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Old 02-11-2019, 01:14 PM
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Default Moving cross country

I think this is finally happening!

We've been in Tacoma for 10 years and have dreaded the gray for a while now. We love the Summer here but the rest of the time is very depressing.

My husband was born and raised in Maryland for the most part. Close to DC. We've been thinking of settling in Annapolis and I had made extensive research for schools, neighborhoods, things to do, midwives and hospitals, etc...

He got a job offer just north of Baltimore and we considered accepting but still living in Annapolis but that would be an hour commute (even more with rush hour) and it seems crazy so I started looking at Baltimore yesterday and I think he's going to accept the offer today with a move within 2 to 3 weeks!!

And I'm 27 weeks pregnant, recently diagnosed with gestational diabetes (for the 3rd time!! grrr) so need to be followed closely by a maternal fetal doctor, my back and hips are so painful and I'm often too tired by midday to do anything with my poor 4 and 2 year old.

I wanted to get things done this week but we've been hit with a snowstorm like it hasn't been in a long time so I'm stuck at home.


Anybody has a company they love for moving cross country and shipping a car? We will pay everything ourselves so hopefully not too many thousands of dollars!! Ben will drive our minivan with the dog (who can't fly because he's got a flat nose) and the girls and I will fly together. Not sure of the logistics yet. It's scary! And exciting!
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Old 02-11-2019, 02:58 PM
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WOW! That sounds fun, stressful, exciting and nerve wracking all at the same time!!! I have only ever lived in 3 different places, all in the same state, so I'm not much help! I'm sure someone will have some advice/information for you!
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Old 02-11-2019, 03:08 PM
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Congrats on the job offer and getting to move closer to home! We just did a big cross country move like that ourselves but we rented a Uhaul and auto-transport so I'm no help for you that way! Sending you all the good vibes for the energy you need and a smooth transition!
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Old 02-11-2019, 03:48 PM
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Congratulations on the job offer! That's exciting!! You'll like Baltimore area!! Maybe one day when we get settled in Kentucky and life settles down, we can have a meet-up in DC for those of us near there! Would be awesome since there's a handful of us near that area!!

As far as moving...yikes, it'll be a costly expense. When we moved from PA to CO, we significantly downsized and repurchased when we got here in CO.

Will his new work pay for moving expenses to get you guys out there? Make sure you keep ALL records, receipts in case you are able/qualify to write off moving expenses. If you all need a place to stay on your route out to MD, our home in CO is open so it would cut the cost of a hotel room.

Good luck with your move! We have one coming up and I don't envy you at all! There's so much to do between here and there, and it sounds like you'll have less time than we do for our move!
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Old 02-11-2019, 07:03 PM
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The gray is one thing I don't miss about living over there! It's nice & sunny here on the east side most of the year! I am no help in offering companies to help you move, but just wanted to say good luck & well wishes!
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Old 02-11-2019, 07:33 PM
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Wow! Congratulations on this big life change, Lea! You are one brave lady to take this on at 27 weeks pregnant!! I'm sure Cassie & Wendy have lots of advice for you since they've done the cross-country move thing.
Good luck and keep us posted on how it's going!!
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Old 02-11-2019, 07:46 PM
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Thanks ladies! Words of encouragement are sometimes all that's needed

I have other venues to ask for moving companies. I think we will have to do a POD for the stuff to keep the cost down. For the car I'm not sure.
I've been packing a box here and there for the past months or so but now that we have a clear goal it's stressful! And my body won't cooperate! lol

Ben doesn't want to ask them to move us. He doesn't want them to depend on others for anything and I admire him for that. It makes him look even more serious in his job application.
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Old 02-11-2019, 07:48 PM
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Originally Posted by Neverland Scraps View Post
Congratulations on the job offer! That's exciting!! You'll like Baltimore area!! Maybe one day when we get settled in Kentucky and life settles down, we can have a meet-up in DC for those of us near there! Would be awesome since there's a handful of us near that area!!

As far as moving...yikes, it'll be a costly expense. When we moved from PA to CO, we significantly downsized and repurchased when we got here in CO.

Will his new work pay for moving expenses to get you guys out there? Make sure you keep ALL records, receipts in case you are able/qualify to write off moving expenses. If you all need a place to stay on your route out to MD, our home in CO is open so it would cut the cost of a hotel room.

Good luck with your move! We have one coming up and I don't envy you at all! There's so much to do between here and there, and it sounds like you'll have less time than we do for our move!
You're just so sweet opening your home to strangers! lol
Ben will most likely drive our minivan with our dog so he doesn't need a place to stay per se. He's good just driving for hours and sleeping in the van. lol low maintenance guy.
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Old 02-11-2019, 07:48 PM
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Originally Posted by craftytam View Post
Wow! Congratulations on this big life change, Lea! You are one brave lady to take this on at 27 weeks pregnant!! I'm sure Cassie & Wendy have lots of advice for you since they've done the cross-country move thing.
Good luck and keep us posted on how it's going!!
Sadly with us, the military moves us. They come to the house, pack up our house and drive it to our new duty station. We meet them there, they unload the boxes. We unpack the boxes. A few days later the moving company comes back and picks up our boxes and papers.

