Background

Hey everyone—at the invitation of the site owner, and following my last post about the frustrating things that happened after starting my job, I figured I could also summarize my interstate moving experience in hopes that it might help this site’s readers. Even though it has been almost three months, some of the details are still very vivid. We even had a small incident on the road, but fortunately no one was hurt, and the car was basically fine.

Also, I’m one of those people whose new employer did not reimburse moving expenses. What can I say—people like us in this “trap major” academic research life can be so stubborn that if we think the boss is good, that alone can be enough to accept the offer. So I also want to share some thoughts on moving economically, just to get the conversation started.

Preparation Before the Move

There are a ton of tedious things involved in moving. The more thoroughly you prepare up front, the more smoothly everything will go later. So once again, I strongly recommend preparing early: think through everything you can in advance, and save your remaining energy for unexpected issues.

Decide How You Want to Move

First, let me explain why I chose to drive myself: yes, because it was the cheapest option. Shipping my belongings in a container was never really under consideration, since I heard it would cost at least four figures. I also got a quote on the Uhaul website for renting a Uhaul. Even though I was only moving the contents of a 1b1b and didn’t need a big truck, renting a small truck would still have cost several hundred dollars before gas. The key issue is that those things are huge gas guzzlers with very low MPG, so fuel would have been another few hundred dollars. On top of that, Uhaul trucks are not especially easy to drive, especially when they’re packed full and you’re taking them across state lines on the highway. After thinking it over, I decided the most economical choice was to sell off the belongings I had accumulated during my 6 years in my PhD program, pack whatever would fit into a small sedan (my own car, not a rental), drive to my new school, and slowly buy new/used furniture after arriving.

My route was from Virginia (VA) to Wisconsin (WI). I packed pots, pans, dishes, and other things that would fit in the car and drove the move myself. Total driving time was about 13~14 hours. So that we wouldn’t push ourselves too hard, we stayed overnight in a small town near the border of Ohio (OH) and Indiana (IN), so the whole trip took two days. The first photo was taken on my phone south of Charleston, the capital of West Virginia (WV), on the way toward Charleston. That was probably the most scenic stretch of the trip—mountains, water, great views all around.

Everyone can choose the method that fits their own move based on distance and how much furniture they have.

Dealing With Furniture

For buying and selling used furniture, my channels were Craigslist and my school forum / used-item mailing list. In my case, both where I used to live and where I live now were fairly safe places with pretty straightforward people, so the worst that happened on Craigslist was usually getting stood up or having the other person show up late. That said, I still want to remind readers—especially those in big cities or areas with less stable public safety—that if you buy or sell things on Craigslist, you should meet in a public place, like a bank or a mall parking lot, where there are usually cameras. Also, be careful with cash transactions.

There are a lot of common Craigslist scams, especially when renting housing. One is where the other party pretends to want to rent your place but says they’re out of town on a business trip and will mail you a check. That check is often for more than the deposit amount you asked for, and after you deposit it, the scammer asks you to transfer the difference back to them. In reality, that check is usually bad, and your bank won’t actually be able to get the money, so you end up losing whatever amount the scammer tricked you into sending. There’s also the type that says they want to pay by PayPal—just ignore those too. If they send money through PayPal goods, they may still be able to reverse the payment. I’ve also heard of people in big cities getting robbed outright while trying to sell things on Craigslist. Life is hard enough when you’re away from home, so staying alert is the key. In the end, I sold some of my stuff, gave some away, and threw some away. For certain items, it honestly felt like spending all that effort to sell them for a few bucks wasn’t worth it—it was better just to give them to younger students who needed them.

Moving Out

As for checking out of your old place: during my last two years of my PhD, I lived in university housing, and they basically didn’t deduct from the deposit, so I just had to clean up, hand over the keys, and leave. But for those renting off campus, remember to have the leasing office send someone to do a walk through inspection with you. Otherwise, if you run into a shady landlord, they may try to charge you for things you didn’t actually damage. I got burned by this at the first apartment I rented when I came to the U.S. At the time, I didn’t understand things like walk through inspections, and in the end more than $100 of my deposit was withheld for three blinds plus installation fees. Never mind the fact that many companies replace blinds for free anyway since they’re basically consumables—the key point was that our blinds were not broken at all. There’s no way we were so amazingly destructive that we broke 3 out of 4 blinds! In short, to keep them from scamming you, make sure they come do the walk through inspection with you.

