My family and I just made a cross-country move from California to South Carolina! 2, 436 miles, to be exact. It has been an unbelievable amount of work, but we’ve been in SC almost two weeks now and love it so far!

As we get settled, my mind is still amazed by how quickly it all happened. It took just about a month to pull everything together and the process was so exhausting and overwhelming.

This post is jampacked with tons of information because there are SO MANY small details to consider when you make a cross-country move, especially if you have children and pets. If you’re an obsessive overthinker like me, you’ll find lots of useful tips here!

Make Living Arrangements

This is pretty obvious. Before anything can happen, you need to finalize the details of your living situation. This means arranging to move out of your current home and into your new home.

It’s a little easier if you’re renting because that’s usually just a matter of giving your landlord or apartment manager notice and then scheduling a move-in date at your new place. Look into your lease agreement and see what your time constraints are.

If you’re buying and/or selling a home, I’d recommend working with a realtor to make that process smoother for you. This will likely require more planning time so allow several months for that.

Sort Your Stuff

Decide what’s coming to your new home! Once you start looking around, you’ll realize that a lot of your belongings are not essential to your life. Don’t bring unnecessary things with you!

Grab a bunch of bags or boxes and label them “sell”, “donate”, and “trash”. Then just go room by room and get rid of things you don’t want or need. Items that are in great shape can be sold either through a yard sale or online marketplaces like Facebook or Craigslist. Gently used items are great for donating. And things that are no good anymore, like ripped clothing or broken toys, can go straight in the trash.

Don’t forget to look at larger items, like furniture, to see what you can sell, donate, or trash. Ratty, hand-me-down couches or old, mismatched dining room chairs can be tossed. Arrange for curbside pickup with your local waste management.

I love purging so I know this is easier for me than some people (Hubby and I had some intense debates about whether or not to pack little league trophies and golf clubs that never get used). I’m not saying you should trash family heirlooms, but seriously evaluate your possessions and ask yourself if they are necessary to your existence. If you can live without it, get rid of it. Resist the urge to hoard!

Packing

It is definitely worth it to invest in quality packaging. You want to use either plastic bins or heavy-duty boxes and high-grade packing tape. Protect your valuables!

Clearly label all of your boxes so it’s easy for the movers to know where things go in your new home. Labeling will also help you quickly find what you’re looking for as you unpack. I put white labels on all of our boxes that said which room they should go in, but I’ve also seen some people who use a color-coded tape system.

Put your heaviest items, like tableware and books, in the smallest boxes possible so you don’t break the mover’s backs. And light items, like linens, can go in larger boxes. Moving companies will usually let you leave unbreakable items in the drawers or cabinets of the furniture you’re bringing so you’ll have a little less packing to worry about.

For clothes, we kept everything from the closet on hangers. Just grab small bundles and put it in a trash bag with the hangers sticking out of the top. This made it super simple to pull the clothes out of the bags and hang them in our new closets in South Carolina.

Pack your essentials, travel-sized toiletries, and a week’s worth of outfits per family member in a personal bag or luggage. Keep that away from the items that will go on the moving truck. This bag is what you’ll bring on the airplane and use until the moving truck arrives at your new home.

Make sure to also set aside a few books, toys, and comfort items for your kids. It’ll help to have keep some familiar things close while everything around them changes.

Transporting Your Belongings

Hire movers! I completely understand renting a U-Haul for a short distance, but the very last thing you want to do during a cross-country move is a road trip with your children and pets for days and days. Hotels, gas, and food can add up quickly, not to mention you will be bald by the time you get to your destination because everyone will inevitably make you pull your hair out. Just hire movers and save yourself a ton of stress.

You can call around and get moving estimates several weeks in advance. Make sure the company is willing to schedule a walkthrough before you commit so that they can give you a proper estimate. We met with three different companies and chose the one that was most transparent and accommodating.

I’ll be totally honest: it can cost thousands of dollars to have your belongings shipped across the country. Some of that is based on the weight of your items (so it’ll be cheaper if you have less stuff), but a lot of that cost is fixed due to sheer distance and labor. We used North American Van Lines and were so pleased with their professionalism and consideration. They know what they’re doing and get the job done efficiently. Believe me, it was money well spent!