The military doesn't ship vehicles unless it's overseas/oconus. So we will be tandem driving from CO to KY this summer as we have two cars.

Cassie does it all herself--she's a LOT braver than I am! I'm too old for that!
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Old 02-11-2019, 08:08 PM
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Sadly with us, the military moves us. They come to the house, pack up our house and drive it to our new duty station. We meet them there, they unload the boxes. We unpack the boxes. A few days later the moving company comes back and picks up our boxes and papers.

The military doesn't ship vehicles unless it's overseas/oconus. So we will be tandem driving from CO to KY this summer as we have two cars.

Cassie does it all herself--she's a LOT braver than I am! I'm too old for that!
Oops! I didn't realize that. That does make it a little easier!

Lea, when we moved from CA to ID we used a company where they dropped a truck off for us. We filled it, and then put up a "wall" with a lock on it. We paid by the number of feet we used.
Then someone else adds more stuff to it. It keeps the cost down. It took about 7 days for the truck to get here.
Our friends who moved here too used them and were happy as well.
I can find the name of the company if you want it.
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Old 02-11-2019, 08:39 PM
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Spoke with my parents tonight and they used Pods:
https://www.pods.com/

They packed everything up, put it in the pod. Called the company and they shipped it to their new home. It was affordable for them and they weren't stuck driving a uhaul
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Old 02-12-2019, 10:24 AM
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We used PODS (almost 10 years ago) and had a great experience. As for packing with young kids, I ended up pulling our couch and other furniture forward - away from the wall a bit. I'd slowly pack boxes and then pile them behind the furniture to keep things out of the way. Each time I'd have the time and energy, I'd just try to get one more box done.
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Old 02-12-2019, 12:42 PM
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I feel your pain, gurl.

We moved cross-country in the summer of 2015. My husband flew out to work 6 weeks ahead of time so it was just me, my 5yo, and my 1yo. I had to pack up the house, get rid of 90% of our stuff, take care of the kids, and say goodbye to everyone. My FIL helped me with the heavier furniture but that was it.

Then we packed up my mom's SUV & our tiny car and drove for 3 days to get there.

We didn't have any money for a moving company & were staying with friends on the other side so whatever didn't fit in the vehicles got donated or trashed.

[Then we moved BACK 3 1/2 months later. Long story.]

I wish you luck! It's rough but certainly an adventure and a story to tell (and scrap) later!
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Old 02-12-2019, 02:03 PM
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First, congrats!

I used ABF over 10 years ago. I needed local movers to load the ABF semi but I packed everything in boxes and they loaded the boxes and furniture. Then I had local movers unload everything from the ABF semi depot and deliver to house. Even with needing to hire local movers on each end to load and unload it was less expensive than having a full cross country move. If I had to do it again I would probably go with ABF.
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Old 02-12-2019, 02:04 PM
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Wow--that sounds like an exciting life change, but so stressful with the short time frame! Since being real adults with furniture (as opposed to college kids who owned nothing) we've only moved locally, so I'm no help there.

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Originally Posted by Neverland Scraps View Post
Maybe one day when we get settled in Kentucky and life settles down, we can have a meet-up in DC for those of us near there! Would be awesome since there's a handful of us near that area!!
If a DC meetup ever happens, I'm in!
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Old 02-12-2019, 02:36 PM
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Oops! I didn't realize that. That does make it a little easier!

Lea, when we moved from CA to ID we used a company where they dropped a truck off for us. We filled it, and then put up a "wall" with a lock on it. We paid by the number of feet we used.
Then someone else adds more stuff to it. It keeps the cost down. It took about 7 days for the truck to get here.
Our friends who moved here too used them and were happy as well.
I can find the name of the company if you want it.
ah yes I've heard of that. I'd be interested to know the company. thanks
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Old 02-12-2019, 02:39 PM
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Originally Posted by LeeAndra View Post
I feel your pain, gurl.

We moved cross-country in the summer of 2015. My husband flew out to work 6 weeks ahead of time so it was just me, my 5yo, and my 1yo. I had to pack up the house, get rid of 90% of our stuff, take care of the kids, and say goodbye to everyone. My FIL helped me with the heavier furniture but that was it.

Then we packed up my mom's SUV & our tiny car and drove for 3 days to get there.

We didn't have any money for a moving company & were staying with friends on the other side so whatever didn't fit in the vehicles got donated or trashed.

[Then we moved BACK 3 1/2 months later. Long story.]

I wish you luck! It's rough but certainly an adventure and a story to tell (and scrap) later!
wow yeah kinda feels like our story here. Minus the packing it all in vehicles. I can't believe you had to move back 3 months later! ugh! What a hassle.
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Old 02-12-2019, 02:41 PM
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First, congrats!

