The author, Rebecca VanderKooi.
courtesy of Rebecca VanderKooi
I moved to NYC for my first job after finishing college in Michigan.
I’d planned to move my stuff in a truck, but it would have cost over $1,300.
Instead, I sold my belongings and made $500, which covered my $470 roundtrip flight to NYC.
In May, I graduated from a university in Michigan and immediately got my first post-grad job in New York City. Since I am a broke college grad, I needed to find the most cost-effective way to move to the city. Initially, I flew with my cat and some basics with plans to fly back to Michigan later and then drive a moving van to the city.
I changed my mind when I looked at the costs associated with my original plan of flying and driving.
The cost of driving my stuff was over $1,300
If I were to fly to Michigan from New York, a one-way ticket would cost about $200. Then, renting a moving van, including the necessary insurance, would cost $1,131.17. While that includes gas, the truck rental and the plane ticket combined would cost me $1,331.17.
That doesn’t include the money I would spend on food while traveling and the time I would need to take off of work, unpaid, since I can’t take paid time off for my first six months at the company. Not to mention I didn’t even think my belongings were worth that much. I didn’t have anything that I was especially attached to or that was worth a lot of money.
I decided to sell my stuff instead
However, there were still some things in Michigan that I wanted, specifically some important documents, clothing, and other essentials.
I discovered that Southwest Airlines allows two checked pieces of luggage for no extra charge, so I booked roundtrip tickets through Southwest for $470 for a weekend in Michigan. While there, I picked the most important items I wanted to take back to New York with me and then had a one-day-only garage sale where I sold many of my larger items and some clothes and decor. In total, I made almost $500 from everything I sold, which covered the cost of my plane ticket.
Back in New York, I had to buy some things I had sold, such as a bed frame and a desk. The costs paled compared to what I would have spent to move all my items to New York. Part of this was because any items I needed for my apartment I got on sale or found on the curbside. Some of the other things I got rid of, such as clothing and decor, I can slowly accumulate over time, but it’s not something I need to purchase all at once.
While this plan might not work for everyone, in my situation, it was more cost-effective to sell a lot of my belongings rather than going through the money, time, and effort of driving a moving van of my belongings to New York City.