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The 1,700 Mile Move: 5 Lessons I Learned

July 15, 2014 By MelissaB 5 Comments

I come from a family of non-movers. For example, my mom, once she married, became listless and lost her appetite and quite a bit of weight. The doctor diagnosed her with homesickness. She had moved less than five miles from her family home to her home with my dad. (Yes, this is a true story!)

We moved one other time less than a 1/2 mile away, and even that was traumatic for her.

I have ventured farther in my lifetime, going 400 miles away to graduate school, but a 1,700 mile move is something else entirely.

While long distance moving companies can help ease the process, here’s what I’ve learned so far as we prepare to move from the Midwest to the Desert Southwest:

1. We had way more “stuff” than I thought. I knew we had a lot,
but wow, I didn’t know how much. We’ve sold, thrown away, or donated at least half of our stuff. Every time we think we’re almost done packing, more “stuff” seems to appear. I wonder if we’ll ever be done!

2. Plan for a long-distance move as early as possible. We started selling our stuff back in early May, and so far, that stuff has brought in over $1,000. However, even though I started selling items 8 weeks in advance of our move, it still wasn’t early enough. We’re less than 5 days away from our move, and I am still waiting for our treadmill, file cabinet, and office desk to sell.

I was surprised to see that sometimes listing things to sell on eBay, Facebook, and Craigslist is like planting seeds. I’ve listed some things, and there was no interest. But then, say two or three weeks after I listed them, someone discovers the listing and buys the item. Allowing enough time for things to sell is essential.

3. Exercise equipment has no resale value. Many people want to buy exercise equipment, but selling that equipment later is difficult. Luckily, I bought our treadmill second hand for less than $100 a few years ago. I don’t think it’s going to sell before we leave. I think I’ll be taking it out for trash pick up.

4. Moving 1,700 miles is expensive! Luckily, my husband’s employer is paying for our move. Still, even though we’ve seriously pared down our belongings, the move is going to cost over $6,000! (We’ve paired down so much that the mover estimated two other families’ household goods could fit on the semi-truck with our small load.)

If my husband’s new employer wasn’t paying, I think the smartest financial decision would be to sell everything before we move and buy used once we’re in our new location.

5. Determining the cost of living in a new location isn’t easy. Since Tucson, Arizona (where we’re going) has a lower cost of living than Chicago, Illinois (where we’re leaving) and my husband received a substantial raise with his new employer, we thought we’d be in a better position financially. That’s before we looked at the new company’s health insurance plan and saw how much worse it is than our current plan. Most of my husband’s raise is going to cover the difference in the cost of insurance.

Have you moved a thousand or more miles away? If so, what lessons did you learn?

Saving on Home Loans

September 26, 2012 By Shane Ede 4 Comments

One of the biggest purchases you will make over your lifetime is the purchase of a house. Some will argue that purchasing a house is an investment. But, if it’s your primary house that you intend to live in, it’s not an investment. Sorry, it just isn’t. If you intend to rent the house out, that’s another story, but your primary residence is just a purchase. Even so, it’s a very large purchase. It makes sense, then, that we will want to find as many ways as we can to save money on the purchase of our home.

Saving before a home purchase

I’ll discuss how to save on your home once you’ve already purchased it a bit further down, but you’ll find yourself a good bit ahead of the game if you start thinking about how you can save money on your home purchase before you make the purchase.

Improve your credit, improve your rate – The rate at which you borrow the money to buy your home is a big deal. A half a point on the rate can translate to thousands of dollars more in interest over the life of the loan. The best way to guarantee that you get the best rate available is to have excellent credit. Depending on how far you improve your credit, you could shave as much as two or three points off the interest rate of the loan. Not only will that reduce the payment you’ll make, but it will reduce the amortized amount of the loan by tens of thousands. Want to know what makes an impact on your credit score? Read the Beating Broke Guide to Your Credit.
Compare home loans – I mentioned how this will likely be one of the biggest purchases of your life, right? Well, why on Earth wouldn’t you compare the loans available to make sure you were getting the best deal? You’ve got to compare those loans! Different lenders will have different policies, rates, and even lengths of loans. Not only will failing to compare the home loans available cost you money, but it could cause you a lot of stress over the life of the loan.
20% down or more – If you’ve got the savings for it, put at least 20% down on the home. Why? Well, it reduces the amount of the loan, for one. The less you have to borrow the better, right? More importantly, 80% is the normal cutoff for when a lender will require you to add Private Mortgage Insurance to the loan. It can add a hefty bit to the monthly payment, and it doesn’t go anywhere but into the insurer’s pocket.

