Settling in (Charlotte: apartment, rental, how much)

[Pikantari]

I know there was a thread on how long it took to move to Charlotte, but for those of you who did move to Charlotte, or outlying areas, how long did it take to, lets say, mini settle? To get your job together if you didn't already have one, to get everything you really needed unpacked. (not the boxes that your dh says I don't know why you are keeping that stuff ) To get the kids registered in school. To get stocked w groceries. You know, just to get to a point where you are in your house and comfortable, not feeling like, I can't just be sitting here, I need to be doing this or this!

I want us to have our jobs lined up of course, and not to start at least until a few days after we have "mini settled" at least. Gotten stuff put where it goes, groceries, everything hooked up...

I do have the info of the different areas of where I need to go to get hooked up to what; phone, elec;gas.

Just a little insight would be much appreciated because time does fly, and even if we end up in a rental first, I would like to know how much time I need for these things.

And for my cyber-stalker.... I would like to know how much time I will need for these things IN THE CHARLOTTE AREA

Thanks so much!!!

Robyn

[indraman]

Originally Posted by cinderobyn

I know there was a thread on how long it took to move to Charlotte, but for those of you who did move to Charlotte, or outlying areas, how long did it take to, lets say, mini settle? To get your job together if you didn't already have one, to get everything you really needed unpacked. (not the boxes that your dh says I don't know why you are keeping that stuff ) To get the kids registered in school. To get stocked w groceries. You know, just to get to a point where you are in your house and comfortable, not feeling like, I can't just be sitting here, I need to be doing this or this!

I want us to have our jobs lined up of course, and not to start at least until a few days after we have "mini settled" at least. Gotten stuff put where it goes, groceries, everything hooked up...

I do have the info of the different areas of where I need to go to get hooked up to what; phone, elec;gas.

Just a little insight would be much appreciated because time does fly, and even if we end up in a rental first, I would like to know how much time I need for these things.

And for my cyber-stalker.... I would like to know how much time I will need for these things IN THE CHARLOTTE AREA

Thanks so much!!!

Robyn

Hi, Robyn.
Well we've been closed on our new house for 3 1/2 weeks and we still aren't settled. Now, we bought a re-sale so there was several days worth of work that needed to be done before we moved in...maybe 5. Union Co. schools were great. They let me register the kids for school the day after we had a signed contract. However, because our temporary housing was in Mecklenburg, we did have to pay tuition until our housed closed ($7/day/child). All of the utility companies were very quick and pleasant out here. The only utility issue that you may want to deal with far in advance is the phone. The provider is Verizon (for analog service) and needless to say....I still don't have a phone. Apparently they have far better things to do than actually hook up our phone that we asked for two weeks ago. But I'm not bitter . As for the unpacking....I'm now in the "leave everything else in the box and forget we own it" stage. I'm sick of it. The short answer is: 3 weeks until mini-settled.
There are some GREAT services in Charlotte area that I recommend everyone take advantage of to ease in settlement: dog food deliver from Southern Accents and milk delivery from Lakeview Dairies.....no more running to the store for those two annoying items.

Good luck....I'm never moving again.
Sara

[Markh]

Originally Posted by cinderobyn

I know there was a thread on how long it took to move to Charlotte, but for those of you who did move to Charlotte, or outlying areas, how long did it take to, lets say, mini settle? To get your job together if you didn't already have one, to get everything you really needed unpacked. (not the boxes that your dh says I don't know why you are keeping that stuff ) To get the kids registered in school. To get stocked w groceries. You know, just to get to a point where you are in your house and comfortable, not feeling like, I can't just be sitting here, I need to be doing this or this!


Robyn

We scheduled all our hookups before we moved, for the day after we got here. Electric and gas are kinda automatic, just make sure you change them to your name. Schedule cable and telephone now for the date you want them there otherwise you may have to wait a week or more. 2nd day we were here, we registered the kids for school as you need to have something with your address and closing papers work just fine.

Unpacking is individual based. We were totally unpacked and stocked with groceries within 3 days but that's just us as we hate having stuff hanging around.

With all that stuff out of the way, I'd say we were mostly settled within 1 week. The rest of the real settling took a while and to be honest after 9 months we're not fully settled yet. A routine yes, settled in totally, no.

You'll end up with months worth of projects, like painting, landscaping, getting new furniture, finding which stores you like shopping at best and favorite places to eat. The list can be never ending if you want it to be.

Biggest challenge is the list of firsts: First Dr visit, first pet sitter, first dentist visit etc.. You don't know where to go and unless you get recommendations you have to blindly pick who has the best looking ad. Reliabilty down here is about the same as up north, some is good, some is bad and finding who is within each category can be difficult and time consuming.

