Anyone else moving across country for residency?

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nancysinatra

nancysinatra

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Just thought I'd start a thread to see if anyone else is moving a long ways to start residency? I'm trying to figure out about movers vs doing it myself and wondered if anyone else was in the same boat. My concern with movers is that they cost more and are hard to trust, and I'll still have to rent a car and drive with my essential stuff to my new city. Moving in a UHaul would require that I park a truck here on my street in New York City (where I am now) and load it either myself or hire people to help me. I could get help from some friends but then I don't know if we'll load the truck very well, and I have to drive 2000 miles.

Just wondered what other people were doing... Thanks, and good luck to anyone else who's doing this!
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nancysinatra said:
Just thought I'd start a thread to see if anyone else is moving a long ways to start residency? I'm trying to figure out about movers vs doing it myself and wondered if anyone else was in the same boat. My concern with movers is that they cost more and are hard to trust, and I'll still have to rent a car and drive with my essential stuff to my new city. Moving in a UHaul would require that I park a truck here on my street in New York City (where I am now) and load it either myself or hire people to help me. I could get help from some friends but then I don't know if we'll load the truck very well, and I have to drive 2000 miles.

Just wondered what other people were doing... Thanks, and good luck to anyone else who's doing this!
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I would refer you here (from the "classic threads" sticky at the top of this forum):
gutonc said:
These threads aren't classic in the sense that many others in here are but this question gets asked q year and going back in the archives is becoming a PITA. So here are 3 threads about moving (all w/ essentially the same information) that deserve to be stickied IMHO (mostly because I posted some really phenomenal information in them).

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=366871
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=317229
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=273294
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As for the UHaul thing in NYC, are you in Manhattan? If not, it's totally doable. If so, it's still doable but a bigger pain. I moved in and out of Manhattan (UES) and Brooklyn (Park Slope) myself so it can be done. I hired guys to load the truck for moving out of Brooklyn (we had more stuff, bigger apt, didn't want to bug our friends) and it was fine. Actually paying dudes to load and unload the truck was brilliant. Best money I've ever spent.

I then hooked the car up to the back of the truck and drove 3100 miles. That would have been fine without the cat.
 
I am moving 2100 miles... I have been working on all the details constantly the past month. I finally chose a mover- we'd have to get a 26' UHaul to drive, which is huge and scary for such a distance. Call around and get quotes from different movers, you'll figure out who's cheapest and (at least seems) honest.

We're driving our cars, or perhaps only one, we've not figured this one out yet. The move date is less than two weeks away.

Combined with selling our home and buying the new house, I've not had much relaxation time. People who don't know what I'm doing keep advising me, "Enjoy this time off and relax, because it's the last free time you'll have for a long time." I want to kick them when they say that.:eek:, as I will be moving pretty much right up to the moment I start on June 15th.
 
DonStracci--you have more work than I do! I sympathize. This is all consuming, even for me. I basically have a one bedroom apartment to move. My problem is it's just me, but for one person I have a lot of stuff (most of it entirely useless fancy kitchen gear sent by my mother 1000 miles away and I don't have the heart to unload it), and I'm in Manhattan with little street access. Just today I witnessed friends loading a UHaul with a parking ticket attached. (Why I am obsessing over a $150 parking ticket when the issue is a $2000-3000 move I don't know!)

I've been receiving quotes from movers, but finding that the minimum quote from reputable movers is a good $1000 more than what I'd pay if I do it myself. On the other hand, I swore several moves ago I'd never do it again myself...

I'm debating if I should call more movers. I'd only want to go with a huge national company--Allied, United, Bekins... Can't imagine they'll do it for less than I can with a rental truck, and I'm wearing down on calling around.

Gutonc--thanks for those helpful links! I see there are others who have used my basic plan of renting a truck, and hiring help at one or both ends to load it.
 
nancysinatra said:
DonStracci--you have more work than I do! I sympathize. This is all consuming, even for me. I basically have a one bedroom apartment to move. My problem is it's just me, but for one person I have a lot of stuff (most of it entirely useless fancy kitchen gear sent by my mother 1000 miles away and I don't have the heart to unload it), and I'm in Manhattan with little street access. Just today I witnessed friends loading a UHaul with a parking ticket attached. (Why I am obsessing over a $150 parking ticket when the issue is a $2000-3000 move I don't know!)

I've been receiving quotes from movers, but finding that the minimum quote from reputable movers is a good $1000 more than what I'd pay if I do it myself. On the other hand, I swore several moves ago I'd never do it again myself...

