Author Topic: Frugal moving recommendations  (Read 1676 times)

slowplod

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Frugal moving recommendations
« on: November 10, 2022, 07:55:58 AM »
We're in the process of moving from Florida to New York.  We have a 4 bedroom house, and two small children.  One of us will drive the car up, the other will fly with the kids.

We've been getting moving quotes and have been blown away by the cost.  We have 2 quotes for $9,000 and one quote for $15,000.  This seems absurd.  Does anyone have a company they would recommend with better pricing that you've used for a long distance move?  Thanks!


Cranky

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Re: Frugal moving recommendations
« Reply #1 on: November 10, 2022, 08:07:15 AM »
We moved from Ohio to Wisconsin for $7k using PODS. $1k of that was a specialty piano mover, though.

We moved over the course of 6 months and used 2 small and 1 large POD and in retrospect I should have just used 2 large PODS.

We got rid of about 50% of our stuff. We did hire a couple of guys to help load the last one, as we had heavy stuff to bring up from the basement. Otherwise, we did all of the loading/unloading ourselves, and it was not bad.

The only thing cheaper is a Haul truck.

slowplod

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Re: Frugal moving recommendations
« Reply #2 on: November 10, 2022, 08:12:16 AM »
Thanks for sharing.  My move is 2.5x further, so 2k more for the move that also covers labor seems like a comparatively good deal

GilesMM

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Re: Frugal moving recommendations
« Reply #3 on: November 10, 2022, 08:20:16 AM »
The biggest way to save is to get rid of all the crap you don't need rather than paying to move it.  Large furniture needs to go plus anything else you haven't touched in 12 months.  Sell it on Craigslist.  If you need more on the other end, buy it cheap on Craigslist.

AnotherEngineer

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Re: Frugal moving recommendations
« Reply #4 on: November 10, 2022, 08:22:42 AM »
$9,000 seems in the ballpark. Ask if they are taking it the whole way or are just middlemen.

We moved 5,000 miles with three kids and a dog last year. We have used ABF twice for long moves, with and without a local loader. You load the front of a trailer and it takes its time to get there so you do too. Cheapest by a lot but still not cheap at $17,000. Should have used less room in the trailer to save some money.

Shop around, pack yourself, but most of all don't take as much stuff. Furniture may or may not work in the new house, may have less storage, etc. We moved a lot of stuff we then got rid of. Calculate everything's value (or net value if you would sell and replace) against the weight or size they are charging you for.

SweatingInAR

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Re: Frugal moving recommendations
« Reply #5 on: November 10, 2022, 09:57:54 AM »
I have enjoyed using Uhaul uboxes for two moves. They have the advantage of storing your stuff for as long as you need if you are between houses. It was also helpful that we could load up a bunch of stuff into one box before listing a house for sale. Then pack the rest away after the house sold.

Here are two recent threads on similar subjects:

https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/ask-a-mustachian/suggestions-for-an-intercountyintercity-move/

https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/ask-a-mustachian/diy-interstate-relocation/

Morning Glory

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Re: Frugal moving recommendations
« Reply #6 on: November 10, 2022, 11:39:01 AM »
Watch out for lowballers. Some companies will deliberately underestimate how much space your stuff will take up, then increase the price after they have gotten your nonrefundable deposit. Pods or upack are a better deal.

simonsez

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Re: Frugal moving recommendations
« Reply #7 on: November 10, 2022, 05:22:36 PM »
The frugal way to move?  Do as much as you can yourself or with the help of your network.  I think all-in I was at ~$1500 back in 2017 to go from DC to the Midwest.  The bins we used to transport the "stuff" are easily stackable and have been re-used many times.  Having good moving straps, a hand truck, and a couple dollies were very worth their cost and again, get used all the time.

I did fly out a friend for a week on a one-way ticket to show him around (National Mall, Shenandoah NP, Delaware beach day, etc.) for essentially a 5 day vacation before we loaded furniture and bins into a U-Haul at our own pace over the last two days and drove it west.  He drove the U-Haul, wife and I were in our car (though we did switch up arrangements to prevent any one person from being on their own too much) and then we relieved my friend so he could go home (he lived about 20 min away from our destination) after the 14 hour drive while my dad and brother (who lived 30 min away from destination) met us the next day to unload.  I think I gave him $300 for the trouble (included in the $1500) in addition to covering all of his meals, excursions, and room & board during that week (excluded in the $1500). 

Loading, transport, and unloading weren't the hard parts for me.  The hard part is being organized on the front end like determining what goes into which bin (and LABELING that bin!), which stuff you're donating/throwing away, etc.  Using muscles and driving is easy.  Planning and being organized is hard.

Add in several years of inflation, hiring professionals instead of friends/relatives, add in some kids (it was just wife and I in a 1 BR apt with our one bed, 1 couch, etc.) and the amount of furnishings that more humans typically utilize in larger living spaces and yeah 9k doesn't seem too absurd if you can't or are unwilling to do it mostly yourself. 

