No need to worry, I got you

Sort through your belongings and select what you want to bring with you / what to donate / what to keep home (if you have a place to store a few boxes). Just because you wear or use something often at home that doesn’t necessarily mean that you will also use it after your move. I like to have very delicate and small handbags at home in Montreal. Now I like crossbodies and backpacks more, because they fit my lifestyle better. The high heels are nice in the club, but not ideal for hikes and camping.

Look for accommodation before going. It is not always as easy as it seems to find housing and living in hostels with literally all your belongings is far from ideal. Usually facebook has a good housing group for different provinces/cities. If you have friend where you’re headed, ask someone if they can go view the house if you’re too far to visit yourself. Crash on someone’s couch for a few days, to allow yourself to get back on your feet and search for housing. Try to avoid spending your hard earned savings on expensive hotels. Hostels are a great place to meet likeminded people.

Buy second hand!! If you move from one coast to the other, high chances are that you might need different clothing, and equipment. Getting geared up or setting yourself up in your new place can be very costly. Scroll through facebook marketplace, look at the buy and sell pages, go to thrift shops. You can oftentimes find what you need. My first season in Whistler, I fully equipped myself second hand for the snowboard season. Saving is always helpful.

Look into changing your licence plate, insurances, phone contract and car plates into your new province/country of residence. Most information can be found on the province government pages. Your current provider usually covers up to 3 months in a different country that the one on registration. This is only relevant to Canada or the US. and if you plan to stay in one place for a long time.

Prepare a budget for housing. Places can require at least one months rent as a deposit, on top of your first months rent. and that could be very expensive if you have not planned for it. Depending on where you are, rent could be a lot more than what you are used to, so taking this into consideration ahead of time will give you a good head start on everyone else. Search Facebook groups for a rough idea of the market rental prices. If you can’t afford a place on your own, don't be shy to ask people to move in with you. Most of the time people are happy to share the place as it lowers everyone’s rent and there are many in the same boat as you!

Try and find a job ahead of time. If you know you want to start a job around a specific time, start looking and give the employer that timeframe as your start date. That way you avoid going a long period of time without any income coming in and it avoids eating up all your savings (common theme eh). The best place to find jobs is online, but the classic CV drop off is favourable in some smaller towns.