Canceling Utilities and Internet

During the last two years of my PhD, I lived in university housing, so I didn’t have to deal with utilities or internet. In general, you can call and have those services shut off. You can provide a new address, and any remaining balance in your account will be mailed to you in the form of a check. Also, pay special attention to the fact that internet providers sometimes rent equipment to you. Be sure to return it, because if they can’t reach you, they may treat it as a debt you owe them, and it could even be reported to the credit bureaus.

In short, figure out what procedures apply to your own situation and ask early. Don’t be afraid of the hassle. Otherwise, having to go back to your old place to deal with things later is even more troublesome.

Updating Your New Address

There are plenty of moving address-update checklists online, so I won’t repeat them all here. In general, just focus on the major ones. The most important is reporting your address change to USCIS within 10 days after moving; the relevant form is explained here. That said, I’ve also heard that some schools’ International Student Office (ISO) may help report it for you, since I was also updating my address in the school system when I moved. Check with your ISO for the specifics, or just fill out the form yourself—it’s not much trouble anyway. Also make sure to update your bank billing address and vehicle-related addresses, such as your driver’s license address, vehicle registration, and so on. Since I moved across state lines, I also had to get new in-state license plates. Other address changes may be less important but can still cause problems—for example, the shopping sites you use regularly. You don’t want packages shipped to your old place and then lost. USPS also has an address forwarding service: if you submit the forwarding request online, it only costs $1, or you can go to a store and fill out a forwarding form for free.

Contact Your New Place

A reminder here: before moving, remember to contact your new rental and discuss after hour check in. Some places will agree on a secret spot where the key will be left, some will leave it at a nearby police station for you to pick up, and some have a 24-hour on-duty manager who can bring you the key at any time. I’ve picked up younger students who had just arrived in the U.S. and overlooked this issue, which meant they had to stay in a hotel the first night. There are so many little things going on during a move, so I just want to remind everyone here. And if you forget, that’s okay too—there are just too many of these annoying details, and forgetting one is totally normal.

The Actual Interstate Move

Those few days were truly chaotic. Moving is incredibly tedious, and honestly, managing the belongings I had accumulated over 6 years was no small task. I threw away countless things painfully, but it did force me into a good habit: not buying random stuff unless I really need it. So for readers who still haven’t fully settled down, if you want to control your urge to impulse-buy, just think about having to move later, hhhhh :mrgreen:. Of course, I also want to thank the younger students who gave me so much support!!! After hurriedly packing everything up and getting only a few hours of sleep, I crossed the Blue Ridge Mountains from VA into WV.

I took this photo when we were crossing from VA into WV. I was freezing and shaky, so the image quality is terrible. It was originally shot as a phone video, and then I grabbed a screenshot from the video. It’s honestly pretty hard to take pictures while riding in a car, so please go easy on me. I’m adding a few more similar photos below — these were all quick shots I took while passing state lines, and I think these big signs are pretty interesting. :mrgreen:

On this trip, I passed through WV, OH, IN, and Illinois (IL). When I entered OH, it was completely dark outside, so the photos came out even worse and I’m not posting them. When I got into IN, well, maybe I just missed it, but I couldn’t find Indiana’s big state sign. As for road conditions, based on my limited road trip experience, I think VA has the best infrastructure, with lots of smooth asphalt roads. The highways in IL and WI were a bit rough and bumpy. I’m not trying to hate on them — I think it may have a lot to do with the climate here, where bigger temperature swings make roads harder to maintain. Add in all the snow and road salt, and it’s even easier for the pavement to get damaged. VA and WV have more mountain roads, while IN and IL are much flatter. Endless cornfields, you know the type. :grin:

A Small Incident During the Move

While driving on the highway in IL, we had a minor accident. A big truck ahead of us had a tire blowout, and the mud flap behind the tire fell off and was left on the highway. An SUV in front of us happened to run over it and kick it up into the air, and then that hard piece of plastic smacked directly into my front bumper (I think I was going around 60~70mph). After that, the panel got lodged underneath my car, as shown below.

