Moving Day Countdown: 0 Days To Go!!!!!

[bobosensei]

I agree sooner is better.  It's always taken 2-3 weeks for me to be able to pick up keys at a place anyway.  And it isn't the end of the world if you have to end up living in a hotel for a week or two while you get into the apartment.  DH and I had to live in an apartment for 3.5 weeks (one room with our two dogs) when we moved here.  It sucked while we went through it, but it's possible.

I would probably cool the job search a bit and focus on the apartment and moving and all the other millions of things you need to do.  You'll be busy when you get into the new place, and you don't want to resent DH when it feels like you are doing everything because he will technically still be working full time those first 4 weeks.  I know I wouldn't want to be in the middle of interviews with everything in transition if i could help it.

Another thing you might want to do is start saying goodbye to friends now.  Have a party if you were going to do one or schedule a group dinner.  They will all want to put it off until the very end, but you will get super busy those last few days and won't have the time to really enjoy anyone.

[flamingo]

I'm in the sooner is better camp. As someone who recently moved from one state to another, I had to wait way longer than I wanted to make my house hunting trip. The waiting was more stressful than anything. I am such a planner, it was hard to pack because I didn't know what the new place would look like and what would fit. I also didn't know how much it would cost because where we were looking prices were all over the place. Everything else seemed to fall nicely into place once I had the housing piece out of the way. So the sooner the better!!

[Firebird]

Okay, sooner it is.  DH and I have something to do on Sunday, but if I can't reschedule it I'll plan to leave right afterward and get to Portland late Sunday night. 

Another thing you might want to do is start saying goodbye to friends now. Have a party if you were going to do one or schedule a group dinner. They will all want to put it off until the very end, but you will get super busy those last few days and won't have the time to really enjoy anyone.

I actually only have one good friend left around here that I care about seeing before we leave, and she's coming over tomorrow night anyway. 

I am such a planner, it was hard to pack because I didn't know what the new place would look like and what would fit.

That's a really good point too, our couch is on the large side and I need to know if it can fit in the new place.  No point packing something that won't fit.

Okay, job search is canceled for today - I'm going to look at apartments instead and try to score some appointments for Monday.  Hopefully the fact that DH and I are both still employed will help with our applications.  I'm also asking our current landlord to write us a recommendation, in case that carries any weight.  All else fails, I'll offer to advance the first six months in cash. 

It would feel a lot better if I could secure us an apartment.  That's a pretty big "to do" item on our list, possibly THE biggest since jobs aren't an immediate concern.  Hopefully everything can fall into place after that. 

muttleynfelix - we'll be settled by June.  Make sure to let me know when you're arriving so our kids can play together

[Firebird]

Okay, just at first glance it looks like we might end up renting in Vancouver because we can get exactly what we want/need at the right price.  Trade-off, we might be dealing with a crappy commute for awhile if we end up working in Portland.  I think I'm willing to take that gamble, though.  Not sure we can afford what we need in downtown Portland, which may or may not be near our work locations anyway! 

I might also look up local real estate agents when we get there.  They would know where to find good rentals, right? 

[muttleynfelix]

Firebird - It depends on the area, but it seems like Craigslist is the place to look.  In the town we are looking at, everything that is on Zillow and Trulia is also on Craigslist.  Looking at some of the other areas we are looking at, there isn't as much available - even on trulia and zillow.  I think there just isn't the market or the market is more driven by the universities in those locations.  

[aprilleigh]

I was just browsing CL to see what's out there, and holy hell I LOVE this place!! portland.craigslist.org/mlt/apa/4816489567.html
Sorry, I'm no help on the apartment front. You couldn't pay me enough to live downtown.  

[Firebird]

Jan 8, 2015 14:55:32 GMT -5 aprilleigh said:

I was just browsing CL to see what's out there, and holy hell I LOVE this place!! portland.craigslist.org/mlt/apa/4816489567.html
Sorry, I'm no help on the apartment front. You couldn't pay me enough to live downtown.

Wow, that is a nice place!  Bit out of our price range, but it sure is pretty.  I love the circular staircase. 

