Poll of the Day > Moving is expensive

(+) Yeah! (+)

For funsies I put in how much it cost to move to another country...

So what it cost.
- Visa (3 years) = ~$2500
---- this was entirely paid for by my company, other people might pay for this themselves
---- will need to renew this in 3 years time, so this will be a cost again in 3 years
---- healthcare surcharge 624/year = 1872
---- 479 shortage occupation list application cost
- flight = ~$800
- luggage = ~$1300
---- 4 suitcases, 2 duffel bags = ~$1000
---- stuff I cared about most or didn't want to wait 5-7 months shipping
---- van rental for Airbnb hopping = $300
- pet relocation service = ~$5500
---- cat arriving after me since I had a lot of luggage and timeframe was last minute for figuring out her stuff
---- health certificates, vet appointment, flights, picking her up and travel to airport for departure but picking her up at airport on arrival
- AirBnB for two months that's pet friendly = $7000
- finding a flat = $12,000
---- having to pay 6 months rent upfront being from abroad without credit here = $9k
---- also having to pay double the deposit for the same reason = $3k
- sea shipping other stuff = ~$4000
---- still figuring this out but these are quotes I'm getting
---- 18 boxes, not furniture
---- probably could have cut back on some of this...but sea shipping is by container so wouldn't have saved much

So that's roughly $30.5k out of pocket (plus $2.5k paid by employer), not including having to buy a bunch of stuff soon (furniture, necessities I didn't pack, etc).

Potential savings:
- having gone for a bigger company that would pay for relocation costs (typically cover up 10k from what I've seen)
- moving with less
--- save probably a couple thousand with less airport luggage + sea shipping costs
--- but also it's a container size for sea shipping so not sure how much I could actually save here
--- but also would have had to rebuy things
- not using a pet relocation service
---- if I had to fly back to the USA and into Paris, pay for a Chunnel pet service, and then train I would have saved $2k but would have been 30+ hours work
---- if I brought my cat with me immediately I could have saved 10 hours and $1k ish from the above, so $3k saved (but this was difficult with timing unknown and traveling with a lot of luggage). Would have been max savings here though
- AirBnB
--- I did places "entirely to myself" because I have so much luggage and also I don't want to live in a hostel for two months (plus with a cat not even an option)
--- I'd have to leave the city to find cheaper places that's over an hour commute. This doesn't work well when I was given a couple hours notice for some flat viewing, and was flat viewing multiple times a day. plus work.
--- could have saved if I knew ahead of time when I would have a flat, there's 2/3 month I didn't need
--- but booking things for a month at a time (I booked two) gives a monthly discount, and I didn't want to risk not being able to find a pet friendly place last minute so..
--- hotels could have saved a couple grand here for the same time but that's another meh situation to be in for a couple months with cooking, laundry additional costs, etc.

With those savings it still would have been over $20k out of pocket (without relocation being paid by employer)

anyway don't have to pay rent until April now so I guess that's nice

edit: oh didn't include some visa services (document processing and some extra stuff) and travel for that that was around $1k too

very stressful too, I hate moving

I got a quote to move my stuff downstairs to a container and the estimate was 2k for eight hours.

Guess I am doing it all myself....

VampireCoyote posted...

very stressful too, I hate moving

This.

KodyKeir posted...

I got a quote to move my stuff downstairs to a container and the estimate was 2k for eight hours.

Guess I am doing it all myself....

I paid for movers to move in to my house I actually bought and I thought it was super worth it. Relieved a lot of move in stress.

Jen0125 posted...

I paid for movers to move in to my house I actually bought and I thought it was super worth it. Relieved a lot of move in stress.

yeah when I moved from Texas to California, it was $8k for movers (furniture then) that moved everything and so worth it considering all the stairs and such..

grimhilde00 posted...

--- could have saved if I knew ahead of time when I would have a flat, there's 2/3 month I didn't need

it might be possible to get this refunded. I rented an Airbnb for my last three months stateside before I moved overseas, and I didnt yet know my departure date and ended up not needing about the same amount of time as you, 2/3 of a month. I emailed my Airbnb about a month prior, let them know I wouldnt actually be staying those days so if they wanted to open up bookings to others for that timeframe they could cancel my stay for those dates. I didnt even ask for a refund, but was provided a full refund for the days I wasnt going to be staying

Now I understand when most people move to another place, they usually aim for having an SO who already lives there.
Sounds like most of the expenses are just double rent.

JigsawTDCII posted...

it might be possible to get this refunded. I rented an Airbnb for my last three months stateside before I moved overseas, and I didnt yet know my departure date and ended up not needing about the same amount of time as you, 2/3 of a month. I emailed my Airbnb about a month prior, let them know I wouldnt actually be staying those days so if they wanted to open up bookings to others for that timeframe they could cancel my stay for those dates. I didnt even ask for a refund, but was provided a full refund for the days I wasnt going to be staying

yeah I'll message and see if they're nice but not holding my breath

shadowsword87 posted...

Now I understand when most people move to another place, they usually aim for having an SO who already lives there.
Sounds like most of the expenses are just double rent.

it's about needing cash upfront since I don't have credit or a guarantor. But since it's upfront, I don't have to pay rent until April either. Just, if you move abroad, you need savings to be able to do that.

also, moving overseas was significantly cheaper for me due to:
-no pets
-dont plan to settle down in this country, so only took a single large suitcase with me (Im a fairly extreme minimalist anyway, so this was literally almost all my possessions aside from my PS4 and TV which I left with my mom)
-my job paid for my flight, visa, and two week hotel quarantine upon arriving in country, as well as helped me find my apartment and paid some of the start up costs. They also subsidize about half my rent which is already absurdly cheap (so I pay ~$220 a month for rent). Theyll also cover my return flight when I eventually move back to the States (which will probably only be for a bit before I hop onto the next country)

including furnishing my apartment (again, fairly minimal on my end) and buying my first ever car (really shitty car that broke down within a few months tbf, leasing a much nicer car now), my grand total of moving and settling down here was just under $5k. I was very fortunate I was able to do it all for around that, because Ive never had a job that pays well

youre probably making way more than me

anyway, congrats on the move and now that most of those big expenses are out of the way and you dont have to worry about rent for 6 months, hopefully you can relax and get to enjoy your new home!

JigsawTDCII posted...

including furnishing my apartment (again, fairly minimal on my end)

man most places here were furnished which I did NOT like. One, felt like that was a strike against having a pet. I got rejected by ten places, only one flat actually gave me a lease offer (but it was by far my favorite so suck on that other flats!). Also, they were usually ugly as hell. So much faux leather or outdated stuff. Yeah I want to move in and make it homey. Also hoping to stay here for a few years then be able to buy. So, glad I got unfurnished!

JigsawTDCII posted...

anyway, congrats on the move and now that most of those big expenses are out of the way and you dont have to worry about rent for 6 months, hopefully you can relax and get to enjoy your new home!

yeah time to settle in and other than buying furnishings and stuff, no rent for awhile will be nice. And my flat is on the Water of Leith which I love and in my favorite neighborhood I was aiming for :)

Move into the streets, rents free

It cost me $125 to move to the other side of the city earlier this year (like the actual moving everything part, not new location expenses)