I'm debating if I should call more movers. I'd only want to go with a huge national company--Allied, United, Bekins... Can't imagine they'll do it for less than I can with a rental truck, and I'm wearing down on calling around.

Gutonc--thanks for those helpful links! I see there are others who have used my basic plan of renting a truck, and hiring help at one or both ends to load it.
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If it's really only $1000 (I know..."only"...what an attending thing to say!), I would think it would really be worth it to not have to deal with the slipped disk, driving liability, unloading... Just my $0.02 for ya.
 
I totally feel your hesitation with the movers... movingreviews.com is a good place to read reviews, if you continue to look.

I totally don't mind moving all of our furniture- it's nice to finally have all my weight training be of some use... but I don't trust people to treat my stuff the way I would treat it. At the same time, that big huge 26' truck frightens me.

Oh and did I mention the many, many pets we are moving? This is going to be an adventure. Good luck with everything.

Don't cancel your homeowners/rental insurance until after you move, btw! Your stuff will be well-covered for most things that can occur whilst in transit.
 
I read through some of the threads in the past on this and I kind of decided that I would pass on/sell/give away alot of the stuff I really don't need and then pack up the rest in the car and head out.

I have already gotten rid of alot of things to the local thrift shop and that feels great. I couldn't get rid of that stuff and now - I can hardly even remember what it was I gave away. Obviously, I couldn't live without it. :rolleyes:

The really hard things to sort out I will send to myself via USPS or UPS, whichever looks cheaper. I think spending the $150 on shipping some boxes will be worth every cent, and will save alot on aggravation or stress.
 
peerie said:
I read through some of the threads in the past on this and I kind of decided that I would pass on/sell/give away alot of the stuff I really don't need and then pack up the rest in the car and head out.

I have already gotten rid of alot of things to the local thrift shop and that feels great. I couldn't get rid of that stuff and now - I can hardly even remember what it was I gave away. Obviously, I couldn't live without it. :rolleyes:

The really hard things to sort out I will send to myself via USPS or UPS, whichever looks cheaper. I think spending the $150 on shipping some boxes will be worth every cent, and will save alot on aggravation or stress.
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Hmmm... I just can't seem to give away things that other people gave me, especially if those people have died/departed from my life! Is there a CD I can listen to that will allow me to separate from things I don't like that my family gave to me? I need it in the next few days. I am actually very ruthless about not keeping things I don't need, but when it comes to gifts I am weak.

OPD--I am thinking your advice over but am so unsure what to do. Allied was just here and estimated my stuff weighs twice what I thought. So it will probably cost $1500 more to have movers move me than for me to do it. I'll hire help to load boxes. I don't mind driving. I just thought I would never have to do this again. The moving expenses aren't in my med student budget, and I won't get paid until sometime in July, which doesn't help me with first month's rent or utilities. I'm already going to be behind on credit card debt when residency starts so I really hesitate to load up with additional moving expenses. (How are other people financing this--I'm curious??) But yikes, I hate moving!
 
I moved from Manhattan to CA a couple of years ago. Sold all my furniture, mailed myself a few boxes of stuff (dishes, a printer, some clothes), and otherwise started over.

Re financing, I got $1000 moving expenses from my residency program and a fair amount of cash-in-hand after liquidating all the furniture and stuff I didn't need.

I would *not* recommend driving all your furniture thousands of miles across the country. It's a huge waste of time and effort. Unless you've stocked your 1-br with original Biedermeier furniture or something, it'll cost about the same to sell it off and buy new as it would have been to move it.

How big are these sentimental-value items anyway? Are they your actual furniture or just a lot of knickknacks? Can you mail, e.g., the fancy kitchenware to your mom's house and stash it there 'for the time being' since you never use it?

Moving is a great time to pare down your life, and it sounds like you have the perfect excuse to unload all this stuff you don't actually use but just keep around to assuage your guilt. If you actually move all that stuff a few thousand miles then you'll *really* never get rid of it.
 
I moved across the country for medical school if this helps. All I had to unload was a dorm room of stuff so it's not that big of a deal, which is a bit different than your situation.

Basically, I just filled up my car and drove across the country. It was pretty fun actually. I'm planning to move back to the Southeast for residency (if I get in a program out there) and hope to do the same thing. I wouldn't spend 1000+ for shipping since I felt the crap I bought ended up costing only about 1400 bucks! (600 for dressers, 30 for desk, 70 for bed frame, 400 mattress, 300 dollar TV I want to get rid of anyways). So I'll probably have to sell my dressers, my desk, my TV, ship most of my clothes, and then load up my car and drive back.

