OT: Relocating!!!

Hi, Everyone!!! I hope everyone is well and happy! We are relocating to another state. We have hired a moving company to pack us and to move us. (Thank G-d!! I just don't think I could have done that alone (Captain is offshore) while caring for three children!) Anyway, I have been purging the house of good things (donating to Hurricane Katrina survivors and victims) and of bad (trash/junk). I need some guidance here. I have never moved more than 40 miles from home. I have NO idea what I am doing. I'm SURE I SHOULD be doing SOMETHING?!?!?! We will bring all of our art and those precious things so I know I have to pack that but I'm trying to keep the house in order as long as I can but umm..it's time. Anyway, what am I supposed to be doing in preparation for this moving company to come move me? They pack the boxes and take an inventory but should I have my shoes all lined up, my clothes organized by length, my linens folded all nice and tucked? I have no idea what to do and what to expect!!! (other than missing my family-I expect that*sigh*) Any and all suggestions are appreciated! Hugs, ~Vanessa~

hi , ive never moved either, but sounds like you got it together, why do you have to move?

In a word...................KATRINAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Pffsstt! As you can see, I'm very happy about it! &(@^*@ @Y&($&@ $&Y)@#&& and @))*#Y&%!!!!

i see, i have a friend that lives in mandeville, she is offered big money for her house everyday.. i work also in covington, hope everything goes well, you forgot to tell me where you are moving

Yes, real estate has gone wild and it is predicted to be that way for another 12-18 months. I chose to lease out our house as I had some hope about returning. I have a 2nd house that we lease out and I may sell it when their lease runs out (assuming the ever pay me again ) while the market is the way it is. A 1400 sq ft house is selling for 212,000 and leasing for $2,500+. It's insane. Insane. We're moving to Houston. More specifically to The Woodlands which is North of Houston off I-45. It's similiar to Mandeville so it will be somewhat familiar. It's a new, big, gorgeous house and the people are SOOOOOOO NICE --- so I may not want to come back! All we can do is reassess everything in about 7-8 months. Thanks for sharing and caring! Vanessa

That is a nice area of Houston. First thing to learn there is what areas flood during storms so you don't drive into one of them and you know if you are in one that has to leave. Good luck!

Hey girl! Dang is that what houses are going for??!! Maybe I should sell mine and get the heck out!!! I don't know what I am going to do yet. I am still unemployed, praying my company comes back as they said they would. Now the food stamp people are giving me trouble cuz I got mine in AR and AR won't redo them cuz I am back in LA and LA won't do them cuz I got them in AR. They also have no record of my unemployment claim, so I still don't have that either. It is like you want to come home (which we are now) and stay here, but you may not have that option. One day I feel hope and the next I feel hopeless.

I left due to rita, and ended up in Meridian Ms when my vehicle was acting up and not accelerating. The red cross here told me to drive back to Jackson. I had enough trouble getting a motel room here, and my vehicle is still nuts........... there is no way I am going almost 100 miles there and then that amount back. The woman couldn't bother to give me the address or the phone number either. She just hung up on me. My son is taking online classes for college so he used all his savings to buy a cheap laptop so he wouldn't fail his classes. If he hadn't I would be stuck with no information, and no communication. I ran up zillions of minutes trying fema and red cross. the fema people at least were nice, calling the red cross was a total waste of time and money. I am stuck here with just the three of us, and my credit card. my husband is stuck back there in a refinery trying to make it come back up, and offloading S. Am. gasoline for the country to keep gasoline prices down. the boss won't let them leave until after dark every day, so there is no way he can do anything to see about house damage..... the company doesn't care!! Our house still has no power, but I can't stay here forever. I am giving them a couple more days then I am going home power or no power. But at leaste we managed to find a room.

Hi NG. Wow, you too have been thru a lot. I really was wondering why the LA board is not talking about this more. There has to be a bunch of us that have been thru this and need an ear to listen, to discuss what have you. It is a nightmare. I went today to do the food stamps and they told me I have to come back next week cuz they aren't taking regular food stamp requests yet. I just can't seem to win. My job called me today to come to Houston, but I have no one left here to watch my kids. No matter what you do, it is like a catch 22. People ask me how things are, and I tell the ten times worse than what you see on TV. I just hope that we are not out of site out of mind for America, as it will take years for this to turn around. What area are you from? I'm in Slidell. And oh, yea, I had to drive an hour to red cross in AR.

I don't mind the two hour drive there and back or even the gasoline. It is fact that my van is acting whacko on the hills, and stalling. I don't want to do those miles until I have to. I had a reservation in chatanooga but stopped here because the sensors are going out and my vehicle won't accelerate when it should. Every hill was worse than the last, it would lose power and got where it would hardly go up the hill. Too bad there isn't just one long hill back down to the coast...........LOL. I am dreading the drive back. But still no power so another day here.