What were your unexpected cost of living expense increases after a move?

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Hermes

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What were your unexpected cost of living expense increases after a move?

I recently moved to reduce my 3x per week commute from 2.5 hours per day to 1 hour per day. I ran the comparison of rent increases, tolls, gas, wear & tear on my car and all of that came out ahead. And, of course, the time savings is huge. I feel like I have my life back.

With that said, there are some minor things I wasn't expecting to increase so much:
  • Dip nail services. I get my nails done every 3 weeks, mostly for strength vs. looks. Per nail salon visit for the same services, my bill jumped from $48 to $65 including tip.
  • Auto insurance. I was shocked by a $35 increase in my monthly auto insurance bill and called to ask. Apparently moving "into the city" means higher insurance premiums.
A friend of mine got a much bigger shock this week. They'd looked up the price of childcare before their move. But what they didn't anticipate is all of the childcare services in their budget had a 1-2 year waiting list. A tough lesson in checking ahead of time if the low-cost services are actually available.
 
When we moved from NY to Fl I got quotes for home, car and health insurance, all between 3-4 weeks before the move. When we actually moved, State Farm refused to write the renters policies, stating they had a limit on new policies once hurricane season started, and they required additional uninsured coverage which was not included in the original auto quote. Blue Cross refused to write the health policy based on preexisting conditions for both DW and me.

So, once moved, no insurance at all from any reputable insurer. We did eventually get some coverage, but it was expensive and of questionable quality. Subsequent health care insurance was about 2.5x the cost we had expected.

Our first year was a learning experience.
 
If you must do your nails, do it yourself. :) Now it goes from $48 to $65 ti $~0, except for buying your own supplies. I don't let anyone else touch my nails, nail salons are germy.
 
A bit of the opposite. We moved from our 120 year old "forever home" to a brand new ( first owners) home across town.

Our electric is about 40% less (all new appliances and efficient lighting) and our gas heat is half (all super insulated) of what we were paying for 30 years prior.

Our homeowners insurance dropped quite a bit because, despite being a considerably bigger and more expensive house, the new construction, coupled to no longer being ocean-front is less prone to weather related concerns ( I'm guessing).

We even found a new landscaper who's $15 a week cheaper for cutting the lawn...and does a better job. I think that's because he comes once a week and does five or six homes in the neighborhood instead of making a special trip to do just one house. The guys just jump house to house.
 
Last edited:
MichaelB said:
When we moved from NY to Fl I got quotes for home, car and health insurance, all between 3-4 weeks before the move. When we actually moved, State Farm refused to write the renters policies, stating they had a limit on new policies once hurricane season started, and they required additional uninsured coverage which was not included in the original auto quote. Blue Cross refused to write the health policy based on preexisting conditions for both DW and me.

So, once moved, no insurance at all from any reputable insurer. We did eventually get some coverage, but it was expensive and of questionable quality. Subsequent health care insurance was about 2.5x the cost we had expected.

Our first year was a learning experience.
Click to expand...
Wow! I never would have thought of that!
 
RetiredHappy said:
If you must do your nails, do it yourself. :) Now it goes from $48 to $65 ti $~0, except for buying your own supplies. I don't let anyone else touch my nails, nail salons are germy.
Click to expand...
Do you do "dip" yourself? That's impressive!
 
From TX to CA
Auto gas way more, but not a huge deal. Maybe $10-20/wk
Utilities down as we didn’t use as much.
Food, maybe 5-10% more.
We sold the house (company paid expenses & move), rent was high at first $2800/mo, but ended @$1800 by the time we left.
Income tax was the largest one by far. ~10% & fed increased too.
Big offset was income, deferred comp and bonuses. Easily took care of taxes and rent for the 4 years there. It turbo charged the retirement savings and allowed us to take a few years off.
 
