The Month To Month Breakdown Of Planning Our Move During A Pandemic

Planning a big move in the middle of a pandemic is not how I had foreseen us moving. I always thought that if we left the city, it would be a moment for us. We would be able to have some version of a going away party. We would have a list of things to do in NYC and wouldn’t have to consider what was open for business and what wasn’t. But like most things in 2020, moving has required us to adjust to the reality we actually live in, instead of the one we wish we did.

While we don’t leave for a few more weeks, what has helped us not feel completely rattled by our circumstances is how much research we’ve been doing about big moves in general and big moves during a pandemic in specific.

This isn’t a tried and true plan for everyone, but if you’re thinking about a bigger move, I hope you find some ideas below that help make it easier.

3-4 Months before our move

Ask: Do you want to stay where you are?

We started having serious conversations about whether or not we would renew our lease sometime in May or June. Our conversations centered mostly on whether we could keep living in our 1-bedroom apartment through maybe another year of quarantine, a pandemic, and a potential second wave in the city. Spoiler alert: we’re moving, so the hard answer we kept coming to was a resounding “no.” We love New York, but what we needed in order to remain sane through this pandemic was just not going to be an option for us here.

Ask: Where can you go?

I know a lot of friends who have gone back to their hometown in the midst of the pandemic because being closer to home, maybe in a location where cost of living wasn’t as high, made a ton of sense. I’m from New York and my boyfriend is from Florida, so going back “home” was never an option. We threw around the potential of moving right across the river, but that also didn’t feel like it would check our “happiness, space, and adventure” checklist. The space we landed on (which I’ll share closer to the date) is a mix of all three. It gives us so much more room than we’re used to, plus amenities that will make life in a pandemic a bit easier.

Start exploring costs

We had no real idea how much a big move would cost us, so we started there. The quotes we were getting though made it really clear for us that the bigger questions we had to answer first was whether it was even worth it to move everything we owned in the first place.

2-3 MONTHS OUT

Scope out the real estate

We’re moving to a place where it would have been as normal to rent an apartment as it would have been to rent a loft or townhouse. Our research pegged on knowing that we definitely wanted at least two bedrooms, lots of natural light, and proximity to water, a dog park, and walkable necessities (grocery stores and coffee shops too to be honest). Taking on the work of scoping out real estate with this much time ahead helped us learn more about how other places that aren’t New York City treat renters and what they need from them. You’re able to lock in and hold apartments for 30 days+ in most other states, whereas in NYC you’ll be lucky if they’ll hold it for 2 weeks. Having only rented in NYC, it would have been hard for us to know this if we hadn’t taken the time to research.

If you’re thinking of moving, I’d start by asking what the nonnegotiable are for the space you’re looking for and then research how the market works wherever you’re hoping to go. For instance, we were pleasantly surprised that the security deposit is much less than what was required for our current apartment, which means that’s an amount we can budget into other expenses down the line.

Settle on non-negotiables across the board

Ask yourself (and answer honestly) what you need from a home that you haven’t had in your current quarantine situation. Ask yourself which of the things you own you can do away with and which possessions are musts to take with you. Having this general list will then help as you figure out paths to moving everything when the time comes.

Research moving companies and costs

We’re moving states away from our current home, so the quotes we were getting to move our place were pretty steep. Once we started doing the math on what it would cost, it became apparent that we needed to downsize and avoid the moving costs. Especially because all the “big” stuff we do have didn’t even total up to some of the moving costs.

If you nix movers, plan for alternatives

We’re going the route of packing our own things (mostly kitchen supplies, books, and winter clothes) and shipping them via UPS. We’ll borrow a family member’s car in the coming weeks to drive it all down to the UPS and ship it right before our move, so it meets us there. We’re planning to also order our essentials (a couch and a mattress) so that they also arrive about the same time we do. While it’s more logistical than movers would have been, spreading it out over the last two months hasn’t made it more stressful. We already have boxes ready and our plan is to slowly move them into my brother’s basement until we can take them to UPS and USPS.

1 week-2 Months Out

Lock in a new home

We’re in that sweet spot of being down to our last few weeks and functioning off of Google Spreadsheets and checklists. Our main goal is to work backwards to what we know we want to be in our home when we get there and where we are now. First thing was first and that meant signing our new lease so we could guarantee there was somewhere to go where we landed. Given COVID we weren’t able to see places in person, but we did our research and watched many YouTube virtual tours of units before we signed.

Map out the month

Yesterday I actually took time to map out what the next month was going to look like and prioritize a few things as I was doing so — time for ourselves and saying our own goodbyes to the city, time with my family and making sure I got to see them a few times before we leave, and times with our friends. I think the next few weeks will go by faster than I can even imagine, so it was important for me to at least feel like I was doing everything I personally could to set myself up for success.

Take pictures of everything + hope someone buys it

Since we’re moving only with the suitcases we can carry and shipping only our essentials, planning ahead to what we can sell has been key. We spent the weekend taking pictures of all of our big pieces and this week I’ll spend time putting them on FB Marketplace and hoping they go relatively soon. I got a little nostalgic knowing that so many of the pieces we bought for our first place won’t be coming with us to our next home, but I also think this is a new opportunity for us to have the fresh start we’ve been craving. This will probably be my next moving blog post, but I’m really trying to take this as the reset I’ve been needing and trying to set a new pace around myself, my work, and my life.

Plan COVID-friendly meetups

COVID is going to make it hard for us to have an actual going away party, but I still have so many people I want to be in the presence of before we leave. My plan is to stand on my front stoops or take many socially distanced walks just to get some time in with my loved ones before we have to go.

Visit cemetery

I already have this locked into our calendar for the week before we leave. I wanted to make sure to have some time where just the three of us had some time alone visiting my mom and grandma before we leave to make somewhere else home. Losing proximity to the cemetery is honestly one of the hardest parts about moving. I’ve always felt them in multiple different places and never just in the cemetery, but there’s something tangible about having somewhere “to go” after someone dies that will be hard not to have. My hope is that I’ll find a new holy place that I can go to for visits.

These are most of the logistical things we’re doing or have done to plan for our move so far. A few other posts I’m thinking of writing are centered on how I’m planning to manage my mental health during the move, where we’re actually going, and the bigger picture we’re seeing when it comes to overall being able to reset. Let me know if there’s anything else you’re wanting me to share.