What the heck am I doing??!?!

[TheEvil]

Did it once already, getting ready to do it again!

About 3 years ago, I decided I needed a change in scenery, so my GF and I saved up quit our jobs, and moved from Seattle, Washington to Raleigh, North Carolina. We got rid of anything that couldn't be mailed or put in my hatchback and drove across the country. We had an apartment, she had a couple job interviews lined up and I had some applications in! We have lived here for two years and are now preparing to do the same thing in reverse! Turns out I can't stand the weather and other things about the South....
I can tell you that it isn't near as scary to jump without a net the second time.

 

[Darrin Drader]

Have any of you ever done anything similar to what I am about to do?

Yes. Twice.

After graduating from college, I decided I wanted to live in the Seattle area. My job at home wasn't paying squat, so I saved up for a month, and then off I went with no job, no prospects, and no leads. I temped for a couple months, then landed a job. Eventually I got a job with Wizards, and worked there for 4 years.

Then last September when we found out we were having another child, I was sick of Seattle by that point, so my wife and I decided to move out of the Seattle area. This time I had a job lined up, but it only lasted for five weeks before I couldn't stand it anymore. Now I'm happily working for an ISP.

I would say that I moved for different reasons, and in both cases it worked out. Good luck on your move.

 

[der_kluge]

About 3 years ago, I decided I needed a change in scenery, so my GF and I saved up quit our jobs, and moved from Seattle, Washington to Raleigh, North Carolina. We got rid of anything that couldn't be mailed or put in my hatchback and drove across the country. We had an apartment, she had a couple job interviews lined up and I had some applications in! We have lived here for two years and are now preparing to do the same thing in reverse! Turns out I can't stand the weather and other things about the South....
I can tell you that it isn't near as scary to jump without a net the second time.

What do you not like about Raleigh? I'm trying to get a job there, or Charlotte...

 

[Desdichado]

Not exactly. I did put college on hold to go to Buenos Aires for a few years, but had a time frame in mind and knew when I'd be coming back and what I'd be doing. It wasn't quite as open-ended as your situation.

Also, I was only 19 and didn't have a whole lot to sell anyway. Blew through my savings, though.

 

[James Heard]

In the mid-90s I dropped everything and moved to Hawaii, I probably would have stayed there if it weren't so expensive and I started "missing" less than perfect weather sometimes.

I've done similar things less successfully before, to Atlanta and New Orleans. Those mostly fell through because the jobs I lined up sucked and because I've determined that I really don't like my urban to be too much so. If Hawaii weren't so green I'd have gone nuts on Oahu too.

 

[I'm A Banana]

I'm on the cusp of doing this, and am actually in need of some advice.

I'm graduating college in the next few weeks. I'm trying to hit New York City eventually, ASAP. Only problem being I have 0 savings, and barely make ends meet with my job as it is. No car, either.

My strategy right now is to get a decent job, save up for a few months, then head out there the moment I can pay a few months rent OR find a job. So I'm kinda at the beginning of this plan. It'd be a lot easier if someone just had a place I could crash or a job available or could loan me a couple thou....

But still, I'm really eager to follow my heart out there. Just, you know, impatient for the whole "several months of saving" I need before I launch out there....

 

[Angcuru]

Well, once I graduate college, I'll be looking for a job OUTSIDE of New Jersey. I hate it here...so...much. Money probably won't be a problem, but finding an area I like with a job I like will be.

 

[Shemeska]

Turns out I can't stand the weather and other things about the South....

Just wait a day, the weather will change

 

[drothgery]

I haven't done the "pack everything up and move to someplace where I don't have a job lined up", though I considered doing it when I lost my previous job (and when I was nearly broke and had been out of work for four months, I was really kicking myself for not doing it). Upstate NY in 2000-2001 wasn't really a good place for a web programmer to be; I was trying to get a job in/near Boston, where most of my college friends still lived.

But then I interviewed for a job at the company I still work for, and ended up doing the "move to a distant location where you don't know anyone to take the first decent job offer you've heard in months" thing (complete with one-way plane ticket from Rochester, NY to San Diego, CA). Which worked out pretty well.

My basic strategy on reducing moving pain: Throw away everything you can make yourself throw away. Then give away everything you can make yourself give away. Then sell everything you can make yourself sell. Remember that if the cost of shipping something is about the same as replacing it, it's going to be a lot easier to replace it, so sell it or get rid of it.

 

[mojo1701]

Remember that if the cost of shipping something is about the same as replacing it, it's going to be a lot easier to replace it, so sell it or get rid of it.

Not to mention that you'll have a new whatever it is you got rid of, instead of a used one.