Moved to smaller house after a divorce- in the first year the pool needed a new plastic liner, the pump had to be replaced, the built-in microwave had to be replaced and it turned out the gas line to the grill had the wrong fitting (previous owner had a Ph.D in pharmacology but was pretty amateurish at DIY).

When DH and I downsized the furnace had to be replaced in the fall and the A/C ad to be replaced in the spring. (Both were 20 years old.) Backflow valve for the sprinkler system failed inspection and had to be replaced.

Fortunately, the first house appreciated from $350K to $525K in 6 years and the current house, which we bought for $242K, is worth about $400K now.
 
One way to save on nails is to just dip them in Palmolive dishwashing soap. Done!

(Young kids would not get this joke, I know you all do)
 
MichaelB said:
When we moved from NY to Fl I got quotes for home, car and health insurance, all between 3-4 weeks before the move. When we actually moved, State Farm refused to write the renters policies, stating they had a limit on new policies once hurricane season started, and they required additional uninsured coverage which was not included in the original auto quote. Blue Cross refused to write the health policy based on preexisting conditions for both DW and me.

So, once moved, no insurance at all from any reputable insurer. We did eventually get some coverage, but it was expensive and of questionable quality. Subsequent health care insurance was about 2.5x the cost we had expected.

Our first year was a learning experience.
Click to expand...
We experienced the opposite when we moved from CA to FL. Everything was so much cheaper. Electricity more than halved. No issues for us with insurance, we still use the same company to this day. Gas cheaper, RE taxes were a little higher but not so much, water was about the same, and no income Tax. But then we are in the NE not Central or South Fla.
 
JoeWras said:
One way to save on nails is to just dip them in Palmolive dishwashing soap. Done!

(Young kids would not get this joke, I know you all do)
Click to expand...
I had a classmate with a congenital missing hand, and they did a skit with him dipping in Palmolive and then coming up with his stub and the horror and hilarity of it :)
 
While our spending went up when we moved to NC, there wasn’t anything significant and unexpected as I’d thoroughly researched everything beforehand. We bought a more expensive home, so all those associated costs went up predictably. Auto insurance was about the same, though it seems it’s gone up everywhere over the last few years. State income taxes are a little higher, but we knew that - and roads and govt services are noticeably better here than our previous location, so we’re getting something for it.

The only surprise i can’t think of was I didn’t realize the state controlled all liquor stores, so liquor prices went up dramatically - 20 to 50%. We don’t drink much anyway, probably even less now with the higher prices, but it’s a trivial amount anyway. We really love living in NC!
 
Hermes said:
What were your unexpected cost of living expense increases after a move?

I recently moved to reduce my 3x per week commute from 2.5 hours per day to 1 hour per day. I ran the comparison of rent increases, tolls, gas, wear & tear on my car and all of that came out ahead. And, of course, the time savings is huge. I feel like I have my life back.

With that said, there are some minor things I wasn't expecting to increase so much:
  • Dip nail services. I get my nails done every 3 weeks, mostly for strength vs. looks. Per nail salon visit for the same services, my bill jumped from $48 to $65 including tip.
  • Auto insurance. I was shocked by a $35 increase in my monthly auto insurance bill and called to ask. Apparently moving "into the city" means higher insurance premiums.
Click to expand...
If my math is correct, you saved 18 hours of commute time and it only cost $60 (give or take)?

You made the right choice.
 
While our move from the Midwest to Hawaii increased our living costs significantly, we had few negative surprises. Mostly our surprises were positive. Taxes (State, sales, and Real Estate taxes) were much less than we thought.
 
Mom moved from Port St Lucie to Pompano and health insurance went way up, along with car insurance. Those were the ones that were more surprising, given she just moved down the road a bit.
 
When I lived in S. Fl in the 80s, every zip code closer to Miami caused an increase in insurance.

Broward was more than Palm Beach, and Dade was the king of hill when it came to insurance costs, especially car insurance. I would guess St. Lucie county is less than Palm Beach.
 
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