Update on the Move - and Utility Tips

Usually when I take some time off I do a better job of blogging. But I guess not this time. But here's the update.

The sell this house / buy that house process is ongoing. We've gotten past the inspections (termite and home), loan processing is on-going, but both parties are pre-approved. Closing times are set for 9am and 10am on April 11th (pending approval from the purchasers of the McCoy house).

I spent a couple of hours yesterday morning calling the utilities to schedule the changes. Learned something, if you have an AT&T cell phone you'll save $4/month by having it bundled with your local home service (and in our case our DSL as well). Not huge, but it will help offset the $6/month hike we're about to incur on our DSL (thanks Ma Bell).

For anyone considering a move, here's are some other things I learned yesterday:

- Empire doesn't charge to switch your service (I was shocked!)
- Missouri American Water charges $20 to switch service over (not terrible, less than I thought it would be)
- AT&T charges $35.30 to switch service - and they have to send someone inside your house and will give you a 12-hour period when they'll be there (no, seriously I'm not kidding, I laughed out loud when the guy said "the only time slot I have that day is 8am to 8pm." I thought, who got the other time slot and what was it? 8pm - 8am?)
- If you're not under contract with DISH, it would be worth considering a switch to DirectTV. I've got some additional research to do on this, but it appears I'm going to save $15/month for the next 12 months with essentially the same programming, a DVR (which we currently don't have), and no cost associated with the move (because I'll just schedule the install at the new place and they do the install free - which DISH didn't). I haven't talked to DISH yet - called twice yesterday, their system was down both times (not a good sign). I'm expecting them to tell me it'll be $50 to switch us over to the new address and that they're not interested in upgrading my equipment for free or cutting me a break on the programming package they "upgraded" me to a few months ago.