How to Move to a Different State Without Getting Stressed Out
Americans are always on the move. Millions of citizens across the country pack up their things and head to a new home each year. This year, you may very well be one of them.
Packing up your home is never easy, but it can be especially tricky if you’re planning on moving far away. Traveling across state lines can make the whole process much more difficult. You need to approach the move in the right away, or you could sink yourself quite quickly.
Need tips on how to move to a different state without stressing yourself out? Read on, and we’ll walk you through everything you need to know.
Give Yourself Enough Time
This is a tip that should be held close no matter what kind of move you’re doing, but especially if you’re moving out of the state you currently live in.
The most significant cause of stress in most moving scenarios is time or the lack of it. Tasks that you thought might take one hour end up taking all afternoon, so on and so forth. If you don’t leave yourself enough time to plan and prepare for your move correctly, you might cause the whole thing to self-combust.
Start by calculating how much time you’ll need to get yourself out of your home. If you live in a studio or one-bedroom, a day or two will probably do. If you live in a multi-bedroom home with a whole family, you might want to give yourself a week.
That’s not the only thing you’ll want to schedule out. There’s a lot of logistics to sort out when it comes to an out-of-state move, like where you’re going to stay on your trip, how you’ll transport your stuff, and where you’ll store it if need be.
Trying to sort these things out too close to your actual move-out date can cause mass chaos. You can quickly lose money in the process. Save yourself the time, trouble, and financial headache by attacking these things as early on as possible.
Learn About Your New Home
It’s no secret that different states in the U.S. have very different laws and regulations. Something that might be legal in one place might be illegal in another. Before making the leap to your new home, you should do your research on life there. You want to be prepared for your new home.
That means learning everything from how much you’ll pay in taxes, to how hot the summer can get, to whether marijuana products are legal or not. Not only will this knowledge be helpful in your day-to-day existence, but it can also help you to prepare for your move properly.
The winters are mildest at their worst? It might be better to sell those old winter jackets instead of packing them all into a big box. Marijuana products no longer legal in your new home? Better leave them behind before you get pulled over later on.
Save Your Receipts
You’ll make a lot of purchases during the moving process. It can be a substantial financial burden and something you’ll want to keep on top of when it comes to your accounting for the year.
Keep a record of everything. If you donate a lot of your items before your move, make sure to keep a hold onto your receipt so you can write off those donations on your taxes.
You’ll also be able to track your finances as you go. Hang to receipts for gas, food, lodging, moving services, and even storage units you use during the process. This way, you’ll have an easier time tabulating how much the move costed you at the end of the day.
Forward Your Mail
One thing you don’t want to forget about when moving to a different state? Forwarding your mail to your new address.
The last thing you want is for the new residents in your old home to get all your essential information in their mailbox. Besides, you’ll definitely want still to get your bills, paychecks, wedding invites, and so forth at your new location!
Forwarding your mail to a new address, luckily, is not that difficult of a process. All you need to do is log on to the website for the U.S. Postal Service. Once there, simply fill out the brief mail forwarding form and inform the service of your new address.
They’ll make sure that all mail sent to your old address is forwarded to the new one for many months. That should be long enough for you to get your new address in front of most people who will be trying to reach you.
It often only takes a day or two for a mail forwarding request to get processed, so you can even do this last second if you’ve forgotten to. If you don’t know what your address will be, you can put a brief hold on your mail delivery until you figure out where to have things sent.
Tips on How to Move to a Different State
Do you know how to move to a different state? This kind of cross-country move can be quite stressful, but there are some steps you can take to mitigate the anxiety. The above are just a few of the helpful things you can do to help yourself out during the process.
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