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I did that once. I took everything I own and threw it in the back of my pickup truck and moved 3,000 miles away. It was awesome.
Then I moved again and it took two days for the movers to pack up all my crap and now I have boxes and boxes of junk sitting around that I've collected over the years.
It's my dream to get rid of the majority of my crap and just move into a tiny house, it'd be so much easier...
Done it 3 times. Seattle to Nashville in Mercury Sable, Nashville to OKC in Expo LRV (And back) and Nashville to Seattle in CR-V. Take it back. Same CR-V Nashville to Gadsden AL and Nashville to Indianapolis. Much shorter distances, slipped my memory.
I am minimalist in my needs though. But two out of those 5 times I moved with water bed frame solid wood inside.
It's simple to move with just a car. Just throw away everything that doesn't fit in the car. Problem solved. I did that once when i left California after school. Of course, I didn't have much that was valuable, but the concept is the same. Just find the nearest dumpster and you'll be all set.
OP, I've traveled with my cat many many times. I use a small pet carrier to bring him into the car, and then once inside, open it and let him roam free. He usually just chooses an empty spot on the floor to sit it, meows for an hour or two, and then goes to sleep. Each rest stop/ gas stop, I put out small Tupperware containers of food and water as well as a portable litter box. I have put him on a leash to let him walk outside a bit at rest areas, but he is usually too afraid of the surroundings, especially any other vehicles. He's moved back into the carrier to go into the hotel room at night and once we reach our destination. Very little stress, it will be fine! I would never think to ship my cat, or to just walk outside with him to the car.
I'm also in the very same moving situation as you, traveling 1400 miles in a few weeks. I am lucky to be able to leave some boxes of older memories and clothes at my parent's home. For the rest of it.... any my problem is clothes and accumulation of small personal items... I'm donating as much as possible, got vacuum bags for compressing the rest of the clothes, and am using my car space, a roof rack, and shipping whatever doesn't fit. I've used shipgooder.com to calculate the cheapest/most effective way of sending the rest. Home Depot has boxes 22x22x21 that are right at the cutoff and can be sent VIA USPS very cheaply.
Good luck, hope to hear your success story and what worked for you!
I have about three weeks before I'm due to move cross-country, and I'm having anxiety that's keeping me up at night. It mainly has to do with how on earth I'm going to reduce all my things to what I can take with me in a car (with a cat and a few cameras), as I'd planned.
So yes, I'm a mess...I hope once I decide on a solution, I'll rest easier. I've lived here 10 years and just accumulated so much. Thanks for any ideas, and sorry so long.
To address only part of the question: yeah, I'd be anxious too, but then again I'm a "planner" and get most of it teed up months in advance. Life doesn't always cooperate, but planning is both a talent and learned skill...when you can plan, do think ahead about logistics in-particular.
A little late now, but I'd suggested a Fujisu SnapScan to move the bulk of the papers to PDF. Then shred the lot.
That's what I did four years ago, when my dad passed away. I spent several days in his basement emptying a file cabinet of all sorts of records, and shredding just as fast. Saved me a lot of hassle having that garbage shipped, which is expensive (and obsolete, these days). Fortunately, my dad was organized. Even if he wasn't, I could have sorted PDF scans at my leisure (and did, to back out some tax matters a year or two later).
I end up still shipping about three boxes of papers, at significant cost, that I couldn't get to. Surprising how much that cost me, actually, proving the point that shipping "papers" is 20th Century Industrial Age malarkey.
The tech is that much easier four years later, in terms of computers (faster) and hardware scanners (ditto). I scanned all that to Goggle Docs directly, a Cloud service, which costs me $0 for free cloud storage btw (I do pay a little extra for more room for other files and services, however).
That Fujitsu is fast, and accurate. Mine from 2011 is one generation behind, and they're just that much better (and cheaper too, I see on Amazon). I still have the scanner and very little paper lasts long at my house, then or now. Now I'm doing my family's old slides and photos, which will continue for years probably. Such things do take time.
None of the above is rocket science, btw.
As for books, I'm personally divesting of almost all paper books. I've got maybe a hundred to go, down from a thousand ten years ago. Only one I've bought in years was two days ago, in Johannesburg, for the long flight back to London and thence the U.S. The rest are eBooks, and available at reasonable cost from Amazon or other sellers. Just a thought for the future. I'm anti-clutter at my house.
Can you ship to a Mailboxes Etc. or UPS type of place near your new home? BTW, books are heavy, ship lighter weight things and drive the books!
When I moved, I bought a vinyl car top carrier at Walmart. They are as cheap as $22. I have a roof rack, but it lashes right to the roof of any car, and it held a LOT. There are also bags that can hang off the back end/sit on the top of the trunk, OR If you have a rear mount bike rack you could lash things to it.
Thanks very much. Yes, my cat worries and thread were here (this was when I thought I was bringing even more stuff, though): //www.city-data.com/forum/gener...rvous-cat.html Yes, I'm going to put her in a carrier, and I want to stop overnight, since I don't think I can drive that long straight safely.
I'm realizing that about the getting lean (I'm hoping it helps in terms of weight that I'm a pretty lean woman, haha?! OK, maybe not).
That's a good idea about shipping to a UPS store...I didn't know they did that.
I've scanned some of my writing, but I should do more...at least now I'm going to ship a few stapled notebook pages instead of whole notebooks.
Thanks again...hopefully the cat and I will both make it through this!
ONE MORE THING ABOUT YOUR CAT: Valium.
My vet gave me a few valium pills when I took a trip with my nervous cat once. This is perfectly acceptable, and as long as your vet approves the dose, it is perfectly safe. It is also GOOD for her, to keep her calm. It won't knock her out, but will help take the edge off her nervousness. This is a common thing to do for cats (not dogs, who travel pretty well).
Give her the full dose of what the vet suggests. They are inexpensive, too.
Great suggestions here on how to cut down on what you're taking with you. Although scanning takes time, it is perhaps the most efficient way to cut down on paper. I am a collector and have hundreds of photos, notes on craft projects and tons of misc. notes. I scanned like crazy, probably 1000 photos, then categorized them and put them into folders on my computer. Then transferred all to a flash drive. Dozens and dozens of notes, pics, recipe and receipts that I just couldn't throw out are now saved neatly and compactly. However, your time is limited and you want to use it wisely. I found that instead of looking at my piles of stuff and saying "what can I get rid of?", I pretend that I'm starting out fresh and new and ask "what would I buy today that I need to live with?" What's necessary? I found that I don't need dozens of pens or 6 tubes of hand cream. You can just use one at a time anyway. Take a few of your favorites and toss the rest. I'm sure there are stores where you are going and you can buy things when you really need them. Having never moved with just a car full, I can't give advice from experience, however, I would do one or more of the following: Get a roof carrier bag or container for lightweight things that won't fit in the car. Rent a small uhaul type truck. Start packing things you want to keep but don't need immediately and leave them with a neighbor with some money so they can ship them to you a few days after you leave. Make sure they are boxed well, taped, and addressed. The worst that happens is that you spend more money on having boxes shipped to you than you had planned. But at least you'll have your stuff. Good luck and know that it will be okay.
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