im trying to make this funny for my own sake harharhar. and for me adding -ening at the end of stuff tends to work. anyway, does anyone have any resources to being broke and kicked out? thankfully i think my mom will at least give me more than two months ( hopefully three ) so it won't be IMMEDIATE and i can still have time to figure some shit out, but are there websites you used to estimate costs? or like did you sell stuff on craigslist? how does that work? ive got furniture im sure i wont be taking with me unless by some weird af miracle i manage to make enough money to afford a moving van ( fuck those tho ). im trying to look stuff up myself but it'd be interesting to hear about other peoples experiences.
I've never been kicked out, but I have had to do a lot of moving under shitty circumstances with little to no money, so I might have some cross-applicable skills. The questions you've asked so far: - Estimating costs: I was lucky to have a large social network of recently displaced college grads to talk to in my area to get estimates about rent and utilities. I adjusted those as I realized that living in student neighborhoods and non-student neighborhoods are like two separate animals. I don't have any online resources specifically for building estimates, but even a basic housing search on craigslist for listings with pictures can get you a feel for what standard of living you can get for what rent in which neighborhoods. - Selling stuff: haven't sold anything on craigslist, sorry. I've never succeeded at raising money through selling items or commissions, so I don't have good advice here. Things I can add off of the top of my head: -Being able to avoid a moving van is a pretty nice idea if at all possible. We used a u-haul van for one of our moves, but we'd saved money aside for that ahead of time, and it helped that one of us had experience driving vehicles that size. Even with that it was hell to drive bc stress makes driving harder. -Seriously feel no guilt about taking advantage of all the food resources you can. Moving food is super difficult, which means you'll be saving some grocery money right before (if you're buying your own food now), but then you'll have to stock up a lot when you arrive where you're getting. Please don't feel guilty about leaning on friends or local food banks to get your feet under you. -Fast food restaurants get rid of LOTS of boxes - you can score some seriously heavy-duty packing materials for free if you ask around. If you have more specific questions pls ask!
thank you for your response!! it provides some good insight and stuff to look up/look out for. especially the fast food restaurant boxes. i used to work at subway across the street, so i could PROBABLY ask one of my old co workers to give me the boxes that were used for chips. they're pretty big and they're always thrown away... good idea good idea.
i havent been to a coffee shop recently but ill see if i can try that! the boxes at subway are Very Big since we also sell drinks and the large cups take up a lot of space in boxes ( they are legitimately huge i hated them ). but thank you!!
it may also be worthwhile, if it comes down to it, to think about donating stuff - of course it'd be nice to get cash, but if it's stuff you're not likely to be able to sell as easily (like smaller things), you can dump a box or bags at a thrift shop just to clear space. sometimes they will give you coupons as thanks, which could be nice/useful!
nods!! i used donate stuff i didnt use/need anymore so if i cant sell things ill probably do that. lighten the load so to speak harhar. thank u friend!
Putting a post on Facebook with photos of stuff you want to get rid of can be a good way to sell stuff, and/or a garage sale. I've sold some stuff on Craigslist, and usually you'll get people low-balling you, but idk it's still cash. When I wanted to get rid of my comic collection before leaving Canada I put up an ad for about 25% more than I wanted to sell for so I didn't end up making all that much less than I wanted. When shit was pretty bad I sub-letted an efficiency (found it on Craigslist!), which really sucked, but it was doable. Like, living in a decent place is hella good for your mental health, but pretty much anywhere is livable if you need it to be.
Starbucks also has really good boxes for moving stuff in. Piece of advice: pack heavier things in several smaller boxes. A giant box of books ripping while you're trying to carry it is not a fun experience. Put light things like bedsheets or pillows in big boxes. Also this isn't specific to being broke/kicked out, but if you can, try and get together things like tape, scissors, some screwdrivers, a flashlight, batteries, and all those little fiddly things that you don't think about until you are suddenly in need of them. When you're already stressed out, realizing that you don't have [Small Necessary Thing] can be overwhelmingly frustrating.
Seconding looking on Craigslist for sublets and apartment-/room-sharing arrangements. I live in what I'm pretty sure was supposed to be a utility closet, but the rent is rock bottom and I'm super close to public transport, so it evens out.
