Oh wow! That's quite a move. Given the distance, and the fact that you have several small children, it seems like it would be easiest if you could pay someone to move your belongings for you (such as with U-Pack or Pods).

When my husband and I moved from Indiana to Pennsylvania, we were fortunate in that his company paid for our move. If we had to rent a U-Haul, I can't imagine how much harder that would be on us.

Of course, moving such a distance is quite expensive. In some cases, it might be cheaper for you to sell some of your furniture and buy some when you get there.

From what I understand about Seattle (visited once, lovely place!) the cost of living is much higher than what you'll find in the Midwest.

Best wishes with whatever happens!

-Kacie

When my DH was a Seminary student in St. Louis, ABF moving trucks were a common sight on campus after graduation and "call day"-where the graduates find out their congregational placement. With ABF, you pack the truck yourself after it is dropped off and then it is picked up a few days later. There can be more than one family on the truck and there are locked partitions in between different families belongings. We have several friends who used ABF and were very happy with the service. It is reasonable and you are not pressed for time to have the truck loaded, as would be the case with UHaul. Also, you don't have to drive the truck yourself, which is a huge blessing. On the down side, it takes several days for your belongings to be delivered but that allows you to take your time driving to your new location. With many of the congregations that gave the families a choice between ABF or UHaul, the majority of then chose ABF. My DH and I have moved several times with my DH's churches and we have always "bloomed where we were planted" and have been very happy. When you are doing the Lord's work as a pastor, you have to open minded to relocation, realizing that there are good people everywhere and that if God wants you to be somewhere, He will work out all the details and make very clear His Plan to you. Blessings to you, keep us posted.

Hi,Tammy!

I'm de-lurking to share our experience!

We moved from PA to Denver this summer. We used Movex which is similar to ABF. They brought us a semi-trailer and we had 12 hours to load it and then they drove it cross country, meeting us 5 days later in Denver. We were very clear with them about our arrival date, so we could meet the truck. We then had 12 hours to unload. I think ABF gives you more time than that. I guess it depends on if you have a group of people to help you load/unload. We were moving out to help start a church, so we had a group of guys help us.

From what I've heard, ABF does not necessarily guarantee loading ramps, blankets, or hand trucks. I think you can get them for an extra fee.

I'm not sure if this is helpful or not. What I did know was that there was no way I was going to travel in a mini-van by myself with mmy 2 little guys for 3 10 hour days while my husband drove a u-haul:)

Courtney

Well, I would sure love to have you in Seattle--you'd be close to one of my best friends, who is also named Tammy! We have always used a u-haul, including one memorable icy spin-out with a large trailer on our way to Alberta from Utah--yikes! But the savings is substantial, and I have to admit, I like to be the one who packs my own stuff. :) My favorite tips for moving long-distance are these:

1. Begin early, packing closets and out-of-season storage, as well as anything else you might not use (this can be up to 3 months' ahead of time). I make a master list of the contents of each box and label them something like this: bathroom would be B-1, B-2, Living Room would be L-1, L-2, etc. This is VERY helpful if there is a chance that your things will be in storage for any length of time, or you will be renting before buying a home, or if you are crossing into another country. It is also much faster than detailing the contents of the box with your dried-out magic marker. ;)

2. Closer to move time, begin to pack each room, starting in the closet and piling the boxes and furniture in the center of the room. This leaves the perimeter free for cleaning walls, windows and baseboards. Especially helpful when you don't have an extra room to keep your packed boxes in, and because you can't drive thousands of miles back to clean the empty house or apartment.

3. Work your way through the house from dry to wet areas on the last days of cleaning, leaving the kitchen sink as the last functioning area. We gradually closed off bedrooms and bathrooms one by one until the "usable" part of the house was quite small and easy to tidy up at the very end.

4. We always arrange to have the truck for an extra day before the move. This means you can pack everything in except your air mattress or foamies and bedding, get a good night's sleep, and eat breakfast on paper plates the morning you leave. (Or be fortunate enough to have wonderful next-door friends feed you breakfast!)

There are lots of great tips on the internet for organizing a move, but these are the things that have helped us the most over the years. Good luck, Tammy!

Roz

I dont live in seattle but its only about 3hrs away. Which area are you guys thinking of. Washington is pretty and if you come over the mtns its much less rain and really nice in the summer. Im excited to hear about your move :) Good luck with your decisions. With us we know if God wanted us somewhere the doors would open to us. I pray the same for you.

