Huge life update: we moved to Colorado! Moving to a state I never lived in before amid a pandemic was a very new experience for us. Jord and I had moved from state to state before but during a time where things are closed or limited didn’t make this process easy.
Why We Moved
There were many reasons to move but a huge one was that we, as spiritual people, felt prompted to take the job that would move us here. I had been looking at jobs on the west coast, east coast, and internationally. I was getting offers from other Utah based companies but nothing felt right. Jordan had become stagnant since he was barely certified as a massage therapist when the pandemic hit. He then received an offer to return to working in roofing sales in Colorado (where there is a lot of hail), something he had done before and after his mission. Essentially, we prayed about the opportunity, since I had been applying to more remote friendly roles & had offers, and it felt like this is where we needed to go!
Steps to Successfully Moving
ONE: choosing a new location
We knew we were to move to the greater Denver area and had a general area in mind. Jordan’s job has a “home base” that made sense to be close to since he would go there multiple times a week to do paperwork, etc. We drew out a radius around the home base that fit our desired timeframe and closeness (we wanted to be close but not too close). From there we researched neighborhoods in that radius to better understand what areas would be safer and hit our needs more. I looked at crime statistics online, sites like CrimeReports, AreaVibes, ADT Crime, & more. Ultimately we chose a suburb close to Jordan’s hq and in an ideal location.
An example of my pro/con list. Each Apartment name had another page with more information, like address, actual pro/cons, etc.
TWO: finding a place to live
After choosing a location, the next step was to find a place to live. We chose to rent, since I have never lived there before and wanted to better get to know the area before looking to buy (plus the market is crazy). I created a doc of pros and cons for each apartment complex I could find online. Jord and I also wrote a list of priority items, things we didn’t want, wanted, and had to have in our rented place. This was super helpful when we went out to Denver to look in person. Because of covid most places required scheduled appointments or were extremely limited in what they could show. When we visited we simply drove around some locations and quickly scheduled appointments with the ones we felt were in a reasonable area & had the parking we needed. After touring a select few, we looked back at our list and chose the apartment that best hit our priorities and signed a contract!
THREE: packing
Now that we had a place to move, it was time to set up the process of actually moving. Jordan price-checked moving trucks and scheduled a truck so that we would have it a few days before we actually moved and could drop it off the day after we unpacked. This gave us ample time to pack the truck thoroughly and unpack swiftly. I thought it would make life easier to have all the same sized boxes, since we would fill our moving truck completely, so I purchased a bunch from our local hardware store. I initiated packing pretty early; I started with items that I used more occasionally or just for fun. We designated certain spaces throughout our current apartment as box zones.
As time passed and we were closer to our move date, those zones were consolidated into our (non)living room. About a month before we were to actually move, most of our non essential items had been gone through and reorganized in boxes. We donated so much stuff that we had collected in our time in Salt Lake. Two weeks before moving, we were down to our true essentials: a small selection of clothes and items we use to get ready each day, our shower items and a few towels (that we would wash and donate before moving), and a handful of kitchen items. The week we moved was packed with less packing and more social outings to say “see you later” to our local friends. Because of this, we packed up all our kitchen items and used some paper goods the rest of the week.
FOUR: moving
The day we got our moving truck I was so excited to get going! Jordan and I moved one of our bigger furniture pieces into the truck ourselves and started with some of the boxes. We moved a bunch of our boxes into the truck ourselves, but the day before we were to leave Jordan’s brother came down, with his family, and helped us with the items Jordan and I struggled to do ourselves. Our truck looked like a game of tetris, it was so deliberately packed! The next day, Jordan and I headed out early in the morning and drove, the typically 8 hour drive, to Denver! It took us about 10 hours since we had the moving truck, we stopped for an ice cream cone at Grand America in Wyoming, and hit some traffic as we got closer to our destination. We drove separately caravan-ing the whole way.
FIVE: unpacking
Some of Jordan’s and Jordan’s family’s friends helped us unpack our truck. I was planning on hiring movers to help unpack since our apartment has more stairs but when word got out of us moving to Denver, people offered to help us! I found the nearest Krispy Kreme and ordered a couple dozen doughnuts to share with those who came to help. Jordan was with the truck and I was in the apartment directing boxes to destinations. Because we had the hardware store boxes, each box was checked with a destination and what was in them. We unpacked the truck in an hour. It was so easy! I spent the next day unpacking our boxes into our home and we both went to our normal day jobs that Monday.
Our empty apartment before unpacking.
We have been in Denver a bit now and are still exploring more! Moving was such a big step but so much has happened since, I am excited to share more about building a community, finding new things to do, and even figuring out the best place to grocery shop in a new state! I would love to help others who find themselves in brand new locations too, so please feel free to hit me up with all your thoughts and questions. :)