Blogging Away Debt Our Journeys to a Debt-Free Life

by Beks

I was offered both jobs and I accepted the Texas job. They have amazing pay, great benefits, AND they offered a signing bonus that will pay for all moving costs. It was more than I expected and I am super excited.

We leave in 3 weeks. Holy moly. We have lived 14 years in this house. Sure it’s 1200 sq ft but there are 6 of us. This ain’t gonna be easy! But we’re trying to go through this process as inexpensively as possible.

Reducing Moving Expenses

The job offered a flat bonus amount. It’s enough to hire a professional moving company but we’ve decided against it. Renting a U-Haul is $6K. Apparently Californians are like rats jumping off a sinking ship because U-Hauls the other direction are less than $2K. Ugh. Supply and demand.

We’ve decided to spend $8K to buy an enclosed trailer and tow it out ourselves. If it was a simple one-way move, we’d probably go the U-haul route but since we are renting for a year, we need to leave some large tools behind in California. Rather than pay for storage, we’re going to use the enclosed trailer as storage and leave it at my parent’s house for a year while we rent.

We’re Renting

We have never lived outside of southern California. Buying a house immediately would be an all-new level of stupid for two reasons. 1) We have no idea what area of Fort Worth we want to live. Turns out, Fort Worth is a huge city with lots of different neighborhoods. We know precisely zero about them. 2) Have you seen the housing market?!? These prices are insane. We’re hoping for some leveling out.

We’re Selling Everything

We are keeping the bedroom sets and selling everything else. If we haven’t used something in the last year, we’re selling it. We’re using this time as a deep spring cleaning. I have cameras and equipment I haven’t used in years. Sold. Stacks of clothes the kids have outgrown. Sold. Random unused kitchenware. Sold. It’s like the Dave Ramsey days when we sold everything. It feels good.

We’re ‘Flipping’ Our House

We chose one of the top performing realtors to sell our house. She made a punch list as long as my arm but she assured us that if we complete it, we’ll squeak out an extra $100K in the sales price. Chris is re-doing our kitchen and bathroom, repainting the house, and upgrading the landscape. The new buyers will have everything I ever wanted for this house which hurts just a little.

I’m excited. I’m scared. I’m sad. Name the emotion, I’m feeling it.

Beks

Beks is a full-time government employee who enjoys blogging late into the night after her four kids have gone to sleep.  She’s been married to Chris, her college sweetheart, for 15 years.  In 2017, after 3 long years working the Dave Ramsey Baby Steps, they paid off more than $70K and became debt free.  When she’s not working or blogging, she’s exploring the great outdoors.