Moving away from family and friends is difficult and although we love it here and we're very comfortable there's always a little something that makes you feel like there's something missing that you can't quite put your finger on. For us it feels like we are on vacation and should be leaving at some point but that point in time is undefined.

[muse1110]

I'm guessing you have moved house before, cinderobyn? I think much of what is involved in how much time to 'settle in' is a personal matter and varies by family style. Like Mark mentions, some families do not care for things hanging around.

I can't imagine anyone could advise how long it will take you guys to have jobs? What is your respective careers? I think these things can vary by a lot. (I do think it's best to have a job wherever one is moving but JMO. I don't care to take on that sort of risk with kids to support.)

Do you have the directions for how to enroll your children in school? That should be a helpful checklist and you can decide how long that might take you, based on the steps involved. If you rent a home/apartment, they will tell you what you need for the lease, when you can have access (keys, gate code, etc). That will be another timeline for you to gauge your relocation time allowance.

[Pikantari]

Originally Posted by muse1110

I'm guessing you have moved house before, cinderobyn? I think much of what is involved in how much time to 'settle in' is a personal matter and varies by family style. Like Mark mentions, some families do not care for things hanging around.

I can't imagine anyone could advise how long it will take you guys to have jobs? What is your respective careers? I think these things can vary by a lot. (I do think it's best to have a job wherever one is moving but JMO. I don't care to take on that sort of risk with kids to support.)

Do you have the directions for how to enroll your children in school? That should be a helpful checklist and you can decide how long that might take you, based on the steps involved. If you rent a home/apartment, they will tell you what you need for the lease, when you can have access (keys, gate code, etc). That will be another timeline for you to gauge your relocation time allowance.

I have moved within city limits but never out of state, and certainly never 6hours away. We plan on having jobs, thats why we want to come down during the week, and have the kids with,so they can tour the school, yep, we like to support the kids...

[Pikantari]

[quote=muse1110;564370]I'm guessing you have moved house before, cinderobyn? I think much of what is involved in how much time to 'settle in' is a personal matter and varies by family style. Like Mark mentions, some families do not care for things hanging around.


My things that hang around are some items of my parents, both have passed away, which makes my decision even more easy, the one to move. I hold on to some of their things because I love them and even though they are in my heart, I like to see things that remind me of them, and times of our past. Thats my hanging around stuff.

[niknaxx]

[quote=cinderobyn;566883]

Originally Posted by muse1110

I'm guessing you have moved house before, cinderobyn? I think much of what is involved in how much time to 'settle in' is a personal matter and varies by family style. Like Mark mentions, some families do not care for things hanging around.


My things that hang around are some items of my parents, both have passed away, which makes my decision even more easy, the one to move. I hold on to some of their things because I love them and even though they are in my heart, I like to see things that remind me of them, and times of our past. Thats my hanging around stuff.

We are never completely settled in~ It seems like once I get the house to where I want it, we are moving... Moving every 2-3 years, there is no such thing to me!

[Pikantari]

[quote=niknaxx;568042]

Originally Posted by cinderobyn

We are never completely settled in~ It seems like once I get the house to where I want it, we are moving... Moving every 2-3 years, there is no such thing to me!

Man, Since my Mom has passed, we have moved 4 times since 01, and even within city limits it is no fun at all. Thats one reason why we really dont want to rent..because moving is such a pain. I know we all have clothes we just dont wear, so we are steadily going through that, so we dont bring what we dont need, then there are books that I have read, but I am a re-reader... and then there are the things that are my parents, and I can't bear to part w it, dh just thinks its stuff, but I don't... He says he isn't moving it twice...like to a rental and then to a bought place... I don't know. I think if he lost his parents he would kind of understand. Anyway, off track there...

[cookiedoe]

It does take time to really settle, but if you are organized (pack away everything you can live without for a while first, then mark the stuff you use to the last minute so that you can unpack it first) you should be ok pretty quickly. It does take time and some trial and error. It can be hard at times, frustrating, and make you look homesickly back through rose-colored glasses. However, it can also be fresh, renewing, and exciting beginning a new life with your family.

[Pikantari]

Originally Posted by cookiedoe

It does take time to really settle, but if you are organized (pack away everything you can live without for a while first, then mark the stuff you use to the last minute so that you can unpack it first) you should be ok pretty quickly. It does take time and some trial and error. It can be hard at times, frustrating, and make you look homesickly back through rose-colored glasses. However, it can also be fresh, renewing, and exciting beginning a new life with your family.

thank you...