Our Long Distance Move!

 

Our move wasn’t as far away as the long distance moves some people make, but for us this was a 550 mile move from Georgia to Ohio. It was four days after Christmas when we pulled out of our driveway in GA and started on the long trip to OH. But let me back up a bit. Tim was offered this job about four months after we bought our first house. So obviously it was completely unexpected, however we had a few months to prepare for this move and that was very nice. He wasn’t given an official start date until the beginning of December; so we knew we were moving we just didn’t know when. We couldn’t find a place to live since we didn’t know when we were moving, so when we finally got a date we had about two weeks to find a place to live.

Tim had only ever driven through Ohio and I had only been to the state once, we knew next to nothing about Dayton, Ohio. Which is why we decided we would live in the base housing. I found very little information about the housing and about civilians living on base. I was afraid we might stand out or that others might feel like we shouldn’t be living there. After speaking with the housing staff and learning there were many other civilian families and the fact that we were out of options we jumped in feet first. We had never seen the inside, even in pictures, of our new home when our convoy showed up at 6pm.

Truthfully, I wasn’t the most humble person when I first saw the place we would call home. Don’t get me wrong the outside looked fine, but between a 12-hour drive with two dogs in my car, a check engine light on for 200 miles, cracking my phone in the driveway upon arrival, and then it started snowing… I wasn’t in the best mood. We had left a beautiful very spacious house that we loved so walking into our townhouse felt like a step backwards. Throughout the 15 months we lived there we really grew to love and appreciate this place. It was three bedrooms and two and half baths, the kitchen was a little on the small side and the appliances were a little dated but still good.

I had meant to take pictures before we moved things in but again, it was snowing and we had been in the car for 12 hours. So I took pictures over the next couple of days and the rest after we moved out. We had great neighbors, a smallish fenced backyard, and a one-car garage with shelf storage. All in all I felt very fortunate to live there. The townhouses are all in sets on four, we were in one of the middle units. So here are the much awaited photos of the base housing at Wright- Patterson AFB!

Moving Tips!

1. Clean out and have a yard sale before you move! Get rid of anything you can because space is money. Some people get rid of everything and just buy new after they move, but to me that costs more money than a moving truck. We had a yard sale and made about $600 which was about what the moving truck and a tank of gas for it cost.
2. Our house in Dayton is an 8 hour drive from where our house in Georgia was. With the moving truck’s top speed maxing out around 60 (before we got to the hills of Kentucky) it took us 12 hours because of this. We did have to stop for gas a couple times and for an extra potty break. So keep this in mind!
3. Take your time packing the truck. We got ours a day before we left and spent the entire day loading the truck just right not everything fit in the end but it all worked out eventually. Thankfully we had family in town that was willing to house our extra belongings.
4. Price around moving truck companies. You can save a lot of money by moving yourself and just renting a truck. That being said you can get quotes (don’t forget any AAA or military discounts) from multiple companies and then take the time to call back and share any lower quotes you found. Often times companies are able to beat or at least match each other.
5. In addition to labeling each box with the contents I also used green, yellow, and red tape to tag each box I had packed knowing that they wouldn’t all fit on the truck. That way friends and family could just look at the color and know what to load rather than reading what it was and having to stop and ask if it should go or not. Green was for things that had to go. (ex. pots and pans) Yellow was for things that we would like to go. (ex. movies) Red was for things that really did not need to go. (ex. Christmas decorations, keepsakes that stay boxed up anyway.)
6. A few boxes I labeled with exactly what was inside but most of the others just said the room they went to. On one move I used the color tape but in a different way. Instead of what needs to go on the truck it was a signifier of which room it needed to go to. For example: Blue for master bedroom and bathroom, red for kitchen, green for the living which included all decorations…
7. Use all your towels, wash clothes, dish towels, and even some clothing to wrap your breakable items!
8. I’m not sure where this tip originally came from I have used it on all our moves, pack your books in suitcases! We have a ton of books and I knew I wouldn’t be able to life a heavy box of books but I could carry a tote bag over my shoulder and roll some luggage behind me to move them.
9. We left everything in our dresser drawers and just threw a towel over the underwear drawer. This saves some awkwardness, you know in case your husband’s new coworker is helping you move and doesn’t need to know you quite on that level.
10. Pack a roll of paper towels, paper plates, plastic cups and silverware in a laundry basket or something that will be easy to keep up with. I also put a couple towels, bottled water, and a gallon sized ziplock with dog food. (Don’t forget the bowl!) Make sure this goes in one of the cars or the last item placed in the back of the truck.