Australia Entry #3 - The Finances of Moving

When I was moving out of my apartment in Wisconsin, I realized how helpful and important it was to look back at the prices that I purchased things and to help wrap my head around how much money it will take to move to a new apartment and furnish it all from the beginning. I expect this will be a good exercise for me to organize a bunch of my own purchases to try to get some things reimbursed from the trip, but the following is all the money I have spent alongside the move. Maybe I can optimize this next time around! This does not include recurring expenses like food or transportation that needed to be purchased irrelevant of a move.

The money I re-couped from my move:

• Sold my TV for $150
• Sold my couch and some end tables for $250
• Sold exercise bench and dumbbells for $120
• Sold my computer for $700
• Kept some furniture and moved it back to New Jersey, so there are less things to purchase on the way back.
• Total = $1,220 USD

The money I spent alongside the move:

• $500 US to move furniture back to New Jersey w/ help of uncle from Wisconsin
• $78 for gas to drive bag to New Jersey from Wisconsin (1,000 mile trip)
• $1044.95 for one month of rent at my old apartment that I wasn’t staying at before my lease expired
• $150 for apartment cleaning fee (even though they said I left it spotless, probably some steaming service for the carpet boo… 🙁)
• $100 for one extra baggage back at the airport
• $820 for a hotel for 7 days ($1,278.90 AUD)
• $15.44 for bus from airport to hotel ($23.90 AUD)
• $32.59 for miscellaneous kitchen items (trip 1) ($50.60 AUD)
• $54.30 for cleaning supplies, miscellaneous kitchen and bathroom items ($84.62 AUD)
• $269.24 for couch from Facebook Marketplace ($420 AUD)
• $716.39 for a computer and monitors. I think this one is better than the one I had in the US. ($1100 AUD)
• $19.25 for a wireless keyboard, a wired keyboard, and a wireless mouse from Facebook marketplace ($30 AUD).
• $261.31 for a Sony 55” TV ($400 AUD)
• $224.58 for two tables, three chairs, a vacuum, some starter kitchen supplies, an area rug, two lamps, and some other miscellaneous items ($350 AUD).
• $135.71 for bedding, pillows and duvet insert ($210 AUD)
• $254.63 for bed frame and mattress ($394 AUD)
• $35.90 for random foreign transaction fees at ATMs and online purchases before I had my Australian bank account set up
• $13.43 to schedule appointment to transfer drivers license to Australian one ($20 AUD)
• $85.66 for a Dualshock 5 controller and large mousepad ($128 AUD)
• $76.20 for a Fujitora Chef’s Knife ($86.90 AUD)
• $44.35 for a drying rack for laundry ($66.19 AUD)
• $92.77 for miscellaneous tools and deli containers/utensils ($138.47 AUD)
• Total: $5,024.70

Still Expecting:

• $130 for renewing my passport before the end of this year ($208 AUD)

Not priced in since it likely swaps with things I was paying for in the US:

• Hot Water and Gas came out to ~$90.00 in the first month
• Internet (25/10 Mbps aka 3MB/s) for $74.00
• $25.53 for Optus telecom provider (25 GB of data a month, cheapest plan. I think the dude at the store gave me 10% off and I didn’t even ask)