At 7:55 a.m. on June 1, my dad wheeled his old hand truck down the driveway, the red one he's had since before I was born, and parked it next to a stack of boxes in the garage. "You're borrowing this," he said. "Not keeping it." Then he went inside to get his coffee and came back out wearing his work gloves, which meant he was keeping an eye on the movers whether anyone asked him to or not.
I moved eight miles that day, from my parents' house in Wilmette to my studio in south Evanston. Four days later, I've finally added up every receipt.
The day itself
I booked two movers with a truck for a three-hour minimum. They arrived at 8:10, loaded my bed, dresser, desk, boxes and the famous kitchen bin from the basement, and were at the Evanston building by 9:30. Then came the part I was most nervous about: three flights of stairs in an old courtyard building with a narrow turn at every landing. The dresser had to go up on its side. The movers were calm about it in the way only people who have seen much worse stairs can be.
They were done by 11:05, a few minutes under three hours. My dad and I made trips with the hand truck for the lighter boxes so the movers could focus on furniture. My mom showed up at noon with three large pizzas for the movers, my dad, Nolan, who had come up from the city to help, and me. Nolan ate most of one pizza by himself. This surprised nobody.
The full $4,175, line by line
I saved $4,500 in my move fund from January through May. Here's where it all went:
- First month's rent: $1,295
- Security deposit: $1,295 (paid at lease signing in April)
- Application fee: $50
- Two movers, three hours, including tip: $480
- Secondhand furniture: $640
- Basics: $415
Total: $1,295 + $1,295 + $50 + $480 + $640 + $415 = $4,175.
The furniture gets its own post, since there's a story behind most of it. The "basics" line is where all the little things lived: a shower curtain and liner, a set of sheets and a comforter, two bath towels, a mop and bucket, cleaning supplies, a toolkit, a step stool, light bulbs, hangers, a doormat, a trash can, a dish rack (no dishwasher), groceries to fill an empty fridge, and yes, the pizza, which came to $41. None of it was exciting. All of it was necessary within the first 48 hours.
A few things kept the total down. The kitchen was mostly already done thanks to the bin in my parents' basement that I've been filling since last October: plates, mugs, bowls, a saucepan, a sheet pan and my $6 cast iron skillet. I didn't rent a truck or pay for a moving van. I didn't buy new boxes, because my mom had been saving liquor store boxes from friends for a month. And the dolly was free, though apparently it has to come back by the Fourth of July.
I also didn't buy a mattress. My parents let me take the full-size one from my old room, which I bought a few years ago and which is in great shape. My mom has plans to turn my old room into a sewing room, so she was happy to see it go.
After everything, I had $325 left in the move fund. It went straight into the emergency fund, which is now at $6,325. I'd love to say that was discipline, but it was mostly that I'd already written "leftover goes to emergency fund" in the club sheet back in January, and past me doesn't leave much wiggle room.
It also helped that I had padded the estimate. My original guess was $4,100 to $4,300, and I saved $4,500 because I assumed something would go wrong. Nothing big did. The extra buffer still helped me sleep.
A few things I learned
Movers charge by the hour, so being ready matters. Every box was taped, labeled by room and stacked in the garage before they arrived. The bed was already taken apart, with the screws in a labeled zip bag taped to the headboard.
Photograph the empty apartment first. Before anything came in, I walked through the studio taking timestamped photos and a video of every wall, the floors, the stove, the fridge and the bathroom. I emailed them to myself so there's a dated copy for when I move out.
Set up the utilities a week ahead. I scheduled the electric account and internet to start June 1, so I had lights and Wi-Fi that first night. I also switched to my own car insurance policy, $131 a month, since I'm off my parents' policy now.
By 9 p.m. everyone had gone home. I sat on the floor of my studio with the window open, listening to the Purple Line, eating the last cold slice of pizza. It was quiet. It was mine.