Normally I wouldn't even consider living downtown.  Portland is, literally, the first city I've ever considered actually living IN (as opposed to outside of while I work in it).  Real estate is so much cheaper there that we could even afford a decent house.  Not as nice as we could get on the outskirts, though. 

Just had lunch with my mom and Babybird.  The child seems to sense something in the water - she was all about "Mommy I hug you?" and "Mommy I love you" and general "Mommy I be as adorable as possible so you don't leave me."  Leaving her for up to a week is going to be ALL THE SUCK. 

[muttleynfelix]

Jan 8, 2015 15:35:22 GMT -5 Firebird said:

Jan 8, 2015 14:55:32 GMT -5 aprilleigh said:

I was just browsing CL to see what's out there, and holy hell I LOVE this place!! portland.craigslist.org/mlt/apa/4816489567.html
Sorry, I'm no help on the apartment front. You couldn't pay me enough to live downtown.

Wow, that is a nice place!  Bit out of our price range, but it sure is pretty.  I love the circular staircase. 

Normally I wouldn't even consider living downtown.  Portland is, literally, the first city I've ever considered actually living IN (as opposed to outside of while I work in it).  Real estate is so much cheaper there that we could even afford a decent house.  Not as nice as we could get on the outskirts, though. 

Just had lunch with my mom and Babybird.  The child seems to sense something in the water - she was all about "Mommy I hug you?" and "Mommy I love you" and general "Mommy I be as adorable as possible so you don't leave me."  Leaving her for up to a week is going to be ALL THE SUCK. 

I hear you.  I was thinking we could do our move in 2 parts and I would come home like every other weekend and after spending 1 night away from DD, I don't think I can do that.  Now she was at my parent's house, but I got home and she refused to let me go.  She at least let me just hold her hand instead of carrying her everywhere.  

[Firebird]

Two must be the age where they go into full Mommy Mode.  Babybird barely notices DH these days   Hopefully she'll learn to appreciate him more when she doesn't have me.

There's nothing I can do about this since DH absolutely cannot take a week off right now.  I'm the only one who can get us a place to live.  So we're just all going to have to suck it up.  Key word being "suck." 

I will say, I feel a lot better now that I've decided to leave this weekend.  It feels good to be taking solid action. 

[muttleynfelix]

Exactly. Having a plan makes it all better.  

FTR - I don't remember DS being as much about mommy at 2.  Of course I didn't bond with him quite like I've bonded with DD.  

[Firebird]

Got four appointments lined up for Monday, which is a lot.  I'm going to hold off on making any more until I get there because the areas referred to in the ads mean absolutely nothing to me.  I need to see if they're good neighborhoods before I waste my time looking at places in them.

The good news is that our budget should be doable.  We won't get anything too fancy, but we'll get something that works.  It's only four a year (I have to keep telling myself).  Just for fun, I am looking at one that's out of our price range ($1500/month) because it's huge and gorgeous and practically right next door to Intel.  I probably won't take it but it was too pretty not to at least glance at, and who knows? 

[lynnerself]

Even if you don't know where you will be working, you might check how close the apartments are to the MAX (light rail) line.
DH used it to commute to downtown when we lived there.

[Firebird]

I'd kind of forgotten how grueling the process of apartment finding is, especially in a new area. Thank heaven and a special shout-out to Formerly SK, who has fielded multiple frantic texts and emails from me asking for feedback on location!

The good news is that after a day of hard searching, I've found three finalists (DH favors one over the others) and I'm feeling pretty good about one of the areas that has literally tons of apartment vacancies and is right next to the MAX line.

So hopefully I'll be able to lock one down tomorrow and go home on Wednesday. My mom decided to join me at the last minute, for which I am devoutly thankful. This is so much easier with two people. We covered much more ground today together than I would have done alone.

Whew!

[Firebird]

I also worked out a new rough budget for us, and as long as we're bringing in between $4,500 and $5,000/month, we'll be fine and even saving some money once employer health insurance kicks in (this budget includes a line item for COBRA, which we'll probably need for a month or two).