Saving after a home purchase

Refinance – This may not be for all of you looking to save, but with the current rates, it bears looking into for some of you. Refinancing a higher interest rate mortgage into a lower interest rate loan can save you thousands over the life of the loan. Refinancing into a shorter term mortgage can also save you thousands, but beware that the mortgage payment is likely to be higher due to the shorter amortization period.
Make extra payments – If refinancing isn’t in the cards for you, make sure that your lender will accept extra payments to principle and then start making them. Reducing the principle will reduce the interest, and by simply making an extra payment a year, you can shave years off of your mortgage.

Whether you’re looking at buying a home, or already have, saving money on the biggest purchase of your life is always worth looking into. A few minutes on the phone with your lender can sometimes save you more than you would cutting lattes every day. With the higher number of defaulting mortgages recently, many banks are much more willing to help you save money on your payments and pay the loan off early. They like getting their money back too!

What other ways have you used to save money on your mortgage? What’s the most extreme example that you’ve heard of?

Spend Less with this Unique Money Advice

August 2, 2012 By Shane Ede 3 Comments

To save money, people usually get the ball rolling by creating budgets. It’s true that a budget is an indispensable part of being fiscally responsible, but it’s generally not enough. To spend less and save a lot more, it’s important to implement as many money-saving techniques into day-to-day life as possible. The good news is that those techniques are typically quite simple. A selection of especially unique tips for saving cash is highlighted below.

Unique Ways to Save Money

Pay Bills Online – Between online bank accounts and bill pay services, there’s no reason to mail a check again. Many major companies accept payments through their websites. That’s especially true about credit card companies. Even if a company doesn’t accept online payments through its website, most banks offer online bill paying services that can be used to sidestep the problem. Postage isn’t necessarily expensive, but it can add up over time. It’s also easier to pay bills on time through the Internet because the check doesn’t have to arrive in the mail.
Get Rid of the Land Line – It’s wasteful to pay for a cell phone and a land line. The majority of people have cell phones and smartphones these days, and most of them can do without traditional land lines. Even if a monthly land line bill is low, it’s still money that can be set aside for something else.
img credit: deborahdegolyer on Flickr
Stop Using Kitty Litter – Pet lovers can save huge amounts of money by potty training their cats. It sounds silly, but this trend is rapidly growing in popularity, and it’s a legitimate way to spend less on pet expenses. There are even products out there that make it easy to teach cats how to use regular toilets. The average cost to supply litter to one cat for one year is $100, so it’s possible to save a lot of cash by putting this tip to use.
Be Strict about Grocery Shopping – In addition to creating a strict grocery list and sticking to it, shoppers should give themselves specific time limits as well. When the clock is ticking, a shopper is less likely to dawdle around and be tempted to make random purchases. One good option is to set an alarm on a cell phone and to be in line by the time it rings. We go grocery shopping directly after Church while our oldest child is in Sunday school. It gives us exactly 45 minutes to get all the shopping done and get back to pick him up.
Paint the Roof – Buying a new roof is a major expense, but painting one isn’t so costly. By painting a roof white, it’s possible to slash energy bills. Air conditioning results in extremely high electricity bills. White paint deflects the rays of the sun, which keeps a home much cooler. In turn, summer energy bills tend to be a lot lower.
Periodically Shop for New Vehicle Insurance – Instead of assuming that their vehicle insurance rates are fine, people should get into the habit of shopping around regularly for vehicle insurance. Rates often drop, but auto insurance companies don’t always pass those savings on to their customers voluntarily. It only takes a few minutes to get free online quotes for car insurance.
Turn Trash into Treasure – Garage sales are fine, but it’s possible to make even more money on used items by selling them online. Posting items for sale on auction sites like eBay is easy. They are exposed to a much larger audience, so it’s often possible to rake in a surprising amount of money. In some cases, this can even turn into a nice way to earn extra money on the side.
Get Discount Haircuts and Dental Work – While they are in training, fledgling dentists and hair stylists often provide their services for free or for drastically reduced prices. This is an excellent way to spend less on cleanings, haircuts and many other services.

To stay motivated about these unique money-saving tips, keep a running list of the amount that is saved every month. Then put that money towards your debt snowball, or split it between debt and a vacation fund! Most people are pleasantly surprised by how much less they spend after implementing just a few of these simple, offbeat techniques. Over the course of a year, these unusual tips can produce some truly incredible savings.