you are now starting a new life chapter exactly the way you want to do it.
What you can do is arrange the furniture pieces in a way that reflects the fresh start, use suitable light sources to add coziness, and hang framed art around the new place to accentuate the fact that this will be your new home from now on.
As a bonus, your effort to make the new place feel like home will help you fight off any potential negative effects of relocation depression.
