A testimony from Christina
At the end of last year, my husband got hired for a new job — but we had to move for the job.
We had been focusing on getting out of debt, and only had $1,000 in the bank. That amount would be enough for a 350 mile move — including deposits on a home and utilities.
Then, while we were preparing to move, my husband was laid off from his current job, meaning we had to start his new job one month sooner.
We were not packed, we didn't have enough money in savings to cover the moving expenses and our living expenses until the new job's paychecks started coming in, and we knew we would have to be very careful with our money to make it while staying away from debt.
Here’s how we managed to pay cash for our big move!
1.We rented out our house.
The biggest, and some said craziest, thing we did was renting out two of our bedrooms and even our living room couches to total strangers. When Ian's job situation changed, we needed money… fast!
When Ian was at work, I took a night after the kids were in bed and packed up two rooms, my office and my infant son Logan's room. I moved Logan into our bedroom and within a few days we had one room rented, then the other, then the living room couches.
We ended up renting out to three people over the course of two months. Two men who both had come to our town for a new job and were looking for places for their families to live, and a young lady from New York. We made $665, which covered a lot of our expenses!
It was a fun experience, and we loved it!
2. We packed and moved everything ourselves.
We knew we needed to save in every area we could, so we got moving boxes free from the dollar store nearby and I packed every chance I got. I also compared rates for the moving van companies in town, which saved us at least $300.
We had family come help us pack everything into the moving van, and we unpacked everything ourselves into the new apartment. Not hiring movers saved us around $350.
3. We called in favors and cash back
I use reward programs like iBotta all the time as a part of my normal grocery shopping routine, usually for extra payments on our debt snowball. We used any restaurant gift cards for food when we were on the road to save on our food costs while we were on the road.
We also explained to the office staff at our new apartment complex and asked them if they had any good specials, they told us about their referral program and recommended that we list each other as the referring residents on our applications, so we both got $250 gift cards when we signed our lease!
Ultimately, we both did things that were really hard for us to do. Ian thought it was crazy to rent our house out to strangers, and I did everything I possibly could to save money in every area, as well as eating some humble pie by asking family for help.
We were so blessed to have the support of family and friends, but mostly we were glad we had been living frugally for months, so cutting back wasn't as hard as it could have been!
Christina is the mother of two children, who loves sharing her debt-free journey and family life at her blog, Youthful Homemaker. Her favorite things are tea, graphic design, and making new friends.
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