First LGO Challenge: The Move

For those of us who are not living in Cambridge or Boston already, our first hands-on LGO assignment is to arrange all the logistics of relocation.  The process can be broken down into 4 simple steps:

Step 1: Find an Apartment

KBL Apartments in Central Square

The LGO ‘13s and ‘14s were a HUGE help when I was looking for an apartment.  I would highly recommend finding an apartment during the Open House weekend in April, especially if you are from out of town like me.  The current students put out a Housing Guide and an shared Google Doc with all the available apartments which I found to be very helpful.  The biggest benefit of working with the current students is that you can usually bypass the broker fees that are usually required for apartment in Boston (up to a month’s rent in fees!).  During Open House, I found an place near Central Square that was being vacated by a current LGOer.  The best part: they had been renting furniture from CORT and I could arrange to just take over the lease and not have to worry about moving any of the big stuff or dealing with it when I moved out.  

Step 2: What do you actually need?

Storage in Seattle

One month ago, I was living in Seattle in a 5-bedroom house full of furniture and tons of stuff (much of which I didn’t need!).  As soon as I got into LGO, I started looking around and deciding what I would take and what I would sell/donate/toss/store.  Since I’ve been looking for an excuse for a fresh start, I decided to take it to the extreme: get rid of everything that wouldn’t fit in a suitcase.  I was also aiming to complete the whole move for less than $500.  Since I like to plan ahead, I started posting all the furniture on Craigslist and had several garage sales to get rid of the smaller stuff.  The sales went so well that I soon found myself living in a house with no furniture, with over 2 weeks left before I moved to Boston!  Oh well, I soon discovered that plastic Adirondack chairs could be a good substitute for a kitchen table and office desk.

Although my original plan was to leave nothing behind in Seattle, it soon became clear that there was some stuff that I didn’t want to move but that I didn’t want to get rid of (old childhood memories, model airplanes from my grandpa, etc.).  I decided to concede and get a 5’ x 5’ storage unit.  That took some of the pressure off to sell everything and allowed me to keep some of the stuff I wasn’t quite ready to part with. 

Step 3: Car or No Car?

I was really torn whether to ship my car to Boston or for the first time in 12 years go without one.  During the Open House, I talked to a lot of the current students and heard both sides of the argument.  A car would be a lot of hassle and parking is expensive, but it would be nice to have it for shopping trips, weekend road trips, and it may be needed during the internship.  In the end, it came down to a cost analysis.  Between parking, insurance, gas, and maintenance, I estimated that it would cost about $500/month to keep the car.  For that same price, I could use a Zipcar for 45 hours a month, rent a car every-other weekend, or some combination of both.  With that, I decided to take a leap and sell the car.  I’ve always had a car since I was 16, but then again I’ve always lived in the suburbs and never in a city with credible public transit so I’m looking forward to the new adventure.  By the way, MIT students get a discount on Zipcar, so it only cost $15 to join and there is no monthly fee.

 
Step 4: Pack and Go!

It turns out that my plan to fit everything in suitcases was a bit ambitious.  Since I wanted to bring one of my bikes with me, I ended up packing a big box with the bike, helmets, pump, etc.  That box soon grew to three as I finished packing, so I started looking into shipping options.  For the airlines, there’s a minimum $150 fee to ship a bike, plus extra fees for the boxes.  I looked into FedEx, UPS, and USPS and found that the cheapest way to ship from Seattle to Boston was FedEx.  So after a month of cleaning house, I leave Seattle with 3 boxes, 3 checked bags, 1 carry-on, and a backpack.  It definitely feels good to simplify a bit and not be tied down by so much stuff.

Costs of Relocation:

Airfare: $267.90 (Alaska direct flight SEA -> BOS)
Checked Bag Fee: $20 (2 free, 3^rd is $20)

Box Shipping: $185.45 (116lbs in 3 boxes)

Taxi from BOS to Apartment: $30

Total Cost of Relocation:  $503.35 ($3.35 over budget, but pretty darn close!).