You just landed a great new job. It’s an amazing opportunity and everything you’ve been working toward. You are looking forward to this new chapter in your professional life, but there’s one thing: the job is seven states away, and your new employer doesn’t have the budget to pay for moving expenses. 

What do you do?

Looking forward to a new start in a new location can be simultaneously exhilarating and overwhelming. There is so much to plan and do before leaving your current location. There are accounts to close, cable boxes to return, and final bills to pay. And in between all the packing, cleaning, and moving out, finding a home to buy or rent. 

• Will you need a storage facility or a moving van? 
• Will you hire professional movers? 
• Do you have any large items to sell or donate?

As life changes in an instant, everything could come to a screeching halt if there is no plan in place regarding how to pay for a cross-country move.

Don’t worry. You’re not alone in this endeavor. Many others have been faced with this exact scenario. Perfect job, great new location, an exciting time, but you’re lost on how to cover the big expenses that come with moving from one location to another.

Consider the overall budget you’ll need for the move. Try and think of everything you might need to spend money on, even the little things like packing items and accessories, such as boxes, tape, markers, and bubble wrap.

Here are some other important things to consider: if you’re hiring a professional mover, it’s best to get three quotes before deciding. Also, if you do hire a moving company, consider letting them take care of the packing for you too. When the company movers pack your belongings, everything is insured. This not only saves a lot of time and backache, but it also saves a lot of stress and worry. 

There are so many other scenarios to consider. Do you have a home to sell? If so, don’t forget to list all potential costs involved in prepping it to go on the market, such as painting or replacing carpet and potentially traveling back for the closing. If you’re renting, you might have a penalty for breaking a lease, so be sure and ask your landlord so you can add it to your list of expenses. 

Since every item adds up and will contribute to the final budget, try to think of ways to trim to bill. Ask colleagues and neighbors for unused boxes and use extra blankets and towels in place of purchasing packing paper or bubble wrap, but don’t forget to budget for cleaning supplies or fees for a professional cleaner, hotel, fuel or shipping costs, utilities deposits, plane tickets, and taxi fares. These are just some of the costs that are associated with moving.

Once you’ve got a list and a final budget, and since this should be an exciting time, you can then move forward with looking into obtaining a personal loan. After that is secured, much of the stress-factor will be taken out of the move, and you can enjoy this happy time. 

If you feel that you’ve created an exhaustive list and still want to cut costs a bit, here are some other areas in which you might be able to do that: 

Sort through belongings before moving. We could probably all stand to get rid of a few things from our closets and cabinets, so when preparing to move, this is the perfect time to do that. Donating items to a charity shop is not only a possible tax deduction, but it helps others in need and could help trim the moving bill a little bit too.

Consider “hiring” trusted neighbors and friends. Teenage neighbors and family friends are perfect candidates to hire or ask to help with packing. Lots of people have packing or painting parties when they leave one place (packing party) and move into a new place (painting party). Having a group of friends together laughing and chatting while accomplishing something to make the move easier is a win-win.

Trimming those hourly costs. When you can trim costs in one area it usually means there are more resources to pay for something else, like professional movers. Since they typically charge per hour, there are a lot of things you can do before the movers arrive in order to make sure all they have to do is grab, load, and drive away. Box-up small items before the movers arrive, then tape, label, and stack the boxes yourself. You can also disassemble and wrap large pieces of furniture. These things make the process go smoothly and quickly which means the final bill from the moving company is smaller.

No matter how large or small the overall moving expenses are, it’s likely that these expenses are not in your regular monthly budget. If you’re hesitant to drain your savings or have no savings at all, take some of the stress out of what should be an exciting time by looking into a personal loan to cover the costs. 

At LendingPoint we believe everyone deserves to feel the power of possibilities and we’re excited for your new adventures and opportunities. 

Are you ready to see what you could qualify for? Start HERE with a short and simple application to instantly see loan offers with no impact to credit.