Have you ever picked up your life and moved?

I have moved across the country many times.

Was hoping to finally be able to stay in one place.... Oregon, loved that state.
But sadly it wasn't to be.

So I went from Oregon to VA, due to needing a fair wage job, Nov 2011.

Have moved so much, I am a pro at packing.

I moved all that I could, furniture the whole nine yards.
After DH got out of the Navy, I bought nice furniture and I wasn't about to sell or leave it.
Packed like they would drop something out of a moving airplane.
Years of having the Navy move us, taught me that.

We however, to keep us afloat.. did sell the Tractor and the many, many equipment we had for it.
Thought it would be easy to find and buy good condition used replacements.
Nope,, haven't been able to find a thing. So I am kind'a kicking myself for that.

I sold down the animals, found homes for two riding horses, my Jenny and one miniature horse. Found the chickens a home, and the Bourkes.
As birds in the SUV with three cats, wasn't going to end well.

I did bring the other 2 riding horses, a miniature horse and one sheep with me. Hired a company to bring them over.

Had a POD type moving company recommended to me. Hired the largest size truck which as 28" and only my stuff was in it. It was the cheapest way to go, since I packed everything. And they did a really, really good job loading and unloading. Was impressed.

The stuff I couldn't take or did not want to take... I took to Good Will. That way I could get it off my taxes next year. Much less stress that way, than dealing with Joe public.

Make lists, I had a number of them for each stage of the process.

Yes, it can be over whelming, even to those have been doing this for 25 years.
Just take one day at a time. Do what you can.
Everything Will come together.

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Shari

We did, but moved in the opposite direction. In September of 2011 we moved from central Ohio to the northern Lower Peninsula of Michigan. Overwhelmed doesn't begin to describe the feelings that swept over us during that time. Selling the house in Ohio, changing jobs, working on one house to sell it and the other to move into it, and moving. We also graduated our son and moved him off to college right in the middle of all of it. It was brutal at the time, but in hindsight we absolutely made the right decision. We're where we want and need to be.

This is the process that we used for making up our minds about what big items to take or sell or give away. Of course it is not always about the dollar value. Moving is generally by weight so you have to decide and purge. It can be very discouraging to think that you gave away that nice set of dishes but somehow a whole big box of very unimportant papers made the cross country trip costing at least $30 just to be used as fire starters.

My great-grandmother's table and chairs are always coming with us even though they are so fragile that they are just ornamental but that is because they have enormous sentimental and family value.

On the other hand do I want to take the table and chairs we bought for the kitchen?

First off ask yourself if you really need it for the new place and really like it - if you saw them in someone else's house would it make you sad to not have them anymore? If you answer yes then you take them.

But if you answer no or are just tired of them:
How much did you pay for this item?
How long did you have it.
Divide the amount you paid for the item by the time you had it

i.e. table and chairs $600 divided by 15 years equals $40 which was what this item cost you per year so if you sell the item for even 1/3 of what you paid you got your value out of the item.

The item weighs 160 lbs so will cost about half that ($80) to move. Can I buy the same for $80 or am I willing/able to pay about $40 a year for 15 years for something new?

I have 3 times. Once as a child from Missouri to Florida. Love Florida but bad memories (lost my mom there for the most part at age 10)
Then from Missouri to Ca. Married and had my family but could not make a living.
So we uprooted, left everything behind that did not fit in our Honda Civic wagon or our friends Ford escort and hauled 3 adults, 2 kids and 2 large dogs here to Texas.
I really do not plan to leave here it is the best of all of them!

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2Ti 1:7 for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
Luceo non uro

Did you guys who are talking about weight of items use moving companies? Last time i rented the largest Uhaul truck. Not sure if you could even get a tractor in one of those.

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"For if you start dancing on tables, fanning yourself, feeling sleepy when you pick up a book... making love whenever you feel like it, then you know. The south has got you.”