I used ABF over 10 years ago. I needed local movers to load the ABF semi but I packed everything in boxes and they loaded the boxes and furniture. Then I had local movers unload everything from the ABF semi depot and deliver to house. Even with needing to hire local movers on each end to load and unload it was less expensive than having a full cross country move. If I had to do it again I would probably go with ABF.
thanks! I'll check them out.
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Old 02-12-2019, 05:00 PM
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Wow--that sounds like an exciting life change, but so stressful with the short time frame! Since being real adults with furniture (as opposed to college kids who owned nothing) we've only moved locally, so I'm no help there.

If a DC meetup ever happens, I'm in!
Yes I noticed your location!!! I’m excited to maybe get together with some digiscrappers!!
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Old 02-12-2019, 05:04 PM
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Good luck Lea! Sounds exciting and such hard work. So sorry your pregnancy has been rough. Nothing to add here. We've used PODS, but locally. Maybe you could look into an individual driving your car for you. Students might like a deal like that. How long do you have until you move?
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Old 02-12-2019, 05:07 PM
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ah yes I've heard of that. I'd be interested to know the company. thanks
LOL! I had to ask my friend because I couldn't remember
We used UPack, but they shipped on ABF

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Old 02-12-2019, 06:41 PM
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LOL! I had to ask my friend because I couldn't remember
We used UPack, but they shipped on ABF
lol ok thanks! Same one someone else suggested. Good to know!

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Originally Posted by icindi
Good luck Lea! Sounds exciting and such hard work. So sorry your pregnancy has been rough. Nothing to add here. We've used PODS, but locally. Maybe you could look into an individual driving your car for you. Students might like a deal like that. How long do you have until you move?
sounds like his starting date is March 13. I hope we can be settled already by then because I will be 31 weeks pregnant!! Without a midwife! I just hope midwives can accept someone so far along in their pregnancy. Sucks so much that I have gestational diabetes on top of everything else and I need to get my sugar levels controlled.
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Old 02-12-2019, 07:56 PM
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lol ok thanks! Same one someone else suggested. Good to know!



sounds like his starting date is March 13. I hope we can be settled already by then because I will be 31 weeks pregnant!! Without a midwife! I just hope midwives can accept someone so far along in their pregnancy. Sucks so much that I have gestational diabetes on top of everything else and I need to get my sugar levels controlled.
Wow!! Have you seen about joining any local FB groups to see about midwives? Can your insurance recommend someone local for you to connect maybe this week? Definitely praying for you guys as you make this quick move! If you need anything, I'm right here.
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Old 02-12-2019, 09:08 PM
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What a fun adventure! I LOVE fresh starts, but trying to move while pregnant and parenting 2 kids who don't go to school sounds exhausting! But just remember:
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Old 02-13-2019, 09:38 AM
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I’ve only done big moves while pregnant. It’s miserable! I get high blood pressure every pregnancy, so I literally can’t do much. #1 is to declutter as much as possible as you go. Then you won’t have to unpack as much. We love the cube idea because we can pack them up as we go to keep the house less crazy. I think we’ve used ABF and Relocube. It’ll take a week or 2 to travel across the country. Longer than it took us. We even used a cube as storage while we were staging our house for a move 15 minutes away. Good luck!

One thing we did was have the kids choose their favorite toys, and then pack the rest. In retrospect we should have decluttered a lot of those toys. �� we also packed the off-season clothes right away. My new home is much different as I’m decorating, so I could have decluttered much of our decor.
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Old 02-13-2019, 02:36 PM
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Wow!! Have you seen about joining any local FB groups to see about midwives? Can your insurance recommend someone local for you to connect maybe this week? Definitely praying for you guys as you make this quick move! If you need anything, I'm right here.
Actually we will have new insurance through Ben's work so I don't even know if the one practice I picked will be covered but we will see! blah! I did get recommendations on a facebook moms group of Baltimore.

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I’ve only done big moves while pregnant. It’s miserable! I get high blood pressure every pregnancy, so I literally can’t do much. #1 is to declutter as much as possible as you go. Then you won’t have to unpack as much. We love the cube idea because we can pack them up as we go to keep the house less crazy. I think we’ve used ABF and Relocube. It’ll take a week or 2 to travel across the country. Longer than it took us. We even used a cube as storage while we were staging our house for a move 15 minutes away. Good luck!

One thing we did was have the kids choose their favorite toys, and then pack the rest. In retrospect we should have decluttered a lot of those toys. �� we also packed the off-season clothes right away. My new home is much different as I’m decorating, so I could have decluttered much of our decor.
thanks for the tips! I've started with things we don't use everyday (a few months ago) I'm super slow but I will do it.
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Old 02-14-2019, 01:12 AM
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Can't really help much here, but I wish you a smooth move and nothing but good things to happen. HUGS.
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Old 02-14-2019, 02:11 AM
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Can't really help much here, but I wish you a smooth move and nothing but good things to happen. HUGS.
thank you Sherly!
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Old 02-14-2019, 02:37 AM
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Good luck with your move and congrats to your hubby for landing a new job in an area you're excited about. I don't have any advice on moving companies since I've basically lived in the same area my entire life. I think I must be anesthetized to the "gray" since it's all I know! lol
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Old 02-14-2019, 03:03 AM
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Good luck with your move! Sounds exciting, albeit busy. I've never moved all that far from home and we always just rented a big truck.
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