I just happened upon your post, and wanted to tell you how wonderful the Pacific NW is. I live in Eugene, OR but have also lived near Seattle for many years. It has great suberbs. I have also lived all over the US and in Canada and would never leave the Pacific NW by choice again! My family and I moved from Kentucky back to Oregon three years ago, and decided to move ourselves. If you decide to do this, check out Penske for a rental truck. They are much better than U-Haul and in the winter you can save literally thousands of dollars on a cross country move. WE saved $1300. Good luck! I can't imagin ANY one moving to Seattle and regretting it.

I have heard that the cost of living in Seattle is a HUGE increase from cost of living here in the Midwest. I would hope that your husband is offered a pay increase that would make living on one income feasible for you. Also, I would be a little concerned about the more liberal thinking, but not too much since you homeschool your kids. Good luck either way!

When my Husband and I moved, we also did the packing ourselfs.

Most stores have a cardboard recycle right beside the garbage dumpster so we went around town raiding those :) After we moved we made sure to put all those boxes right back into recycling!

We found the best boxes at Winners (which I believe in the US is TJ MAXX).

I lived in Seattle during college, seminary, and post-seminary. Yes, I guess the cost of living here is higher than in the mid-west, but I have only lived in the PNW and have survived through the aforementioned lean times. You won't be able to hang laundery out as often. And depending on what side of Seattle you live it can be challenging ot garden. But, it is beautiful here. The mountains and forests are breathtaking. The opportunities for outdoor recreation are abundant almost year around. Ethnic and cultural diversity abound. There are endless opportunities for cultural education and experiences for you and your kids. We love it and are saddened at the though of someday moving when a ministry opportunity arises.

I heard the job market is better in Seattle, and the housing is less.

Our family moved two years ago (exactly, next week) from California to Colorado when my dad got a job as a pastor here. Not quite as large a distance as Ohio to Seattle, but it was still across several states and took us two long days to make the trek with all our belongings to CO. The church paid for the moving cost. We rented U-Hauls. (Yes, plural!!) If you can, get as much help from others outside your own family as you can when it comes to the actual moving day. It made things a lot less stressful for us to have helping hands packing our already-packed boxes into the U-Hauls. They also went with us and helped us unload and unpack.

A good place to get boxes is from bookstore garbage bins! Sounds odd, doesn't it? But if they're going to be throwing them away anyway... :)

My best friend and I, both single, moved 700 miles last year for our jobs. Since we are single and we received money for moving, we chose to have a moving company move us. We packed our own boxes, but the company loaded the truck, drove, and unloaded. We made a huge mistake in the company we chose. It was a local company in Dallas and English was not their first language, so communicating was difficult at times. We were quoted a price after they came to look at our apartments to see what we had, but the weight ended up being much more than they estimated; therefore, we had to pay much more than was quoted. (Some companies allow you to make a deal where if your contents weight more than the estimate, you won't be charged.) Anyway, if we had to do it all over again, we would have gone with a national name rather than a local company, even if it seemed to cost more up front. The "cheaper" company cost us much more. It doesn't sound like you all will be going with a moving company, but I thought I'd mention our experience anyway, even if just for other people reading.

I grew up across the water from Seattle, in Bremerton. I know a lot of people commute from Bremerton or Bainbridge Island (Kitsap County) to Seattle on the ferry. But that takes some time (30 to 60 minutes), and is only cost-effective if the company will provide ferry passes (the ferry is EXPENSIVE these days).
Hubby and I moved down to Northern California about 2 years ago. I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to move back to Bremerton (especially since my whole family is there), but Hubby likes it where we are too much.
Sorry I didn't provide much info on moving, but as for the Seattle area, I would say look into surrounding areas for living accomodations.

Beth

"Change is the essence of life. Be willing to surrender what you are for what you could become."

Yes, it's more liberal here than the midwest. That's one of the reasons we love it. People are very accepting of difference here, which means that even conservative people like yourself ought to be welcome.

You can find affordable housing South of Seattle in Tacoma (45 minutes from downtown Tacoma), Federal Way (30 min), Kent (20 min), Renton (20 min) or Tukwila (15-20 minutes). That is just an I-5 freeway commute. Living East of the water means traveling the floating bridges, or horrendeous I405 and housing is very expensive in those areas. You could also probably find reasonable housing north of Seattle in Shoreline, but if your husband has to commute to or through Seattle I-5 heading south is difficult all day.

You get used to the traffic and learn to plan your trips accordingly.

We have a $1100 mortgage payment on a 4 bedroom older home in an established neighborhood. We used to pay $600 for a one bedroom apartment.

We live in Centralia, which is about 1 1/2 hours south of Seattle.

We get a lot of rain here, but I love it. It's such a beautiful area!

Seattle is a HUGE metropolis, but about 30 min north you can find some nice rural communities. The county we live in (Lewis) is about the most rural, "farmy" county you will find in the Western side of WA.

