I'm moving to Texas in 13 weeks. What do I do?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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On July 14, 2003, I will be leaving my childhood home in upstate New York in order to journey to the city of Longview, Texas to be a grownup. I will be with Gunslinger and I will finish my college education as soon as I gain legal residency in the state.

I have a place to live all lined up. I also have a job - I’m going to transfer from my Staples up here to another down there. I have a moving date, and money saved up, and all that stuff.

However, I’ve never moved cross-country before. I went to college in Mississippi, but I lived in a dorm then, so I didn’t have to actually take any responsibility about the moving stuff. My parents are being jerks about it, so I can’t get them to help me much. (They’re doing a few little things for me, like making sure my truck gets serviced before I go, but that’s it.) Any advice would be appreciated.

I’ll be getting down there by driving my Jeep Cherokee, which will double as my moving van. It’s a two-day drive, and I’ve done it before on several occasions. Anything that doesn’t fit in the Jeep will be carefully boxed and mailed.

Gunslinger will rent me a Post Office box before I move so there will be a place for stuff to go to me.

I will have to find a Sprint PCS location once I get down there to have my cell phone number changed to a local one. That can be done at any point after I move.

I will probably have to have the power turned on to my apartment? And I will have to have the phone line hooked up. How much in advance should I call those companies?

My apartment’s going to be on the second floor. This means that any furniture I bring with me (not much) or buy down there (probably more, although I get the cheap stuff that comes disassembled so it’s easier to handle) will have to come up a flight of stairs before it reaches my place. I intend to get as many people Gun’s friendly with as possible to come help move boxes up the stairs in exchange for beer and food.

What else will I have to do? Got any moving tips?

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OMG. You’re moving to Texas in July!? Um, the only advice I can give you is to try to do your moving in the evening, once the sun has started to go down. And I think you need to call a few days before and request your utilities turned on.

I grew up about 40 miles from Longview. That was the place you went to for “good” dates.

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Well, I moved to Mississippi in August, so at least I know what I’m getting into. I may be a Yankee but I’m not afraid of the heat. :slight_smile: I figure I’ll have my cooler with me, and I’ll stop and get a bag of ice and some cold drinks to fill it with so we can have cool liquid refreshment between box-carting.

(And moving into my dorm involved going up FIVE flights of stairs! And the enclosed stairwells weren’t air-conditioned!)

4

You can call Sprint PCS customer service from your phone now, and schedule it in advance (or just do that when you move)… no store necessary.

Go to your current power company, and see if they will give you a letter stating your good standing (assuming you’re not late with your payments). That will enable you to avoid paying a deposit for electrical power.

Call the phone company there at least 2 weeks in advance, the power company one week in advance, and if you can, get the apartment complex to turn on the air conditioning 2 days before you arrive. Texas heat in mid-summer isn’t anything to scoff at, and a second floor apartment will be an oven without the air on for a couple of days, which would suck when hauling things in.

When you get there you might want to have an ice chest full of sodas and bottled water ready to roll; I’ve found that’s a simple thing that makes the moving much more comfy.

Best of luck!

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Hmmm…so dealing with the heat is covered, lemme give you some related advice…do not leave your winter coats in New York.

Winter in Texas isn’t anything like winter in the North, but it does get cold here - from time to time, anyway. No blizzards or deep snow accumulations, and I’ve only seen subzero weather once in my life, but it’s still cold when it’s 15 degrees outside…and it’s kinda funny watching the people who moved to Texas from places with real winter weather freezing their collective asses off because “it’s not supposed to get cold in Texas!” You won’t need a snow suit, but bring a good jacket with you.

Enjoy the scenery in East Texas - the pine trees are wonderful and there’s great camping around there in the fall and spring. There should be some fairly nice lakes around there too.

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Winter in THIS part of Texas has blizzards and the like…I’m a couple hundred miles North of Plano, but still in Texas. I have friends in the Metroplex…I’ll be down that way next week, they just bought a place on Lake Lavon. Got to do the housewarming p-a-r-t-y!

Of course this has nothing to do with the OP, just sayin’.

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Brush up on your Spanish.

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Whatever else you do, make sure you change your driver’s license, car registration, and voter’s registration as soon as you get there. IIRC, the residence clock starts as soon as you do those things. Any delay means a very expensive ticket, and it can also delay your residence to college. (The state is nice and gives 30 days’ grace period, but some colleges count 12 months and others count 365 days. There is a difference.)

Robin

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Call the utilities at least six weeks in advance, and have them turn things on the day before you arrive. Cable, if you are going to get it, will be the only thing that you can’t do this with. Having it switched into your name a day early means that you can get there and turn on the AC and have phone service (if you’re going to have a land line).
Definitely switch over your license, car tags and voter’s registration as soon as possible. When trying to get residency for school, it helps if you’re working full time - that’s the reason I haven’t been able to get TN residency despite having the license and everything. I’m not working full time, so they don’t call me a resident for tuition purposes.

Find out all the deposits/connection charges that will show up on your first bills. That way you have fewer surprises when they arrive.

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Start hating the Sooners now.

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You’ll have to get used to NOT paying a state income tax.

But the sales tax…hooooboy!

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But there’s no grocery tax. That is state-wide, isn’t it?

13

Make your first Texas meal some East Tex barbecue and a six pack of Shiner Bock.

