Jul 23 2007
The truck is packed, the goodbyes said, and we’re off. We won’t have Internet again until Thursday, so this will be my last post for a few days, unless the unpacking is exceptionally quick and we manage to find some place with free WiFi before then. Either way, the next post you read here will be from someone who is actually New 2 Maine.
Jul 20 2007
On the eve of our last weekend in New York, I thought I’d talk about why it is that we’re moving to Maine. I’ve been asked that question a number of times in the last few days and weeks, so it’s time I tried to put something into words. As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, one of the big reasons we’re moving is that we simply fell in love with the area last summer. She and I have been talking about a change of scenery for a couple of years, and there’s not many places we’ve seen that provide nicer scenery than the Maine seacoast.
There is another reason though, and this is one I’ve come to understand after already deciding to move. I picked up a copy of The Four Hour Work Week back in April and have read it through once so far. One of the concepts that Tim Ferris espouses is freeing yourself from the confines of a traditional office environment. I’ve realized that the idea of working remotely and controlling my working life a little more is something that is quite appealing to me. While I certainly don’t consider myself among the New Rich, I am starting to design my lifestyle. The first step toward that is finding a job that will let me live where I want to live, and I’ve done that.
Finally, She and I want to challenge ourselves a bit. We’ve never pushed ourselves outside our comfort zone, and this certainly changes that. Yes, I have a job. And yes, we have each other. But that’s all we really have going into this. As much as this move is a change of scenery physically for us, it is also something of a mental change of scenery. We’ll be forced to go out and make new friends and develop new relationships. We’ll have to find a new church and new people to dine and drink with. Basically, we’re placing ourselves into a new situation to see how we’ll handle it. I’m not sure if that’s exciting or scary, but it certainly gets the blood pumping.
So there you go. These are the three main reasons we’re moving to Maine. No, we don’t have family up there. Hell, we hardly know anyone. We just like it up there. There’s something in the air. After crossing the bridge at Portsmouth, you just feel like the air is fresher, cleaner, freer. We like the idea of challenging ourselves and forcing ourselves and each other to branch out. And yes, I also really like that my morning commute will now involve a pair of slippers and a stop in the kitchen for coffee rather than 30 minutes on the New York State Thruway. And it all starts for us in less than 72 hours…
Jul 17 2007
So I went ahead and rented the moving truck yesterday. I looked at several different rental companies and Budget worked out to be the cheapest, especially when you throw in the 10% discount through the USPS Address Change website. We’ve rented the truck for Saturday through Tuesday of this coming weekend. The plan is to pick the truck up Saturday morning and load the contents of our storage unit into it. Then we have a Going Away party Saturday night and church Sunday morning. After church, everything but the bare essentials for sleeping Sunday night goes into the truck. My brother, She, and I will then be heading to Portland first thing Monday morning. I have no idea how long it will take with a moving truck, but I’m hoping it’ll be around 5 hours, so we’ll have the afternoon to unload and then return the truck Tuesday morning.
Total truck rental cost, before taxes and gas, breaks down as follows:
Days included : 2
Estimated miles: 250
1 days added : $56.00
40 miles added : $22.40
Total extra added : $78.40
Truck Size: 16′ Truck
Truck base price: $228.00
July 07 Mover’s Guide - 10% Fri - Sat $22.80
Furniture pads: $13.00
Hand trucks: $0.00
Cost Recovery fee: $9.00
Due at drop off:
Refundable deposit: $150.00
Total estimated price: $305.60
Taxes, at the New York rate, will be somewhere in the neighborhood of $25.00. I’m budgeting $200 for gas and tolls (hopefully it won’t be quite that bad, but I’d doubt this thing gets more than 8 or 10 miles per gallon, so we’re looking at probably 35 gallons, minimum). That brings the total cost to $550.00, give or take. Not great, but much better than the $2000, on average, we were quoted by moving companies.
Jul 12 2007
Sorry I haven’t posted anything recently. We’re in our final two weeks in New York, and things are getting very hectic, especially at work. I have six days left at work, and probably 10 or 12 days of work to do in that time. It’s okay though. I just keep thinking about two weeks from now, when we’ll be waking up in Portland, new residents of Maine. We’re oh so close to actually living up to this domain name. I can’t wait!
Jul 05 2007
As a blogger about Maine, I try to spend some time checking out other Maine-related blogs and websites to get an idea of what Mainers are publishing on the ‘net. Here are a few that I’ve found to be interesting reading. Please note that these are opinion sites rather than MSM news sites. If you’re interested in Southern Maine newspaper coverage, take a look at www.mainetoday.com. And these are definitely not tourism or destination sites. I’ve started on a separate post for those.
For the record I do not necessarily share the political views expressed on the sites above. New2Maine.com is not, however, a political blog, so I will refrain from discussing my personal political stances here as much as possible. Just know that I find the above sites informative. That doesn’t mean I agree with them…