We'd love to have you close by! ;-) There's a LOT of homeschoolers here, too. Some friends from AZ came to visit and said our community was like a "Homeschool Mecca". They'd never seen so many conservative Christian homeschool families in one place. There's a big group here in Lewis county, but I know of a similarly large group in Snohomish, and I'm sure there's more in other places as well.

May Christ grant you and your husband wisdom as you pray about this potential move!

Katie S.

Tammy, first, I know ya'll will give a lot of prayer and thought to moving. you both seem so much wiser than your years to me. have you thought about leaving your family? you seem close, also I live in the south, I would never want to live anywhere else. some people have a lot of life experience moving to different areas of the country, Im afraid me and my family are not so versatile. we have our feet firmly entrenched in red Georgia clay! Ive noticed how you talk about prices at aldis or things like that { I noticed with crystal paines blog also) the cost of living in the mid west seems to be cheaper than here in the south. the south is relaxed and laid back( thats what people from up north have told me they like about where I live) would you like living in an area much more liberal? lots to consider, I hope the best for you and your family.

I used U-pack about 6 years ago when I moved from Utah to Minnesota. I was a single mother of one at the time. I didn't have any help with any of my move. They were very accommodating. The truck driver even helped me pack up quite a lot of my belongings. The cost was considerable less than anything else I could find and I didn't have to deal with driving a big truck myself. I had a bad experience with that once that I didn't want to repeat. If I were to make another big more again I would definitely use them again.

I agree with the commenters who say it doesn't "rain" there but "mist". In my opinion, it drizzles- constantly. My husband who grew up in dryer states didn't like living in Western Oregon because of the constant mist, drizzle, darkness of cloudy days. It doesn't clear off but stays overcast. I was used to it as I grew up there. We live on the "Dry" side now.

The price of property is expensive. Also, as others have said, the traffic in Seattle is awful. My husband used to drive truck up there and would call me about 3 PM to say he would not start coming down to the Portland, OR area until at least 7 PM to avoid the traffic jams.

That negative stuff said. If it's God's plan for you then it's where you need to be and it will be great because God will Bless. I'll pray that your pathway is made clear. I'll look forward to hearing where you are lead.

Char

I was born in Seattle and raised north of there. We just moved a year ago to Alaska to escape the rat race down there. Prices are very high and you will probably be in shock going from the midwest unless you have housing already lined up. The traffic is horrendous, sales tax is almost 9% and the area has become very liberal. Our property taxes on a 2300 sq. ft house on 5 acres in a rural area passed the $5000. mark last year. Not to mention the fact that the crime rate has risen dramatically as more and more people flood into the area.

It is beautiful with lots of activities, but compared to what you are used to it may be a very real struggle for you to continue your lifestyle as you know it. You should really think about how hard it will be to move away from your family too. One way to ease into the area would be to purchase property in a rural area, but that means a hefty commute for your husband if he is working anywhere near the city and the traffic has become legendary it is so bad.

I never cared about all the rain--I was born there and hadn't really known anything different. My parents still live there and their circle of travel has gotten progressively smaller every year as the traffic gets worse and worse.

I used to love the Pacific Northwest--it was my home for 45 years. But things have really changed and I don't think it's for the better. Fun place to visit to see the sights, but live there again? I couldn't do it. Sorry!

Oh yay! That would be so neat if you moved to Seattle. I would feel like you were a neighbour, lol! I live about 3 hours away, just over the border in Canada, but we do go down to Washington now and then. The Pacific NW is the best, btw. :P I've never lived anywhere else, but it's gorgeous. Everyone says so. :)

Yes, it does rain, and the cost of living is over the moon, but it's still a great place.

When Using Uppack , Uhaul or Pods MAKE SURE that you have measured out PARKING Arrangement Precisely , Because if YOU Don't Unpacking Can become a Nightmare Upon Finding YOU don't have room to PARK