I'm wondering about shipping a bed I bought because it's so damn comfortable! Actually, does anyone have an idea of shipping a mattress?
 
tr said:
Moving is a great time to pare down your life, and it sounds like you have the perfect excuse to unload all this stuff you don't actually use but just keep around to assuage your guilt. If you actually move all that stuff a few thousand miles then you'll *really* never get rid of it.
Click to expand...

I think it is like a great, universe/karma thing to give away or sell your stuff. I kept thinking: I am no longer interested in this thing, but maybe some person will see it in the thrift shop and be like, wow! a [thing] I was just looking for! and only 0.25!!

Sometimes we just have to get rid of alot of old stuff to make room for new things to come along. :)
 
Can we write off moving expenses on your income tax? I think you can...and if so, why not let Obama pay for it?
 
plainolerichie said:
I'm wondering about shipping a bed I bought because it's so damn comfortable! Actually, does anyone have an idea of shipping a mattress?
Click to expand...

That's a good question. Wood pallets are not very big--I think their largest dimension is 48" (don't hold me to that number)--so unless it's a twin mattress then it might be difficult to ship in a box (i.e., as freight) unless you have a whole container to pack up yourself or if you get one of those pods that companies pick up where you live and drop off at your destination (like ABF UPack). USPS definitely has size restrictions on packages, and I don't know about UPS. If it's just a few things you want shipped, I've heard of people using Greyhound, but have no experience with them myself. http://www.shipgreyhound.com/
 
Thanks for that Greyhound link. It looks useful if my car gets too full...LOL!
 
Winged Scapula said:
If you are a fellow moving for a new job, then YOU can deduct the moving expenses.

Medical students moving for residency cannot. They are not "changing jobs" which is the IRS requirement.
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This is incorrect. Why are people unfamiliar with tax code handing out tax advice??

Yes..you MAY deduct moving expenses for your first full-time job. Also, this is an above-the-line deduction which means you don't have to itemize in order to deduct!

This publication explains in further detail the distance and time requirements you must meet as well as what you can deduct.
http://www.irs.gov/publications/p521/ar02.html#en_US_publink100043359
 
BlueberryMuffin said:
This is incorrect. Why are people unfamiliar with tax code handing out tax advice??

Yes..you MAY deduct moving expenses for your first full-time job. Also, this is an above-the-line deduction which means you don't have to itemize in order to deduct!

This publication explains in further detail the distance and time requirements you must meet as well as what you can deduct.
http://www.irs.gov/publications/p521/ar02.html#en_US_publink100043359
Click to expand...

To the person who thought "changing jobs" was a requirement, you are thinking of interview expenses. You can only deduct interview expenses when changing jobs, but NOT starting a job in a new field. Moving expenses are fair game for everyone.
 
Winged Scapula said:
If you are a fellow moving for a new job, then YOU can deduct the moving expenses.

Medical students moving for residency cannot. They are not "changing jobs" which is the IRS requirement.
Click to expand...

The IRS bulletin says that if you change jobs OR start a new job you can deduct the expenses. It states verbatim:

"If you moved due to a change in your job or business location, or because you started a new job or business, you may be able to deduct your moving expenses."

It then goes on to state the "distance test" and the "time test" for your move and new job. This is all straight out the bulletin that was linked earlier:

http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc455.html
 
I apologize if I was wrong; there was no need to be rude about it in response. None of us here are tax accountants.

And yes, I was thinking about interview expenses not moving expenses.
 
My response was a little blunt there, I see--I didn't mean to be rude but just tend to be cut and dry when it comes to tax matters. No offense was meant at all. Thanks for the helpful info! I've even learned that in the future, maybe I can deduct interview expenses!
 
I think it would be nice if people would be a little more civil on this message board, otherwise maybe some of us (particularly fellows and attendings) might quit posting. I honestly am surprised by the number of aggressive emails I've gotten in my inbox in the past, and also some of the things people have said to me on here....

I agree you guys were being rude above, although you were correct about the tax deduction question.

A lot of med students think they can deduct interview expenses, but they can't...it sucks I know.
 
