Adventures in
moving
The average American
moves about 11 to 12 times in their lifetime. Breaking this down
mathematically over an average lifespan, households change residences
approximately every 5 to 7 years.
However, moving frequency varies drastically based on life stages and circumstances:
Young Adults: People in their 20s and 30s are the most mobile, frequently moving for college, career changes, or renting.
- Families with Children: Families tend to settle down for longer intervals, particularly
when kids are in school, to maintain stability.
- Retirees & Older Adults: Mobility significantly drops as people age, with many staying in
the same home for decades
Since we got
married in 1972, we have moved a total of 14 times, including our first move as
a married couple.
We lived in our first house (in St. Paul)
from 1974 to 1978, but moved to our second house (in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota) after our first child
was born, and we needed a bigger house.
We moved to our third house (In Waukesha,
Wisconsin) in 1981 after I was promoted and made a manager in the Milwaukee
office of Fireman’s Fund.
We moved to our fourth house (in Aurora,
Illinois) after a new job in a different state became a better way forward.
The longest that
we lived as a couple together was in Aurora, where we lived from December of
1986 until the spring of 2003.
Each move is
unique, and some were easier than others.
Our first house
nearly doubled in value in the 4 years we owned it, and selling it was easy
because the company I worked for bought it from us before we moved.
When we moved into
our second house, inflation was raging, and the best mortgage I could find was
at 15 and ¾. (I refinanced a year later at 12%)
Since our move to
Wisconsin was a corporate move, it did not cost us any money because the
company paid for it.
Our move to
Illinois was also a corporate move, so was another easy move.
This move was a
little harder due to the fact that our BRAND-NEW house was not finished after
we moved, which meant that we had to rent an apartment for about 6 months
before we finally got settled.
Toward the end of
my stay in that house, I moved to China, where I taught college for about a
year. The rest of the family wound up moving to an apartment in Chicago.
When I returned to
America, all of us moved (briefly) to an apartment in Logan Square.
Sharon lived there
for about 3 years, while I moved to an apartment in Evanston to be closer to my
new job. Three years later, we both moved into the bottom unit of a four plex
in Evanston.
The kids,
meanwhile, wound up moving in with friends.
In the fall of
2011, our niece got married in California. Since I was planning on retiring
anyway, we decided that Arizona would be a good place to live. Although we
thought of moving to Prescott, we switched to Flagstaff because Kelly decided
to pursue her nursing degree at NAU. We moved there just before our niece’s
wedding.
Here is lesson number 1:
No matter how
carefully you plan - things can go wrong.
The moving company
quoted us a price of $8000 to move from Chicago to Flagstaff. When the moving
truck arrived, they realized that they had mis-calculated, and the new price
was $11,000.
Although most of
my 401-K covered the $8,000, I could not afford another $3,000.
Fortunately, we
were able to borrow the difference from one of our relatives, which we paid
back a few years later.
Lesson number 2
Never forget that
we sometimes get lucky.
None of us had
jobs lined up when we moved to Flagstaff.
Kelly initially
worked at a temp agency until she got a job at a local dealership. Sharon worked a couple of temporary jobs,
until she got hired by the local school district. I sold cars for about a year,
ana they got a job with the school district.
Meanwhile, Brian
moved from his new location in Chicago to a new location in Tucson, where Kelly
and he friend Chris had moved so that she could work on her master’s degree,
and she eventually graduated from the University of Arizona with that degree.
(In the spring of
2014, Kelly and Chris bought their first home on the east side of Tucson. In
the spring of 2020, they sold the house in Tucson, and bought another one near
Durango, Colorado.)
When both of our
kids lived in Tucson, we decided that it made sense for the tow of us to also
move to Tucson.
We moved there in
July of 2011, and the temperature hit a high of 115 a week after we arrived.
Rule number 3:
Not everyone can
be counted on to act responsibly.
A week before our
moved to Tucson, the management company told us that the occupant of the home
we had planned to moved into did not move out on July 1, so we had to rent a storage
unit for a week to store our belongings until he moved out.
We were able to
stay with Brian at his new apartment for the week, but it cost me another $1000
for the second set of movers – and we had paid $4000 to move from Flagstaff of
Tucson.
Rule number 4:
There can be
unexpected surprises.
The Kelly and Chris
moving company managed to move all of our stuff to our new location in New
Mexico. On June 8, it took a 26-foot truck, a Ford F-150, and my car to transport
all of our stuff.
Two
days later, I was attempting
to leave the local Albertsons, but took a wrong turn and hit a tall curb, and
utterly destroyed my front bumper. Although my collision claim has been
approved, the total damages are $16,000, and my deductible is $5000.
Rule number 5
Sometimes things
work out for you.
We are gradually cleaning
out our moving boxes and learning our way around town. We also now have new
library cards, and will get new licensees. In the near future, I will be meeting
with the local school district so that I can continue to teach again. In
addition to the fact that it will increase my income, it also will allow me
more time to read.
No matter how you
do it, moving is a very difficult thing to do, and it gets harder as you get
older.
It’s always hard
to leave family and friends, and find new doctors, but it made perfect sense
for another reason:
WE ARE GETTING OLDER.
Kelly is a nurse,
and her home in Colorado is only an hour away. Since I was recently diagnosed
with some heart issues, having a medical person close by is important.
She and Chris are
young enough that they can handle the maintenance of our new home, and close enough
that they can help us with all those pesky electronic problems that always crop
up.
Every time that we
have moved, we have always vowed to never do it again. That is still true
today, but since we now live in “the land of enchantment, we finally be able to
fulfill our promise.