As long as DH and I are making $40-50k each (substantially less than either of us make now), we'll be fine. I feel good about our chances of securing jobs that pay enough within a month or two in the area we like. So that's encouraging.

[Firebird]

Someone wants to interview me tomorrow. But is it a bad sign that he started the email with "I'm intrigued"?

[Works4me]

Depends - what was your source and what type of job?

[taz157]

Jan 12, 2015 22:48:36 GMT -5 Works4me said:

Depends - what was your source and what type of job?

[Firebird]

Just a response to an EA job posting I answered on Craigslist. I was kinda joking. But that was the first sentence of his response.

He asked for a phone interview tomorrow. Can't hurt.

[taz157]

Good luck!

[justme]

EA the game company? If so you could always verify what he says against what they have on their career site. Though a random person could get that info too.

[Firebird]

I found an apartment! I feel like skipping.

Actually, we found THREE places this morning that were almost equally great in their own ways, and we were about to break for lunch after the first two, then decided just one more wouldn't hurt. I think the third time was the charm.

Check it out: $1,000/month rent and we don't start paying until March, 8 month lease, close to EVERYTHING, gorgeous huge two bedroom with two awesome patios for our kitty!

I was totally resigned to paying between $1,200 and 1,400 so this kind of blows me away. Even with utilities, we're going to save a TON of money on rent. Which will make the transition that much easier.

The other apartments had good things going for them (private garage in one, loft that was essentially a third bedroom in the other) but they were both in the $1,250 range.

I'M MAKING A YM APPROVED MONEY CHOICE REGARDING RENT! Aren't you guys proud of me?!

[shanendoah]

Firebird - Yay for finding a place that will work for you!

justme - EA, I'm guessing, is Executive Assistant. And I would say the "I'm intrigued" is a good sign. The most important part of an EA position is the relationship with the principal. (I'm pretty certain that EA the game company does not have a studio in the Portland area, but I could be wrong.)

How did the phone interview go? Or is it not until later today?

[Firebird]

Phone interview happened just now. It was fine, but he only wants to pay $20/hr. I'm pretty sure I can do better. I don't mind taking a paycut, but it needs to be the right job. I'm not commuting to Portland for $40k. Not gonna happen. Which is too bad, because the job actually sounds interesting.

[Firebird]

Ha HA! Just scored us a six month health insurance policy for $400/month! That's about half of what California would have charged.

SO STOKED! This whole thing is working out to be so much more cost effective than I thought it would be.

[t-dog]

Firebird - your excitement is contagious! You are also rekindling my "I want to move out of CA" feelings again. I have way way too much help here with my mom and father in law assisting with DS after school care to really do it - but man I would love to move back to the mid west! Oh but that would mean another bar exam - and dream dead!

[Firebird]

Slightly less good- I somehow screwed up the amount of the rent. It's $1,150 not $1,000. Not exactly a huge deal, especially with the cheap insurance to offset, and still cheaper than the other places, but annoying. I'm not exactly sure how I messed that up. Oh well.

[Bonny]

Jan 15, 2015 18:08:35 GMT -5 Firebird said:

Ha HA! Just scored us a six month health insurance policy for $400/month! That's about half of what California would have charged.

SO STOKED! This whole thing is working out to be so much more cost effective than I thought it would be.

Is that for each of you or for both of you?

[Firebird]

For ALL of us!

[mmhmm]

Jan 15, 2015 18:08:35 GMT -5 Firebird said:

Ha HA! Just scored us a six month health insurance policy for $400/month! That's about half of what California would have charged.

SO STOKED! This whole thing is working out to be so much more cost effective than I thought it would be.

Sounds like things are working out wonderfully well, Firebird. I'm so happy for you all! 

[Formerly SK]

Jan 15, 2015 20:31:02 GMT -5 Firebird said:

Slightly less good- I somehow screwed up the amount of the rent. It's $1,150 not $1,000. Not exactly a huge deal, especially with the cheap insurance to offset, and still cheaper than the other places, but annoying. I'm not exactly sure how I messed that up. Oh well.

Well, you do have about 10,000 balls in the air at the moment.