I have moved 46 times in my life and the only difference each time, was how much I had to move, but the experience was much the same. This last move entailed moving the most, as we had blended belongings (he and I were married a year before that, combined all of our belongings). This amounted to what I moved out of a 2,100 sq foot home, when I was divorced, had most of it still with me, when I got married, then moved all of it again to here. He had a complete Machinist/Welding Shop, which includes larger machinery, tools galore, and thousands of pieces/parts/bits, you name it, he seems to have it. I couldn't begin to estimate how many tools, parts, bits, larger machines, welders, milling machine, lathe, hydraulic presses, blasting cabinet, tool chests/cases/cabinets, and the list goes on and on and on. That didn't include all the trailers, outdoor equipment, multiple vehicles, and then add all of our furnishings/belongings. Since this was a move within the same County, we rented the largest UHaul, moved all of our belongings in 2 trips, then DH took 12 trips with an equipment trailer, pulled with his F250, to move his shop! We did move my children's belongings, which is mostly still packed up. Everything else we moved represents our entire household of furniture, decor, appliances, etc... It took 4 trips with our F250, 2 of those with the equipment trailer, to move 16 mature fruit bearing trees, all our blueberry bushes, raspberries, and large grapevines. That took the most work, and was a lot more to move, but moving all the same. Every time I moved, there was a job or life experience change.

We have been here 7 years and don't plan on moving!

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Christie Acres
www.SequimForLife.com
http://www.irealtyvirtualbrokers.com...lori-christie/
http://luxurywaterviewhomes.com/
SequimLiving@gmail.com

I would think it is easier if you have a partner/family to make the move with you - if nothing else, then for moral and emotional support. To move to a place without any support system in place would be very difficult for me. I've been in places where I could think about living, but then I think about dying there without any family or close friends. That usually stops me cold in my tracks. Maybe that's just me?

Know you asked how to handle it, but I know for me, I couldn't handle it if I were alone.

We used moving companies for several of our long moves (cross country) and also Uhaul do-it-yourself moves for long and short moves. Several of our moves were paid because we were transfered but even then you have to watch the weight as there was one dollar value attached to the entire move which included the movers, flights to house hunt, the actual move of the humans (and animals and plants). When we moved thousands of miles and we paid we used moving companies when there was no other choice but also did it ourselves. Once the move involved the biggest UHaul truck towing a Uhaul trailer and the truck broke down literally in the middle of nowhere and it took 4 days to get a replacement. That was fun.

I have moved cross country 4 times and across town so many times I cannot remember. I find it's about as easy to move from one state to another as it is to move across town. Moving to a totally new place is a great adventure to me.

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Boldly going nowhere.

I have never moved. I moved for university, but was still home to farm most every week at some point. I can't imagine moving! I am curious what you meant by your comment re: not being able to imagine people who stay in their place their whole life.

I have never moved, and hopefully never will. I can not think of anything about "here" that could possibly be improved on anywhere else. Best of luck to the OP. Obviously, I have no experience to share advice.

But I just had to jump in and say, ahem, yes there is life, even if you do not ever move! lol

LOL Somewhere there is a truck big enough! Ryder ,Budget and Hertz all all offer bigger trucks.
How big a tractor do you have?

Just what I said, there's a whole big beautiful diverse world out there, new places to see, new friends to meet, new climates and cities/countryside to experience. I would be bored out of my mind to stay in one spot all my life.

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Apocalyptic and Survival Fiction - Readers and writers welcome

After living in CA, AZ, CO, WY, OR, and WA, I think I have determined where I wish to remain, lol, especially after moving 46 times. Now that we have 23 fruit trees (including one walnut), 3,000 sq ft in raised garden areas, with more area being devoted to gardening, two garden cabins (built by DH), and live in such a nice conservative community, I'd like to stay put! Oh, preference of community is mine, but respect others may desire differently. We don't have much crime here...

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Christie Acres
www.SequimForLife.com
http://www.irealtyvirtualbrokers.com...lori-christie/
http://luxurywaterviewhomes.com/
SequimLiving@gmail.com

We moved 1,000 miles south to a warmer climate. We had movers for the house stuff (employer paid for it) and had friends help with the equipment and animals. We had a caravan with a very long stock trailer full of horses, a small stock trailer full of pigs, a flat bed trailer with my chicken coop on top (a gift from the husband the year before) with my turkeys perched and watching out the windows. Had to go back a few more times and come back with tractors and all the equipment to go with them. We found this farm on the net and bought it before we got here and then sold the old farm the year later. It was a lot of work but actually I thought it was fun and exciting. We love our new place so much more than what we left behind that it made everything worth it. Don't over think it. Just pick up what you want to keep and take it with you.

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Living Large Down on the Farm.

My senior year of high school, I packed up my parents and younger siblings, with their 18 years of accumulated stuff and watched them move away. Included in that packing up was numerous boxes of stuff that should never have been moved, like countless margarine tubs and broken toys.

