Since I've started my journey in the game industry as an Environment Artist in 2009, I've had to relocate 5 times so far ! Relocation is inevitable in our industry, in this post I wanted to share some tips I picked up through the many times I've gone through this process in the hope of making yours less painful.
- Try to sell all the stuff that you have that is not worth moving with you. Craigslist and Facebook groups are a great way of doing it.
- Donate what didn't sell to Salvation Army or any other charity organization you prefer.
- Talk to your landlord and give them at least a 1 month notice, and make sure you try and negotiate the terms of breaking your lease. I'm not saying it will work, but depending on your relationship with them, they might help you out a bit.
- Go to USPS.com and set mail forwarding, it will save a lots of headeach till you have have updated your address.
- Depending on how far the move is, consider shipping your car and fly to your new home. You'll save on gas, hotels. food and you will not put miles on your car.
- You will have to update your car insurance, DL and tag if you are moving out of state. and you usually have 3o days to do it. Check out the DMV's website of the state you are moving to for more specifics on how to get all of that taken care of.
- Call all the utility companies to terminate your services with them, and if you have paid a deposit make sure you ask for it.
- Check if your bank has a physical branch where you are relocating to, if not you might have to open another bank account.
- Keep all your important documents with you, never send them in boxes with movers.
- You can save a good chunk of money by using a local moving company.
- Instead of buying boxes, you can get them for free if you do a quick search on Craigslist or just ask you apartment complex for them.
- Depending on the distance of the move I highly recommend that you give yourself at least a month before your start date to get all of this things figure out.
- Looking for a new home from distance can be very stressful because you don't get to physically be there to check it. One thing I did a couple of time that worked out perfect was to use some of the money of the relocation to find a short term rental place or to simply use Airbnb. That way I can look for a place without having to stress about picking something online.
Moving out of the country is a beast on its own, mine was just to Canada and it was totally different from what I've expected. I'll write a post on this later on.
These are some tips/solutions that worked for me and I hope you'll find something here that can make your move a bit easier. Enjoy this experience, because even though it is difficult, it is definitely worth it!
Please share your tips in the comment bellow!
Wishing you the best in your career!
Mouhsine Adnani