My front bumper was deformed at first, but later, after the fallen mud flap shifted position, the bumper popped back into shape on its own (plastic, after all). So I never got around to repairing it, although now I do feel like the bumper may be a little loose... At first we thought we had gotten a flat after hitting that hard rubber/plastic piece, because when we pulled over, we saw a long black streak dragging on the ground. Later we realized it was just the piece of plastic stuck under the car leaving the mark. That was a huge relief, because the car was packed full and we couldn’t even get to the spare tire, and it was getting dark in the middle of nowhere — good luck finding a repair shop out there. On top of that, right before the move I had just taken advantage of a Sams tire deal and replaced all four tires with a brand-new set!!! (Quick side note: if I remember correctly, the deal was $140 off when you bought 4 tires, plus free installation. So for my little sedan, the full set came out to about $270 total. Costco has similar deals too, so if you really need tires, these promos are usually worth jumping on.)

After hitting the debris, we immediately pulled over. We also saw the truck with the blown tire up ahead, so we found the “culprit.” In our case, a baby-faced, very nice police officer helped us handle everything, and he arrived pretty quickly. At first the truck driver didn’t want to give us his insurance card, because technically the blowout wasn’t his fault either. But in the end, the officer still had us exchange insurance information. In a situation like this, neither side is really at fault (the truck had just blown a tire, and there was no way the driver could instantly clear all the fallen mud flap pieces and other debris from the road). So the main thing the police could do was bring us to the station and write up a report for the insurance company. After we called Geico, they basically told us there probably wasn’t much we could recover from the other party’s insurance, because the truck driver hadn’t really done anything wrong — he just had a blowout. They suggested we pay for the repairs ourselves, since the other insurance likely wouldn’t cover much. It’s kind of like hitting a deer: sometimes you’re just unlucky.

I checked the damage, and if I don’t repair the bumper itself (since it more or less returned to normal on its own...), the actual damage to my car was a plastic panel underneath the engine, the Engine Splash Shield, which broke. I need to buy a new one (about $30 or so), and then find an auto shop to install it (around $15). So in the end, the damage from this accident wasn’t as bad as I originally feared. I guess I was still pretty lucky.

Because of this accident, plus the time spent going to the police station for documentation, I didn’t arrive at my new home until after 2 a.m.

After Moving Into the New Place

About Setting Up Utility Accounts

After moving, one thing to pay attention to is setting up your utility accounts. I got burned by this before, so this time I was careful and avoided losing money. What happened before was that my new place required me to pay for water, electricity, and gas myself, but I didn’t understand that at the time, so I didn’t open the accounts on the first day of the lease. I think I only set up the utility accounts about a week after the lease started, because that was when I actually moved in. So for that one-week gap, the utility bill went to the leasing office first, and then the leasing office passed it on to me. That week’s bill also included an account setup fee. Then later I opened my own accounts too, which meant I ended up paying the setup fee twice. So in short, if you need to pay your own Utility bills, remember to open all the Utility accounts you’ll be responsible for on the first day of your lease (or maybe even a little earlier — check with the utility companies for the exact timing).

Move-In Inspection

Another thing worth paying attention to is doing a proper inspection after you move in. In my case, within 7 days of picking up the keys, I had to return an inspection form to the leasing office (covering the condition of the carpet, walls, cabinets, doors, etc.) and report anything that was already damaged and not caused by me, so I wouldn’t be charged for it when moving out. I’m renting school housing, so the process was relatively simple. I just checked for anything that was damaged (the most serious issue in my place was heavy scratching inside a cabinet), marked it on the form, and took photos myself as evidence, then returned everything to the leasing office by the deadline.

Summary

So that was my two-day cross-state moving adventure. I got through it mostly thanks to support from friends and teammates (huge thanks again to them!!!), and it feels like I gained a little more life experience in the process. I didn’t have time to do any sightseeing along the way — the car was packed with all my stuff, and I still had the job of getting to my destination — so I don’t have much to say on the travel side. The most useful thing I can offer is a few practical tips to help others avoid getting ripped off. Anyway, I hope none of you get burned either, and if you have any good budget-friendly moving tips, feel free to leave a comment. Sending love!!!