job, move, timing...

We're tying to get a handle on the "transfer of power" that is coming up in July, and there are a lot of factors to consider. We've gotten 3 moving estimates so far, and they are coming up in the neighborhood of $6000-$7000. But it turns out that the first week of July is the busiest moving time of the year, and thus is designated "PEAK" time and costs about $1000 more. So what would cost us $7500 on July 1 will only cost $6500 if we wait until July 7th.

So we are somewhat inclined to push the moving date back a week, especially since the builders down there in AL won't exactly promise us a completion date before the middle of the month. They never say "No" - but they never say "Yes" either. They just say - "Around the middle of July". We have some flexibility on the closing date on our end, and we don't want to wind up in a situation where we close on July 2 up here and wind up having to put our stuff in storage for 2 weeks, which could get REALLY expensive.

On the other hand, once July 1st hits, I'm no longer getting PAID by anybody, nor do I have health insurance or anything, so we don't want to drag out the interim period TOO long. Right now we're leaning towards closing here on July 6th or 7th, which would get us OUT of the peak moving period, and given the 9 days that we're allowed to have our stuff on the truck, give us until July 15th - and then just pray that the house is done by then.

We also haven't decided how to get US and our CARS and our CATS down to Mobile in a way that makes sense. We'll probably wind up having MY car transported, which I think only costs a few hundred bucks. We're also looking into commercial pet transport, since we can't really spend 4 days with the cats in the car! Because our original plan was to drive from here to Baltimore, spend the night with family, then to Southern VA, stay with friends, then to Atlanta to stay with more friends, then to Mobile. So we'd be on the road 4 days and catch up with the moving van down there. But now it's looking like maybe it would be better to just send the wife and kids down by plane, and I could do a quick 2-day drive down by myself. A lot actually depends on the cats, even though that seems a bit silly.

In any case, we need to decide soon, because all of the moving companies tell us if we're moving in July we need to book before the middle of May. I just wish it was all OVER with.