The cost of living in NY isn’t much better

[Evan Duke]

Back in January, I found out my lease in Oakland wasn’t getting renewed. I’d been toying with the idea of relocating for a while—new city, new start kind of thing—but I didn’t expect the decision to come so fast. My sister lives in Queens and kept nudging me to move out there, and suddenly it didn’t sound so crazy. The cost of living in NY isn’t much better, sure, but at least I’d have family around. What really threw me, though, was the planning. I had no idea how much coordination it takes to pack up your entire life and ship it across the country. I underestimated how emotionally weird it would be, too—getting rid of furniture, figuring out what was worth taking, wondering if I was doing the right thing. I knew I didn’t want to haul a truck myself, so I started hunting for movers who actually knew what they were doing.

[Tobias Dorian]

Totally hear you. I relocated from Santa Cruz to Brooklyn last fall, and it was one of those “this might be a disaster or the best thing I’ve ever done” situations. At first I was determined to cut costs and do most of it myself—rented a U-Haul, started packing weeks in advance, got boxes from grocery stores. But somewhere between realizing I couldn’t fit my bed frame through my apartment door and misjudging how long it would take to cross Nevada, I gave up. I ended up hiring pros halfway through the process. What helped me a lot was doing some research and finding companies that actually specialize in long-distance moves. I came across this link about moving from california to new york and it broke down the process way better than any blog post I’d read. They had tips on when to schedule the move (avoid peak season if you can!), how to deal with insurance stuff, and even what to do if your delivery’s delayed. I also learned to ask the movers about shuttle fees ahead of time—turns out getting your stuff to a walk-up in Brooklyn is not as straightforward as you’d think. Just having someone else handle the logistics took so much stress off my shoulders.