I know what you're saying about people being more civil. I would add to that, I wish people would be more open-minded sometimes too. There seem to be a lot of posts where people are very derogatory towards others and their ideas--it makes you almost feel like you need to defend anything you say to the hilt or you will be attacked! Here in this case--take this with a grain of salt, please--I just wanted to mention my taxpayer rights, since as a lowly med student I'm pretty sure I don't have ANY rights ;-) Yeah, I've been on the bottom of the totem pole for four years--I think it's been getting to me lately!

But like I said I never meant any offense, and I apologize. Have a nice day everyone! :)
 
Thanks NancySinatra but I wasn't referring to you; I don't think your "boots are gonna walk all over [me]". ;)

We all do need to strive to be more civil in the forums and behave as we would in real life.

DP raises an interesting and accurate point (and I'm sure she's puzzled since she's found me rude in the forums before):

when we've tried to attract more attendings to SDN in the past, one of the reasons they've refused is because of the rudeness of some of the posters and the anger and vitriol in some of the threads. SDN thrives on its volunteers and members and a lot of us spend a great deal of time here that could be spent elsewhere, even in income generating work. Being more civil would go a long way toward making a more cohesive community and attracting more senior members of the profession to give back.
 
Winged Scapula said:
We all do need to strive to be more civil in the forums and behave as we would in real life.

DP raises an interesting and accurate point (and I'm sure she's puzzled since she's found me rude in the forums before):

when we've tried to attract more attendings to SDN in the past, one of the reasons they've refused is because of the rudeness of some of the posters and the anger and vitriol in some of the threads. SDN thrives on its volunteers and members and a lot of us spend a great deal of time here that could be spent elsewhere, even in income generating work. Being more civil would go a long way toward making a more cohesive community and attracting more senior members of the profession to give back.
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I had trouble seeing what was "rude" per se about the post, I assume it is the one about someone saying that somebody not familiar with the tax code shouldn't be handing out tax advice. While if you said this to an attending as a student or resident you would get in a lot of trouble (in the "real" world.)

However, on an internet forum such as SDN it is true that there is a lot of "rudeness", however, this has a utility in itself in that people can express opinions that they couldn't publicly express and be more blunt than they could in other situations. This is probably a good thing as it lets people blow off steam "off-stage" where it doesn't count or counts much less than in the "real world".

I would say it is a good idea to be courteous to Winged as she has been posting a long time here and is one of the few attendings here. But students and residents should feel free to express their opinions and not feel they have to be overly courteous to attendings on here whom which are not their superiors. I think this is partly why more attendings don't post here, because in the "real world" attendings can and do harrass students and residents to a large degree and develop a sense of entitlement such that they live in the so-called "bubble" that surrounds people who are just surrounded by yes-men and yes-women.
 
I do not expect, nor want, people to treat me differently simply because I'm attending or have been on SDN a long time but thanks for the thought Darth. :D

Cookies are welcome, however.

Its hard to know whether or not the attendings who have participated and quit SDN did so because of a sense of entitlement or not, but I suspect for most of them that it was not so much that "those damn kids didn't respect me" but rather a lack of respect for the experience that they brought to the table and they way they were treated as humans (not necessarily as attendings).
 
Winged Scapula said:
I do not expect, nor want, people to treat me differently simply because I'm attending or have been on SDN a long time but thanks for the thought Darth. :D

Cookies are welcome, however.

Its hard to know whether or not the attendings who have participated and quit SDN did so because of a sense of entitlement or not, but I suspect for most of them that it was not so much that "those damn kids didn't respect me" but rather a lack of respect for the experience that they brought to the table and they way they were treated as humans (not necessarily as attendings).
Click to expand...

I am sure that a lot of the SDNers who are residents and fellows will become attendings who occassionally post on SDN. The life of an attending is super busy, that could be another factor as well. Poodoo flows downhill in medical school and often medical students aren't treated like "humans" and everybody has been told one time or another that you need "thick skin" to be in medicine so I am unsure what attendings thought about their treatment on SDN, but it usually isn't half as bad as what is dished out in school to students . . . In the end free speach is better, IMHO. I think attendings who have worked long term with students/residents get accustomed to their brown nosing and actually start to believe that they are that excellent and when they present themselves on SDN they may sound a little pretentious or condescending and get called on stuff.

