Moving Advice

Sheri

I'm posting this for Javen because he's jailed and can't make a thread.

Javen wrote:

So, I'm planning on moving to Florida. And looking for some second opinions RE: financial arrangements. I've spent the past 6 months or so clearing myself of any and all debt. I don't have a car payment, my insurance is paid until March 2011, I don't have any credit card debt or student loans, the bill I'll be taking with me is my cell phone bill which is $100 a month. Rent and utilities will be fairly cheap at about $350 a month. Also factoring in about $150 a month for groceries (this might be less considering I'll be splitting it with my girlfriend) we're looking at a very manageable $600 a month to pay for the necessities.

What I'm really asking is: How much should I be putting away in order to make sure bills are payable? Unfortunately I don't have a job lined up, I'd be looking once I got down there, and the last thing I want to happen is to run out of funds. The first figure that popped into my head was six months worth of rent/bills, plus an extra grand or so for actually going out. In terms of actual numbers, five thousand is what I came up with, but the amount is less important than the philosophy behind it.

I'd like to lean towards the cautious, but time is a factor. Not a dire one, but I'd much rather get there sooner or later, so while I definitely don't want to run out of money, I also don't want to save too much and find I could have been down there 2 months earlier.

Thanks!

Trillian

As an individual in an alarmingly similar situation I'm just socking away as much money as I can while my expenses are next to nothing. I'd be comfortable with 3 grand in the bank as it is, but I've got sorta guaranteed income. I think 5 grand, while it sounds like a lot, is a good goal to aim for.

Hot damn, it's really happening.
Good luck to you two!

Mr. Pokeylope

For me the biggest factor would be how long are you expecting to be out of work.

Your going to need to get a feel on what the job market is like where you'll be moving to. Especially now the way the economy is. Some area's and some industries have been hit worse than others and you can be stuck for an extended period without work.

Javen

Oh I don't plan on being out of work for near that long. But worst case scenario I have the money available if I do need it, and if I don't, well then I already have a certain amount of savings put away.

Skeith

6 months of guaranteed expenses plus an extra $1K for entertainment and such sounds good. Don't know you, but it shouldn't be that long to find a job just to pay bills with. Do you have pets? How reliable is your car, and will it be needing maintenance work in the near future (say, something expensive like a set of tires)? If it runs like a Swiss watch, you should be alright, but you might want to put away some extra money as a rainy day fund. Since you're at $4600 as the minimum... would it take a lot longer to raise that to $5500? There's the deposit to consider as well, and the actual cost of the move. Since you gave the state rather than a specific town... from which state are you driving a U-Haul from? I mean, this could just be me being paranoid, but when you have the most random things breaking on your car that tends to happen.

Thundyrkatz

You did not say how far you are from FL currently. Will you be bringing anything with you other then some clothes? Do you need to buy furniture, pots and pans, dishes and silverware when you move in?

How firm are your estimates on your expected costs for rent, utilities and food? Do you currently live on $150/month for food? Do you have a place lined up that includes utilities for $350/month? If not, is there any margin for error built into your budget?

Do yo have a job lined up already or are you hopeful something will work out before you run out of cash?

The more variables you bring with you, the higher the likelihood that Murphy will be moving in with you.

claypoolfan

I don't know about you but $1000 would NOT be enough for six months of going out/entertainment/all non-food and bill spending for me.

Usagi

First of all, huzzah! We'll miss you dude but hey, maybe I can persuade Dru to come to Florida to harass the two of you

And I think your plan of paying off all your debt was definitely the way to go, I really wish I was in a position to do that before I move out west but I'm also being super paranoid and waiting until I have a job to make the transition. Both methods work, its all about what makes you comfortable.

I think you're on track with building up savings before you go, but my only suggestion would be to overestimate your living expenses by at least 10% even though where you're going is probably cheaper cost wise than where you are now. So I'd say 6 months at $600 would round up (with the extra) to about 4 grand minimum, plus whatever you decide for entertainment.

My only other suggestion is from my paranoid job seeking self, that you should definitely start looking for work before you go. If you're concerned that they won't give you a callback because you're not local, use Sheri's current address and get a google voice number that's got a FL exchange and forward it to your cellphone. It may sound disingenuous, but it's fairly common practice when people are moving long distances, especially if you already have a drop dead move date picked.

Good luck!

Sheri

To clear some things up: He's moving in with me and my roommate. There's no deposit or furniture to worry about (we'll be saving to buy a bed, but that's not going to factor in for a while), $150/month for food is taking into account that we'll be splitting the cost of food, and yes, rent+utilities will come to about $350. We've already done the math for that part.

I also think a grand (or $1500) is fine for six months' worth of going out, since again, it'll be a split amount Besides, that's honestly something that, if worse comes to worst, we can just not do until finances are solid.

We're working on a job. It's hard to get hired when you aren't in the state, but Javen has a huge experience in the restaurant business (both as a server and a manager), so I can't imagine it would be incredibly hard to find him a server position quickly, thus taking care of positive income. Additionally, lots of restaurants let you apply for management positions either online or with a contact who you can send your resume to, which MAY line up a position ahead of time (please please please). Lastly, Disney is ALWAYS hiring. It's just a matter of whether you want to do what they have available. At the absolute worst, he could always work in my department.

No pets, no UHaul. Shoving all his stuff in a car and driving down. If, god forbid, something happens to the car on the way down (now you're reaching Sheri-levels of paranoia, let me tell you), I'm sure we'd just sacrifice the entertainment fund.

So yes, the info he gave you guys is solid, there aren't really a ton of extra factors. We just need to know if that seems reasonable, or overkill, or not enough. Has anyone done a move like this yet? I, personally, would really be curious as to what other people saved and how well that worked out for them.