We also had our cars shipped because they’re both fairly new and in fantastic condition. We tried to go with a cheaper company initially, but their service was horrible and we ended up going with a more expensive reliable company at the last minute. You get what you pay for, people.

Kids

You definitely want to prepare your kids, for a cross-country move, but make sure to do it in an age-appropriate way. You can probably tell older kids your plans as you make them because they can comprehend what “moving” means. Since Goose and Belle are still so little, we waited to tell them until we started packing and they could see items going into boxes, about two weeks before we left.

Books are always my favorite way to illustrate a complicated topic and we were so lucky to be gifted several about moving and South Carolina. The books gave a great visual of what moving looks like as well as some things to expect in South Carolina. Daniel Tiger also has this fantastic special called “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” It’s all about a new family that moved into their neighborhood and I think watching that helped my girls a lot.

It’s totally normal for your little ones to be anxious about leaving their friends and community. Try to give them fun activities or outings to look forward to when you reach your new home and be ready with extra attention and hugs if they get sad.

Also be sure to include your kids in any relevant conversations and set realistic expectations for them. Children like to feel prepared for new situations and it helps their sense of security to be as involved and informed as possible.

Pets

We have a cat named Nico and he’s been around longer than our kids. He’s part of our family and leaving him in California was never an option for us. I wasn’t very concerned about him through all of the packing, but I did want to make sure he was comfortable when we traveled.

The first thing we did was take him to the vet to make sure that he was up to date on his shots and healthy enough for the flight. We’ve had a travel carrier for him since he was a kitten, but we bought him collapsible food and water bowls (and some treats) so that he could eat and drink anywhere we were.

As far as the airplane goes, make sure you tell the airline in advance that you are bringing a pet. Some people choose to check their pets and they ride with the cargo, but we paid a fee for him to stay in the main cabin and we just stowed him under the seat in front of us.

Nico was practically perfect on the plane! We fed him in the morning in CA and then he didn’t want to eat again until we got to where we were staying for the night in SC. We brought a few pee pads in case he needed to go potty, but he held it until he got to a litter box. He meowed a couple of times on the flight, but was by far the best traveler of our crew. We spoiled him with cuddles and treats for being so unbelievably amazing!

A lot of airports nowadays have designated pet areas for your dogs or cats to eat and relieve themselves. You just never know how an animal will react to air travel so be patient with them and as attentive as possible.

Miscellaneous

First, I encourage you to take any help that is offered. Whether someone volunteers to babysit your kids, pack some boxes, or bring you a meal, let them! Your family and friends love you and want to support you in any way they can!

Make a list of people to notify of your move. It’s really easy to change your address and have your mail forwarded through the USPS website. You also want to inform your bank and any other companies or merchants that you interact with regularly.

Be sure to cancel any local services, like utilities or internet, and schedule dates to activate them in your new home.

Once you have a date on the calendar for your big cross-country move, book your flight. I suggest calling the airline and speaking directly with an agent so that they can note any lap babies and pets that are traveling with you.

One thing that was really important to me was making sure that my family still ate well despite the chaos. See the easy way that I made freezer meals to make sure that we didn’t have to resort to fast food as we packed. We were also blessed by a few friends who graciously brought us meals during the finals days before our move. Make sure that you always have some sort of eating plan so that everyone can stay happy and you’re not scrambling at the last minute to feed your troops.

Pray and Communicate

A cross-country move with a family is a stressful, heavy decision with hundreds of factors to consider. Pray with your partner and your family and stay focused on your goals or purpose for moving, whatever they may be.

Communicate frequently to make sure that everyone is on the same page and use a calendar and a checklist to keep track of the tasks you have to accomplish.

Things have an incredible way of working out! We made a conscious effort to stay positive and we resolved every hiccup as a team. My husband and I are so excited about this new chapter and everything it’s going to bring our family!

Have you recently made a cross-country move? Are you thinking about moving? Leave me a comment and tell me all about it!

In case your move is short, here’s how we road trip with little ones! And see my tips for staying calm even when there’s chaos all around me!

Talk to you soon!