I want to move all the way to the other side of the country. I probably won't be lucky enough to have a job lined up for when I immediately get there. I most likely will go a month at the most without employment.

What kinds of things does one need to take care of before making a move like this?

Well, you need a place to stay obviously. I would start looking for jobs asap. Make sure you have enough money saved.

Hi,

Do you know where you want to go? If so, then you basically just need to think about a place to live and employment. You can go to a relocation forum to get recommendations for neighborhoods and apartment complexes, etc. Then I guess you just need to find a mover, set up utilities if needed, etc.. I just did something similar and I admit there are a lot of costs I didn't anticipate, but for me it was worth it :)

If you don't have a city in mind, there are a lot of websites where you can match your own criteria with locations, etc.

I am going to L.A. My main concern is how much money I need to have saved up for the unexpected costs that you speak of. I anticipate that, but I'm not sure I'm thinking of everything.

... right, I had to replace a lot of small things that added up to a lot (coffee maker, TV, lawnmower, computer died, etc. etc.). At first I just decided to buy everything I needed so I could 'start living' - then (now) I started being quite careful. Utilities were higher than I had budgeted... in my case electric in summer and gas in winter. Anyhow, the list went on, but many of these expenses were truly, hopefully, one time things.

The bottom line is that you need a formula to aggregate these unexpected things. Off the top of my head I would say you need to be sure to have 6 months of living expenses in the bank.

I'm something of a risk-taker, so I don't mean to discourage you in any way. I always think there are options in every scenario and if you want to go to L.A. you should go there... :)

Well I guess do you have furniture or will you move with what you own in suitcase? On my last move I basically sold 9/10 of what I owned since I was going to down size anyway, and moved. For me although I had a job arranged, I lived for a couple of weeks in one of those furnished weekly rentals. And put what I did still own in a storage unit.