Almost 6 months to this day, I made a life-changing decision. I accepted a job, said goodbye to Cincinnati, and moved down to Charlotte, NC. Going back to my senior year of college, I always felt this burning desire to move away from Cincinnati and set up shop in a new city. I wanted to spread my wings, make new experiences, and throw myself outside of my comfort zone. Throughout my spring semester, I applied to an endless number of positions in cities such as Austin, Denver, Dallas, and Atlanta. Shortly after graduation, I moved back in with my parents and kept my nose to the grindstone. I was still exactly where I started, scouring LinkedIn, talking to recruiters over the phone, and doing Zoom interviews. After what felt like years (actually 2 weeks), I accepted a job in Charlotte, NC.
In my mind, I thought that I could accept the job, pack up my bags, and move down to Charlotte the very next day. Very quickly, I realized there’s a lot more that goes into a move than I expected. In order to prepare you for the process of moving to a new city, here are 6 tips I recommend you take to prepare yourself.
1) Budget, Budget, Budget
If you’re moving to a new city (like me), more likely than not, it’s because you’ve just gotten a new job. The very first thing you should do after accepting the position, before you start looking for apartments, and before you start packing, is budget. Budgeting your money is important for many reasons. Budgeting keeps us organized, helps us control our spending habits, and sets us up for financial success later on down the road. As the age-old quote goes, “Money makes the world go round”. Without diving into the weeds about how to create a budget, allow me to quickly explain the budget that I put together and still use today.
Income
First off, we need to know how much money is coming in. For me, I get paid on a bi-monthly basis, so my paychecks come on the 1st and 15th of each month. Whether you get paid weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, bi-monthly, or whatever, you should have an idea of what your paychecks are going to look like. Second, we need to track any additional income that we may have come in. For instance, we may get an unexpected bonus this month, we pick up a side hustle, or we decide that we want to donate plasma (which I’ve done plenty of times). Approximate how much you think you may earn on top of your paychecks but treat this additional money like icing on the cake.
Expenses
Next, we need to track our expenses. Our core expenses include:
- Rent/Mortage Payment
- Utilities (Energy, Water, Gas, etc.)
- Trash
- Wi-Fi, Cable, & Internet
- Insurance
- Phone Bill
- Gas
- Groceries
Forgive me if I’m excluded something, but these are the basic expenses that universally everyone will have. Other expenses that you can factor into your budget include:
- Food/Drink (Eating Out)
- Miscellaneous Expenses (Oil changes, Soap, etc.)
- Gym Membership
- Haircut (Unless you’re bald)
- Subscriptions (Amazon Prime, Netflix, Apple Music, etc.)
Now, we have covered essentially every single expense that we could ever encounter. If not, we can always just lodge something into miscellaneous expenses since it encapsulates every expense that isn’t specifically named.
Savings/Investments
The next step is to decide how much we want to put away into savings and retirement. Obviously, I understand everyone’s financial situation is different, but we should try to save and invest as much as we possibly can while being able to live with the basic necessities. For this, take your income from your paychecks, subtract out your estimated expenses, and see how much is left over. I’m not a financial guru so I won’t tell you how to divvy up your money between savings and investments. If you’re 23 years old with no wife, no kids, and no responsibilities besides looking after yourself, invest. If you have obligations beyond yourself, save that money in case of emergencies.
Budgeting can be tedious, but you’ll thank yourself for taking the time to build out your financial road map.
Budgeting Template:
2) Figure Out Housing
Unless you really want to sleep on the street, it might be in your best interest to figure out where you’re going to sleep at night. With moving to a new city, it would be unwise to purchase a home because you’re not even sure if you like it or not! That being said, I highly recommend apartments.com to find a place to stay. They make it so easy to see all of the apartments in your area, as well as surrounding areas. In addition, you can also apply filters if you’re looking for specifics within an apartment such as number of bedrooms, pricing, and square footage.
It should be a relatively simple concept, but make sure that you actually tour these apartments before you put pen to paper and sign that lease. The photos on the apartment website may look amazing, but that’s because they’re supposed to look amazing. Take tours, ask questions, and make sure that you can see yourself living there for the next 6 months, 9 months, 12 months, or however long your lease is.
3) Visit Your New City
In lieu of my last point, make sure you actually visit your city before officially making the move. When I had accepted my job and decided to move down to Charlotte, NC, I had NEVER been to Charlotte. My only knowledge of Charlotte was the fact that the Panthers & Hornets played there. In addition, family friends and relatives who had all visited Charlotte said it was amazing. To this very day, I haven’t heard a single person say one bad thing about Charlotte, NC (fingers crossed).
Only a few days after accepting my position, my mother and I made a trip down to see what the city was all about. We stayed in a hotel not far from the city and spent the next few days exploring. We took that time to tour apartments, try out local restaurants, and get the lay of the land. It’s important to immerse yourself in the city beforehand so that you have some idea of what to expect in terms of transportation, restaurants, breweries, shops, and everything in between. Visit your new city before it becomes your new home.
4) Create a Checklist
Now if you’re anything like me, you’re always worried that you might be forgetting something. This is why it’s a fantastic idea to create a checklist. Your checklist should include anything and everything that you might need for your apartment. Here’s a basic overview of items that you might need for your apartment:
- Couch
- Chairs
- TV
- TV Stand
- Coffee Table
- Island
- Washer & Dryer? (Most apartments now-a-days provide these)
- Bed
- Bed Frame
- Nightstand(s)
- Dinner Table
- Chairs (For dinner table)
All of these items I just came up with as I was looking around my apartment. I’m 99% sure that this won’t be everything that you need for your living situation, but it should get you on the right track. In addition, make sure that you create a checklist for the items specific to you that you’d like to bring. For instance, these could be things such as books, instruments, posters, and so on and so on. Your checklist is YOUR checklist, so make sure that you write down everything you’ll need to create a comfortable living situation.
5) Say Your “See You Later’s”
Now comes the sad part. Although you’ve made the choice to move to a new city, there will certainly be people that you’ll miss not being able to see so easily. Make sure that you make time for those who you’ll miss the most like friends and family. Ask them if they want to get dinner, see a movie, or grab coffee with you so you can cherish the moments as if they were the last (they’re not). One of the concepts that I’ve always loved, but never fully understood until being so far away home is the saying, “It’s not a goodbye, but a see you later”. You may be 4, 10, 20, or 40 hours away, but you’re never too far away for text messages, phone calls, and facetimes. Remember, it’s not a goodbye, but a see you later.
6) Hit The Road
Now that the decision has been made, the bags have been packed, and the farewells have been said, it’s time to hit the road. You’ve already done the hard work. You’ve created a budget for yourself to keep track of your finances and reach your goals. You’ve found an apartment that you like with everything you could ask for in a living situation. The city is no longer foreign to you because you had the chance to gather your bearings before living there full-time. You’ve created a checklist which you double-checked, triple-checked, and quadruple-checked to make sure you didn’t forget anything. Lastly, you’ve said ‘see you soon’ to the people who you’ll miss the most. Now it’s time to fire up that engine and hit the road. An exciting journey awaits. May your new city be everything that you hope it will be, and more!
If you enjoyed this article or found it informative, be sure to share it on your favorite social media site. Also, leave me a comment down below with your thoughts or your personal experience with moving to a new city. Lastly, head on over to my contact page to shoot me a message and follow me on all social media.
One last thing, if you’re preparing to move or thinking about it, check out my article I wrote about the 5 lessons I’ve learned since moving to a new city.
Stay Mindful!
