Saving money moving?

[FairestOfThemAll37]

Hi budget boarders!

So I have a thread up on the CB about wanting to move to somewhere on the Florida coast (from the middle of the state)-real specific, I know!

The reality is that I'm just in the where, when, how stage and seeing all my possible options and costs.

A big thing is the actual move! Theres no way I could rent a uhaul and do it myself as I have substantial furniture and moving it down stairs requires professionals!

Any advice on saving on moving costs?!?

 

[kymom99]

Forget about saving money there. Hire a reputable mover. You will not be sorry. It is worth every penny!

 

[barkley]

I agree on using reputable movers-you hear so many horror stories about people getting ripped off by moving companies it's just not worth any supposed savings. I would also strongly suggest checking talking with your renters or homeowner's insurance agent to find out what they cover during a move and if they suggest you purchasing any of the moving company's insurance. dh and always purchased it after getting stuck in a long traffic jam behind a moving truck that was in an accident w/another vehical-to see someone's possessions strewn and destroyed all over a highway was not pleasant. we only had to put in a claim once-when the movers damaged a wall in the rental we were moving out of.

as for keeping the costs down-we packed ourselves, and we went with a large national chain (I want to say allied?) who w/pre-booking offered a price cap on the fuel costs and if the customer had any affiliation w/active or retired military or government allowed the customer to book under those contracted rates. we also saved by finding lodging near where we were moving that would allow us to let them know by noon of each day if we needed to extend our stay-we had a rough estimate (about a 4 day range) of when our moving truck would arrive but knew we wouldn't know for sure until we received our 24 hour call of estimated arrival, and then if we would need the lodging for the night the stuff got moved in). we went with a holiday inn express-they were great to stay at and offered us the 'by noon' option.

 

[LSKN]

I moved cross-country last summer and found the cheapest way to go is to rent a "pod" type moving container. We used PackRat and they were great. They delivered the container to our house, we hired movers to fill it, they picked it up and stored it for us while we looked for a house. Once we were ready to move in, they delivered the container, we hired movers to bring everything into our new house, and PackRat came and took the container away. Their customer service was great all throughout the process.

 

[HM]

Try to get rid of as much stuff as possible. Do a huge purge of your belongings and take only what you actually use or have sentimental attachment to. Everything else goes in a yardsale or charity or friends.

When we moved across town, we moved all our stuff that we put in boxes in a U-haul. Then we hired an actual mover to move our furniture and place it in our new home for us. Worth every penny.

 

[barkley]

oh-thought of another money saver. contact some local to you realty companies and let them know if anyone they have moving into your area wants to get rid of moving boxes you'll take them off their hands.

 

[FairestOfThemAll37]

Try to get rid of as much stuff as possible. Do a huge purge of your belongings and take only what you actually use or have sentimental attachment to. Everything else goes in a yardsale or charity or friends.

When we moved across town, we moved all our stuff that we put in boxes in a U-haul. Then we hired an actual mover to move our furniture and place it in our new home for us. Worth every penny.

I will definitely do a round of purging! I don't have a ton of excess to begin with, but moving is always a great opportunity to get rid of things!

Depending on how far (definitely in-state) and how much help I can get I may be able to uhaul some stuff. But being single it's tough to move a car and a uhaul without help!

Great tips so far! Hopefully I'll have the where narrowed down soon! I don't have many requirements haha. Near a beach (15 minutes), access to a pool and a convenient grocery store (preferably publix). Unfortunately it doesn't help narrow things down all that much lol

 

[Gigi22]

oh-thought of another money saver. contact some local to you realty companies and let them know if anyone they have moving into your area wants to get rid of moving boxes you'll take them off their hands.

The moving company we used will sell previously used packing materials at a low rate.

 

[eliza61]

Forget about saving money there. Hire a reputable mover. You will not be sorry. It is worth every penny!

+1000
I know this is the budget board but beeeelieve me this is the one time you do not want to be cheap. I just moved from South Jersey to Philly (well 16 months ago) and I started out trying to do it myself on the cheap. Soo not worth it.

My best tip is to be really organized and do as much in advance as possible.

Good luck. moving can be so stressful

 

[kymom99]

M

+1000
I know this is the budget board but beeeelieve me this is the one time you do not want to be cheap. I just moved from South Jersey to Philly (well 16 months ago) and I started out trying to do it myself on the cheap. Soo not worth it.

My best tip is to be really organized and do as much in advance as possible.

Good luck. moving can be so stressful

A family member moved across town over a holiday weekend. The movers charged by the hour and took forever. She was no where near ready when they came and after close to $800 for one truck load she still had a ton of crap left to move. My husband ended up scurrying to rent a uhaul to move the rest. If the movers had come back to get another load it would have been double what she paid.

So YES! Be ready ahead of time! Purge what you don't need! Pack your own boxes! Then let someone else do the heavy lifting.

 

[DebbieB]

M

A family member moved across town over a holiday weekend. The movers charged by the hour and took forever. She was no where near ready when they came and after close to $800 for one truck load she still had a ton of crap left to move. My husband ended up scurrying to rent a uhaul to move the rest. If the movers had come back to get another load it would have been double what she paid.

So YES! Be ready ahead of time! Purge what you don't need! Pack your own boxes! Then let someone else do the heavy lifting.

I lucked out when I moved 3 years ago. It was a local move, they charged by the hour with an extra hour from the garage to the house. Someone came to the house an took inventory of everything I wanted to move and then gave a time estimate. It turned out to be an hour LESS, so I didn't pay as much as the estimate.

 

[kymom99]

I can't remember exact details about when I moved but it was less than 5 miles and it was one load. They gave me a price up front and it was pretty much spot on.

 

[annsteere]

If you have lots of books you can send them media rate from the post office. That is quite a bit cheaper than paying by the pound/mile to a moving company.

 

[Gigi22]

We recently moved, my advice is similar to that of several PPs. It helps to get rid of as much as you can. I found moving was a huge incentive to get rid of clothing we hadn't worn in a while. Sort through your possessions, gather any duplicates together, and get rid of them. When in doubt, throw it out (or give it away, donate or sell it -- this is much more time consuming than it may sound). We also identified a few things we wouldn't be taking with us and arranged to have them disposed of, which was an added cost, but a useful step for planning.

I found visualizing our first few nights in our new digs helped me focus on the important stuff, things we absolutely needed in place. For example, lamps turned out to be very important items for us to keep, as our new place has a limited number of ceiling lighting fixtures. YMMV.

We used professional movers, they packed about 80% of our stuff, I did the rest and we were able to save about $1000 in moving costs (based on the mover's estimate) because we were able to get rid of things we no longer needed. Since our move was local, I was able to pack and move a lot of kitchen, bedroom and bathroom stuff myself.