Supposedly, the newer generation of medical students don't automatically give respect to their "elders" i.e. attendings, and that this has to be earned, whereas in the past an internist may automatically be respected, nowadays students may judge an attending very poorly if they don't act like they think an attending should. Also, there seems to be as much, it not more hazing of medical students these days. So, overall, there is much less respect and cooperation amoung people in medicine these days, which is sad and probably counter productive. I was *very* disappointed when I saw the range of physicians I would have to work with/learn from during medical school as compared to my home town physicians I already knew. . . for some reason some newer attendings and also older attendings don't like working with today's medical students. This is really sad, but is the current situation at many mid-level us med schools.

I think that people can respect your knowledge and forcefully disagree with someone at the same time.

Funny you mentioned cookies, I was thinking about baking some, hmmm cookies! I used to make excellent chocolate chip cookies by using secret ingredients including peppermint flavoring, ginger and nuts.
 
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It's interesting that this subject came up on this thread. I'm moving from a city where I've gotten fed up with the meanness I see so often, and I'm hoping my new city, which is known for good manners, will live up to its reputation.

I agree in theory it's good that people can voice their opinions on the board that they maybe couldn't in real life because of the hierarchy, but sometimes I think that ends up getting dwarfed by the "rudeness" people show in their posts. A lot of threads that have the potential for good debate deteriorate because someone is hostile or dogmatic or snide or what have you. This lowers the tone for everyone. And it isn't just students being rude to attendings. Students and premeds are disrespectful to each other! :-(

It might be poor writing skills as well. Email is known to offend people easily so it stands to reason a message board would also.
 
There is something about the internet that brings out the tough guy in everybody :rolleyes:

I live by a code that I never say anything to anybody that I wouldn't say to them in a dark alley...When you think about it that way it kind of makes certain parts of medical training seem ridiculous. I may not be the biggest strongest person you've ever meet, but I am fairly certain there is NO way a frail 70 year old attending (or a 5 foot nothing resident) would saunter up to me at a bar and start screaming, yelling, and throwing ****. No way. But within the confines of a hospital where you are outranked this can somehow be okay....or behind the veil of anonymity that is the internet. Its not like this forum is unique in that however.....do you ever read the comments on youtube? :laugh:

And to stay on topic I am moving over a thousand miles for residency, and have found that budget trucks > uhaul trucks.
 
U-haul is ridiculously expensive too! And what for?

Thanatos said:
There is something about the internet that brings out the tough guy in everybody :rolleyes:

I live by a code that I never say anything to anybody that I wouldn't say to them in a dark alley...When you think about it that way it kind of makes certain parts of medical training seem ridiculous.
Click to expand...

:laugh:

Ha ha--I just read my last response and realize how whiny it sounds. See what this profession is doing to me??? Does anyone know WHY medicine is so mean sometimes? It can't just be the hierarchy--the military is even more hierarchical but they manage to behave themselves on submarines for months at a time, and here we are known to descend into chaos on our rotations, in our call rooms, on an anonymous forum...
 
nancysinatra said:
U-haul is ridiculously expensive too! And what for?
Click to expand...

I have moved between continents and across the US several times. With the exception of the last move (when my new employer paid for the move, so I got some professionals), every move criss-crossing the US has been done by me with a UHaul.

The major benefit of UHaul I have found is that they are extremely open to negotiating the price. Once you tell them that you are looking at other options, such as Penske or Ryder, etc, they will often come back with an even lower price. Even stalling and muttering something about "how expensive" they are, will often get you a discount. Try it, you may be pleasantly suprised.

Be careful when renting from a small town, especially if you are using a large truck (which may be less popular than the smaller ones), as they often cannot guarantee you that they will have the truck on the day specified (ie, if someone doesn't return one in time). You need to be more flexible in smaller towns in terms of dates of your trip.

And if I can drive the 24 foot truck, anyone can!
 
Just wanted to mention another option that I don't think I've seen discussed on this thread yet. My fiance and I are planning to use the ABF "Relocube" for our upcoming 1300+ mile move (www.upack.com). There are several companies that offer a similar service, but this one was the most affordable and had good reviews online. Basically they drop off a portable storage cube, you have 3 days to pack it yourself, then they pick it up and drive it to your new location where you again have 3 days to unpack it before they come pick it up. So you still have to load/unload it, but you don't have to drive it (appealing to us since we will be traveling with dogs, and would like to take a road trip to our new home rather than power through it as you have to with a moving truck. Also, we're both apprehensive about driving a big truck all that way). It is about $500 more than renting a Uhaul for us (with gas and mileage factored in), but I figure it is worth it to not deal with driving the truck. I can't comment yet as to how well this works since we're not moving for another week, but it is another option to consider for those facing long-distance moves.
 
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