Dryad Counseling was established in Ohio and is owned by a Ohio native. Recently due to some personal and political factors, we have changed our location to the east coast.

With this move, Dryad is planning to expand our service area to include some New England states. Once we have had some more progress with those licenses, we will post about our new offerings. We will still be offering telehealth services for clients in Ohio.

The experience of moving to a new state has taught me a few things. I’d like to share some in case others are planning to do a similar move.

You will spend more time and money on the move than you anticipate.

We had planned on originally spending maybe $1000 on the move itself, plus the deposit and first month’s rent. The cost doubled over the course of the move. You may be able to save some money doing things yourself, but it will still cost you time.

The move in total ended up costing close to $10,000 dollars by the time we were done.

Premium services are not out of your reach and are stress reducers

Once we realized that the logistics were more than we were comfortable with, we looked at services to help with the move. The biggest game changer for it was hiring movers. They charge either by the hour or by the pound/square foot and the sticker shock may turn you off from the idea. We were able to have movers take our stuff over multiple states and we no longer had to deal with those logistics until the delivery. It saved us hours, possibly days and our backs from not having to move a few dozen totes and furniture from our 2nd floor apartment.

We also had to transport one of our cars, which was unavoidable since it was going to be an over 12 hour drive and wasn’t safe to do alone due to winter driving conditions.

We also had to rent a car for the return trip due to our pets and knowing we had more things that had to come back with us.

We still ran out of time to get everything out of the apartment and were faced with the dilemma of either having the apartment cleaned or leaving things in the apartment and having our leasing company charge us an absurd amount for it. We opted for a deep cleaning service to come in and it cost us less overall than what the leasing company would have charged us for it. Highly recommend this if the security deposit is a factor for you and it won’t cost more that that to do.

Time is a constant stressor

There’s a principle that says that projects will take as long as you set aside for it. We had over 2 months to prepare and still we found new things to take care of. We had to pack an entire apartment while working full time and bouts of illness. We proved that principle to be true without a doubt. No matter how long you have, there will still never feel like there is enough time. Do your best to make progress and be prepared for the final week to be more stressful than expected.

Surprise bills are a thing

I paid every utility on time each month and somehow there were still bills that had balances due to fees or weird timing of the billing cycle. Set aside a portion of your budget for these. Best case scenario, you have extra money. Worst case, you will end up spending it. The gas for the trip was more than we expected because of the weight of the things that didn’t go on the moving truck. The final bills had disconnect fees or shipping of equipment back. It was exhausting to keep track of.

It will strain your relationships

My partner and I generally vibe well and have very few major disagreements. The process of moving showed us that there were things we just didn’t connect on and it led to some heated discussions. Have plans to talk about things regarding the move and keep all of the moving information in a place you can all access.

The move also highlighted some issues with my own family of origin as I was the first to leave the state. It was not received well and as the day got closer, it became more apparent that it was going to cause some issues. This is something that hopefully with time will improve, though it’s certainly an unpleasant experience.

Your pets will be stressed out

You may need to have an appointment with your vet before moving to make sure that they are going to be okay for the move. This was an additional cost for us, but not terribly expensive for what would be considered exotic animals. We have 4 guinea pigs and it’s hard to find good care for them. Transporting them also reduced the amount of stuff we could have in the rented van, because we could not fit anything but the pigs in my small sedan.

Living in a new state is a culture change

I have lived in Ohio for most of my life. I knew the areas I lived in, had an idea about where things were and knew how to exist as an Ohioan. It is very different in New England. I have spent time trying to find things, understanding the layout of the state and realized how weird it was to never need to leave Ohio for things like appointments or to travel to another part of the state. It has given me a general feeling of being unsettled and making it harder to feel like I’m home. It always has taken me some time to settle into a new place, but it seems like the process hasn’t moved much for me in the month. Give yourself time and grace to settle in. You will figure things out eventually.

In conclusion, plan as much as you can for your move and where you can, give yourself time to recover during the process. It’s stressful even if you aren’t moving more than a few blocks away.

If you need to, getting counseling during and after can help you settle in and manage all of the stress that comes with moving. Dryad Counseling is taking new clients who are in Ohio and would be happy to talk with you. Schedule a phone consultation today!

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