Guest post: Allyson’s tips for moving cross country with a baby

Y’all, I’m so excited to welcome my friend and fellow mommy blogger, the super awesome Allyson Schaeffer to the blog today! Allyson just made a big, cross-country move from Austin to San Jose, CA with her hubby, baby and 2 dogs, and she is popping by to tell us about her experience and relay a few bits of advice in case any of you are prepping for a similar endeavor. Without further ado, take it away, Allyson!

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My little guy wondering what in the world we’re doing on the day of the move

Everyone has that far off scenario in their head of what they would do if the perfect job became a real option. “Where would we move? How far would we go if they called?” And we’d make silly plans and dream about being brave enough to pick up and leave everything behind for a what-if. But Austin was our home and more than beloved. I had and still have a serious crush on that city and the people in it.

In May Google called. The fire had been lit. By September, husband was knee-deep in the interview process with both Google and Apple. Within 2 weeks of his Apple interview, he had a job offer. It was real. We were moving to California…in four weeks.

I’m an event planner at heart and by training. The only way I know how to handle anything is to make a plan. And that’s what I did. I got in touch with the relocation company, the pet relocation company, and anyone I could find in the Bay Area.

The week of the move we all got the flu. An already stressful situation just became my own personal hell. It was Thursday (packing day number one) that I finally realized I was maybe sort of in over my head. “No one person can handle this,” I thought. And then, I shuttered that thought from my brain because I was a big girl, damnit, and I’ve planned a banquet dinner for 500 people, and when we ran out of food one year did I rock back and forth on the driveway and tearfully call anyone I could find to help? NO.

Grandpa was a huge help keeping the boy busy when the movers came

Okay well this time I *did* tearfully call a few people (my parents) and beg for help, and thank God for them because my mother enlisted my sister as a part-time babysitter and my dad and stepmom flew down to lend a hand.

Of course things were made a little easier for us with the help of the relocation company, the fantastic folks at Austin-based PetRelocation.com, and the folks in charge of our temporary housing. I know I could have managed it all alone, but it was nice to have these folks as a support system. Having said that, I still had to do a lot of work on my own, but we made it, and are now happily settled in our new California home.

This is what our house looked like for longer than I’d care to admit when we first reached the other end

If I had to do it all over again, here are my tips:

• Secure child-care for as much of the move as possible. I stupidly pulled our son out of daycare the week before the move. Why did I do this?!  Leave your child in daycare or secure a babysitter for the days the movers pack your items and on the other end (for unpacking) as well. You need your hands free and your attention on the move. It is more than worth the cost.
• Ship things ahead of you. The last thing you want to do is carry 4 suitcases through the airport. We packed a few days worth of clothes and tried to travel with the least amount of items as possible and we shipped a week’s worth of clothes, shoes, toys, and a high-chair ahead of us. Note: be sure you bring a stroller that you like. We thought the Snap N’ Go would fit our needs, but one week into temporary housing we were on Craigslist finding a full-sized stroller. Now we own five strollers. Don’t ask.
• Clean, Sort, Clean, Sort, TOSS. We had a quick turnaround, but oh how I wish we had made time to really go through things and purge before we moved. We now have a garage FULL of junk and it’s very daunting. I was also surprised at how much stuff the movers would not pack. They will pack some food, but little to no liquids. Use up as much as you can (laundry detergent, oils, vinegars, etc.) so you don’t find yourself weeping as you throw out your $20 bottle of Caldrea Laundry Softener.
• Take advantage of the Salvation Army. You can schedule a pick-up at your house and they will take all those things you no longer need or want off your hands – for free! Note: plan ahead. Sometimes they aren’t available to pick-up for a week or two; schedule accordingly. Any trash or junk that is leftover can be handled by 1-800-GOT-JUNK. Not super cheap, but not unreasonable, and worth the peace of mind of not having to find a dumpster for that nasty old couch.
• Plan ahead. I know it sounds incredibly clichéd, but I am the planner of planners and I thought I had thought of everything. I hadn’t thought of the flu. We saved various to-dos for the week-of, and the family stomach flu of 2012 created a major disaster for us. Do (and plan for) as much as you can in the weeks ahead of the move. Make life easier on yourself and your loved ones.
• Get to know your new hometown. Once the move is made, research schools/daycares, good neighborhoods, and local life. Consider your mail situation (we set up a PO Box at the UPS store for 6 months so we could start sending mail there), get in touch with realtors and start making appointments to view neighborhoods and houses. Try to get to know your new city! If you have the ability to go on a house-hunting trip, do it! Craigslist is great for finding rentals, but it doesn’t give you a feel for the area. Coming into a new city cold-turkey is hard enough – do as much as you can beforehand (or while you’re in temp housing) to create your new life. When we got to San Jose, I grabbed my handy research folder and hit the ground running.
• Stay in a hotel. I forgot how dusty and gross a house gets when you’re moving things around and packing them up. Also, did I mention we all got the flu the week of the move? When it was time for the movers to come, my husband was still sick, the house was a mess, and I realized I didn’t want him or the boy sleeping in that filth. Plus there was the matter of clean sheets, packing things up, etc. I got us into a hotel as quickly as I could and we spent the last two nights in Austin at the Marriott South. I can’t lie – when I realized I wouldn’t have “one last night” in our house, I cried. But on the other hand, it was good to cut the cord and sleep in a clean bed with room service.