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Get the darkest sunglasses you can find, and put them on before you go outside until at least October.

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Amen to the Shiner and the winter coats but leave any Yankee attitude at the Mason/Dixon line. Longview is a pretty mellow place from what I recall. Smile, a lot. Say thank you and please. When somebody pulls over onto the shoulder to let you pass wave. When somebody wants to pass, pull over onto the shoulder and let them. Expect strangers to talk to you, talk back nicely. They don’t want anything we are just that way down here. I don’t mean in imply that you have a Yankee attitude but when my relatives, from up there, refer to local folks as rubes I get a tad pissed and it sheds a bad light on all y’all. Oh and hold the door for women, whether you know them or not. And no “You Guys” it’s “Y’all”. The plural of “y’all” is “all y’all”.

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Get some sort of hat that will shade your eyes. I have a straw baseball type cap, just a hat with a brim over my eyes…this is good for driving.

Mexican food burns your mouth going in…it’ll also burn other portions of your body going OUT. It’s worth the discomfort, though.

Drink water til you slosh. Drink water BEFORE you drink soda, beer, ice tea, whatever, until you’re not thirsty any more. Drink another glass of water even when you THINK you’re not thirsty.

As to actually moving…books are astonishingly heavy. Pack books in SMALL boxes. LABEL your moving boxes, not just “kitchen”, “bedroom”, etc., but things like “lamps” or “underwear” is most helpful.

Pack a box of cleaning supplies (paper towels, spray and wipe stuff, things like that) at the very end…and unpack it first. Pack an overnight box, which will contain clean sheets and some PJs, or whatever you sleep in, towel, washcloth, soap, shampoo, and a complete clean set of clothes. Pack SEVERAL sets of sheets, if you have them, as the apartment might not have curtains.

Do NOT pack any medication that you need to take on a daily basis in a box. Put it in a ziplock bag, and put that in your purse. Trust me on this. This goes double for asthma inhalers and stuff that you might need to get to in minutes.

If you have any real medical problems, ask your doc for copies of the relevant records, so that you won’t have to wait for the records to transfer. You don’t need the WHOLE file, but notes on things like “allergic to meds x, y, and z” and which medicines work best on your particular problems will help.

Good luck!

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Four words: Deep Woods Off and sunscreen. These are essential, since mosquitoes are numerous, and the sun in Texas is pretty strong.

Robin

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Trob, your “Yankee attitude” idea is something that bothers me about my own fellow New Yorkers. I got along just fine in Mississippi and now I get dirty looks from other Yankees when I try to make nice with them. (I also get dirty looks when I say “y’all” but that’s never stopped me from doing either thing.) A question about the door-holding. I hold the door for everyone, regardless of gender, but when you specify I should hold the door for ladies does it matter that I’m a lady myself? (Most people only think to specify that men should hold doors for ladies. I, on the other hand, am an equal-opportunity door-holder.)

Lynn, finding a brimmed hat shan’t be hard for me at all. I love wearing hats! :slight_smile: And for the books, I shall pack them in paper-case boxes I’m getting from work; they will be shipped to my future address through the U.S. Postal Service’s Media Mail, which is amazingly inexpensive even for forty-pound boxes of books and will free up more space in my car for the outrageous amount of dishes kitchen equipment I own.

MsRobyn, I’ll have to get a gallon jug of sunscreen - I’m white as a ghost, I never tan (even with the aid of a tanning booth), and I’d be a lobster in a day. Thanks for reminding me of that; it’s now written on my whiteboard.

Also, MsRobyn and Lsura, I did know about the car registration and driver’s license needing to be switched, but one question - which do I need to have first, Texas registration or new auto insurance? (I’m currently under my parents’ policy here in NY, and will be getting my own down there.)

Kilt-wearin’ Man, I learned my winter-coat lesson in Mississippi. I left all my heaviest clothing up home, and then sat through the winter feeling miserable and wet. Never again!

Scumpup, I know all the Spanish I need. “Una cerveza, por favor. … Una mas cerveza, por favor. Y una cerveza por me llama. Muchas gracias.” (And of course “La llama es un quadrupedo.”) :wink:

Buck the Diver, the sales tax here is 8% - is it greatly more down there?

Vanilla Toast (your username makes me vaguely hungry), asking the property to turn on my a/c ahead of time would never have occurred to me, and I’d be paying for it on moving-in day because of it! That’s going on the whiteboard, too.

Did I miss anybody?

Thanks!

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Hey, I came this close to having to post this exact thread… but much to my deep, heat-hating, cloudy-rainy-weather-loving, Northern California raised appreciation, Mr. Armadillo chose the University of Oregon over Texas A&M.

whew :smiley:

Peace,
~mixie

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I moved to Fort Worth 3 years ago from Phoenix.

The car registration fees are cheap - around $65. I was paying $300 a year in AZ for a 6 year old car.

Your insurance is good regardless of where you are at - but be sure to switch it right away. I switched my insurance first, then license and tags. Vehicle insurance is cheaper here than in Phoenix.

Be prepared for lots of mail from local churches invitating you to join their Sunday services. I forgot this was the bible belt til I came back!

Don’t forget to check if you live in a wet or dry county. If it’s dry, you have to drive to a wet one to buy alcohol. In my city, I can buy beer or wine, not alcohol. I have to drive to the next city. It’s very confusing, and I don’t have the hang of it yet.