Most of my own moving was about 800 miles at a time. It all had to fit in a truck or in the vehicle behind the rental truck. The best move was when friends helped with a 24 foot stock trailer. They contracted some back-hauling and were able to break even on the trip. It was a blind move; we arrived two days early with a list of apartments for rent. I spent hours on the phone lining up appointments to see different possibilities. When the trailer came, we had an apartment found and moved everything in immediately.

Of most of our furniture, only four pieces have made all the moves. Two dressers, a cedar chest and a rocking chair. We picked up something new-to-us when we got there. Where we are now is the longest we have lived in one place, almost five years. Before that, it averaged 9 months. All those moves made us purge all the garbage and extra accumulated stuff. Every move there was one box of stuff that needed sorting, but didn't have the time. And that box never got sorted when we got there. There's no way that I was going to move a full box of margarine tubs. And I almost have the itch to move again, just to make us purge everything. Somewhere along the line, I was told that five moves is equivalent to a house fire.

If or when we have to move, I would seriously look at buying a large (24 foot plus) cargo or stock trailer or box truck, with the idea that when everything was moved, I should be able to sell it for about what I paid for it. If you have any question about whether or not to move it, find a way to get rid of it.

Haven, yes I have done it nearly a year ago. I had a good job in the Pacific Northwest. I had a nice home I had built on 5 acres. I didn't have much as far as animals at the time. I moved across the US at Christmas time. I was in three different states Christmas day. I actually drove to Indiana and stayed with my parents with eveything I owned sitting in a trailer in his shop, while I looked for property in MO. In Feb, I finally moved to an older house that needed a lot of work, and 80 acres. I have been fixing the house, and fences. I have also been adding alll the animals that I am wanting. Still have a few more to go, but I am getting closer. I don't regret leaving the big steady pay checks, and the rainy NW at all. I do miss the family members that are still in the NW. I agree with those that say you should make list. I used spreadsheets for everything from property searches, to inventoring everything I had in the trailer.

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WWW.Facebook.com/vanishingcreekranch

When i was 40, i moved away from the place i had called home for all that time and that was from Arkansas to Kansas.
This was not a fun move, and i still don't like it here..it has been 8 years.
You know though you just do the best you can and that is all you can do...

Oh, ok. I know the world is big and beautiful, that is what travelling is for! When you plant things, plan thing exactly how you want it, which is a never ending process, mind you, and see results over a lifetime, the payback is immense.

Again, just because I am, never have, and hopefully never will move, does not mean I can not take off on holidays at times to diverse places. It is in these travels, I REALLY get the appreciation I do for where I live. imply, nothing compares...

To each his own. I cannot imagine planting an orchard for someone else to enjoy: making my farmyard efficient, and then move away. And so on..

We have moved coast to coast 6 times, lived overseas for over 10 years, we retired in Alaska, sold everything including furniture, the fishing boat, three Harleys, the wifes car and moved to the Missouri Ozarks. We knew no one here, we have no family here, have never farmed or even been on a tractor before and its been a grand adventure.

We have done both the movers routine and U-Haul and its all a lot of work if you hold on to all your stuff. We kept personal stuff, tools, and weapons and let things like furniture get sold or given away. We plan on doing 20 years here on the farm, then buying another sailboat and sailing the Caribbean for a few years, and then in our 80s we will settle down and travel the US in a motorhome. Or we may move back to Italy who knows.

Life is an adventure so dont be afraid to live it. Right now we are enjoying the things Dale mentioned, seeing the results of our labor mature and we are traveling a lot and its nice to have a home base. Moving can be overwhelming or a release because you get to start anew.....your choice.

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www.salmonslayer-simplelife.blogspot.com

After a few in-state job related moves in upstate NY, I made the BIG move to CA 3 1/2 years ago. After retiring, my adult children kept on me to join them in CA, and as things became more difficult for me - snowblowing, etc. - I agreed. Left a place I loved on over 5 acres and moved to one on 2 acres. Housing prices in CA continued to be overblown even during the economic "downturn".

Buyers of my little NY homestead wanted the chickens and ducks, but I gave the geese to a friend who had given me a couple of nice dogs. It was a hectic move for me as I was alone and my house sold much faster than anticipated. I had a mover haul my stuff, put 2 dogs on a plane, and drove across the country with the 3rd dog and a cat.

I experienced culture shock, but am about over it. This area is more built up, but everyone seems to have some kind of animal. There are lots of horses and dogs, as well as cattle, goats, and various types of poultry. The best part is that my daughter is 1/2 mile down the road, and my son is within 2 hours drive. I will never like the freeways!