I have lived in three different states in the past 2 years. Mostly because of job transfers. Here is what we do to see if we want to pursue moving. The first thing I do is go to google or yahoo and type in Cost of living and the city and state of where I am researching. This brings up lots of websites. Look through a few. Yahoo has a good one. Just by looking at the internet. You can see what the average housing cost is, what the weather is like, how much crime there is and also what the average house sells for. There is also a cost of living index that will give you a good idea of how much it will cost to live in a certain town. The average is 100 so if you can find a place that has a cost of living index less than that, that would be wonderful. I then look at all the houses for sale in the area. I do this by getting a map and seeing what towns are around the job. Then I look again on the internet. I try to find a local realtor with a website to look at, not one of the big internet sites that pulls from mls. I do this even if we are planning to rent. I want to know what exactly there is out there. So, when hubs and I sit down o talk about it, I already know pretty much how things are going to be there in some respects. I also check out HSLDA. WE homeschool so this is always a priorty for us. It has kept us from moving to the harder to homeschool areas. I don't know if this is what you are looking for, but it helps me to be more prepared. Esp because I can't drive to look at the area before deciding to move.
The other main thing is prayer, prayer, prayer. For us, this was crucial,Esp if hubs was offered a job somehwere that the cost of living was so high I didn't feel comfortable. We prayed that God would open the door if that was his will or close the door if that was his will. That way if the job didn't come through we knew we were to stay. But if the job came through we knew that we were to go without question. And yes our last move was to a higher cost of living area but God did provide. Sometimes it is almost overwhelming. We had help moving the first time but not the second. WE used Uhaul both times. One thing that helped me the most. My DH had to be at the new job before we were able to move. I was able to find a company that would pack my truck for me. They fit it in there wonderfully and it only took about 5 hours to pack a 4 br house. I had to have all the boxes packed of course. I would get boxes for free from Sam's and also buy the case of banker's boxes that they have in the office supply area. These boxes worked great. They weren't to heavy and packed wonderfully. The last room packed was the kitchen of course. I also had a trailer that i pulled. The trailer was packed first with things that weren't as necessary as what was put in the uhaul. What I needed first was actually put in the car with me and the kiddos. That way we knew to unpack, car, then uhaul (so we could take it back) then trailer was last.
I wish you the best. and hope this helps....
Almost forgot... I always map out where the new job is. I get the street address and see exactly where it is in the town. This helps when looking for a place to live. It's best not to have to drive through a town to get to work. If the office is on the north side, we look north and if it's on the south side, we go south. Then I map from the new place of employment to each house that we are interested in looking at. With the way gas prices were, this was important.

How interesting that my husband and I just got the 'call' from God to move from Texas, where we live now, to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I have never thought I would ever want to do this, but God has totally changed my heart. He has spoken to us and our job is to be obedient- He will take care of the details, like finding a job for my husband! Just listen to Him and obey, and He'll take care of you, regardless of high housing costs and a liberal city and all. I have been to Seattle and it was fun- very different from here- but the mountains were awesome in Washington!

It is the sick who need a doctor, not the healthy. Bringing you to Seattle will bring light to those who are looking for truth.

Tammy, when we moved, we packed up a large U-Haul and moved ourselves, my husband drove the u-haul and I drove my car, his car was pulled behind the u-haul. Moving for a job is tax deductable!!!

We moved 12 times in 12 years (and only 6 of those were with the military!), and the most important advice I can offer is to downsize BEFORE you move. Try to not be too sentimental about THINGS, and if you don't actually use it, get rid of it. You may be pleasantly surprised with how little you really NEED.

Did I mention you should get rid of as much as you can BEFORE you move?!? :) It's not a fun feeling to unpack something at your destination, only to turn around and send it to Goodwill!

Praying for peace and sanity for you! :)

--Jamie

Tammy, my husband and I have moved every way possible. We have had movers pack us and move us (I don't recommend: 1) expensive, but we had some relo money in the deal 2) they were horrible packers and things got broken 3)we were compensated for the things broken, but some were sentimental items that couldn't be replaced 4) I was still a nervous wreck. We have packed our own belongings and had someone else load and drive them (we liked this, seems to be a nice balance 1) I had peace about the actual packing 2) I hand delivered the items I REALLY cared about 3) we didn't have to worry about making it all fit and returning a truck/trailer on time. We have done the U-Haul many times and it completely stresses me out every time (other than the times before babies). We have 4 children 5 and under and one on the way and when you have little children and you're making a long distance move I feel you should try to remove any stress that you can. Loading a U-Haul is stressful to me. If you have simplified your belongings in a major way, then U-Haul may be the best way to go. I learned from our last move that we had WAY TOO MUCH stuff!!! :O) I hope this helps! Praying that God will give your husband wisdom and discernment in his decision.

As an Army wife who has moved 6 times in the past 5 years I do have one really good tip. If you do nothing else. Pack what I call a first night box and put it where you can get it right away the first night in your new home. If you are using a moving service either take it with you in your car or make sure the movers put it in the truck last and color it with red markers or something easily distinguishable. Now what to put in it. A set of sheets for each bed. A manual can opener. A set of pajamas for each child and parent. Whatever you need for the first day or 2 for the baby. (formula, jars of food, zwieback, bottles, sippie cup, diapers, wipes, children's tylenol etc). A bar of soap. 2 kitchen towels. Pillows, and some quick and easy food whether it is snacks or a convienience meal have some disposable plates, cups and flatware or a plastic picnic set. It may take more than one box but it is worth it to have that stuff while you are trying to sort through the boxes and take care of the kids too.