I don't judge anyone who pays pros to move and would gladly pony up if the circumstances made sense to do so.  It all depends on the total utility equation - which will be different for every moving situation.  If the benefits of hiring the pros > costs, hire them.  If it doesn't, seek alternatives or perhaps re-calculate the costs and benefits after shopping around and thinking about what is involved.  This requires you to have ballpark figures for labor and the value of your belongings not to mention the price/value you put on intangibles like convenience.  One thing I haven't seen mentioned much is anxiety/stress due to people you don't know being reckless when loading/unloading fragile or easily damaged pieces and if you aren't caravanning directly alongside moving van, the reports of when your stuff will arrive over long distances can be highly variable.  I personally placed a high amount of value on being able to load and unload at a reasonable pace and make sure everything was strapped and secure to my liking rather than a paid person who is just trying to get the job over ASAP and you just hope they were as careful as you.  Plus, when moving there are some items you need sooner than others and not everything you "need" can fit into your personal vehicle.  If you did the move yourself, you should know where to find what you need.  I've witnessed several occasions of where people moving across the country couldn't access something they needed or the move took longer than expected and they had no recourse other than to wait.  That was a no-go for me at the time as I had already taken a week off of work and needed to be able to establish my new office quickly.  YMMV

ixtap

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Re: Frugal moving recommendations
« Reply #8 on: November 10, 2022, 06:20:02 PM »
Use the move to start decluttering now.

It is probably worth it to have them pack most things, but do not bother paying for unpacking. At least, when it was part of a relocation package, they just took it out of the boxes, so we had piles of things to put away. It was worse than unpacking usually is.

If you do pay for packing, have the house clean when they come. They will pack everything and you will have to unpack trash, in addition to paying for any extra time and supplies.

Sibley

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Re: Frugal moving recommendations
« Reply #9 on: November 10, 2022, 08:20:53 PM »
With a 4 bedroom house and 2 kids, you have way too much stuff. Just, too much. Declutter. We're talking 50% of what's in the house has to go, minimum. That, more than anything else, will reduce your costs.

reeshau

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Re: Frugal moving recommendations
« Reply #10 on: November 11, 2022, 05:36:45 AM »
That seems like a decent price.  You are probably getting a good price because you are going the opposite way of the herd.

CDL drivers are in high demand.  There is a national bus driver shortage.  E-commerce is still very strong.

Diesel prices are very high.  They have not come down like gasoline prices.

The best advice is to have less.  Get rid of it there, and get different, or don't replace, at your destination.

Otherwise, it's put in more sweat equity.  If one of you is driving anyway, could you drive a 26' truck, and tow the car?  You could still hire people to load and unload.

stoaX

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Re: Frugal moving recommendations
« Reply #11 on: November 11, 2022, 05:45:15 AM »
Are you boxing your stuff up by yourself?   If so you might be able to get free boxes at retail stores. I particularly like liquor/wine boxes. Clothing retailers often have larger boxes as well. 

The quotes you have received don't seem unreasonable to me.  And I have moved too many times.

Dicey

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Re: Frugal moving recommendations
« Reply #12 on: November 11, 2022, 08:26:32 AM »
Declutter, declutter, declutter. Free boxes are always available via NextDoor, BuyNothing, etc.

ChickenStash

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Re: Frugal moving recommendations
« Reply #13 on: November 11, 2022, 10:11:19 AM »
+1 on decluttering. Be savage with getting rid of stuff. If you have even the slightest doubt about something's usefulness or value, chuck it.

If you are willing to DIY a bit, do your own boxing and rent a truck with a car trailer to drive the goods up. Take two trucks, if needed, since you have two drivers (decluttering should make a second truck unneeded). I'm a fan of Penske rentals but UHaul seems to have updated their rigs in recent years so they seem to be decent. Try negotiating with the regional hub locations on price - there doesn't seem to be too much wiggle room on 1-way trips but it's worth a shot.

If you want help loading and unloading, try MovingHelp.com to search in each location. They are a broker, of sorts, for labor to help load and unload. I've used them a number of times and it's nice to have a few more hands to help without having to abuse friends and family.

mistymoney

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Re: Frugal moving recommendations
« Reply #14 on: November 11, 2022, 10:26:16 AM »
what did you furniture cost? If you sold and then rebought - how much is the difference?

I would think you could outfit a lot with 15k.

tj

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Re: Frugal moving recommendations
« Reply #15 on: November 11, 2022, 01:19:19 PM »
For interstate moves, it's much cheaper to rent a van or truck and drive it yourself while hiring separate muscle to load and unload. If you pay movers, you're going to have to pay for all thier travel and lodging costs.  It's not cheap.


Or do what I have done - get rid of everything and buy new at the new place. Obviously this is not economical if you have once in a lifetime or high end furniture.

Saving in Austin

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Re: Frugal moving recommendations
« Reply #16 on: November 13, 2022, 10:59:59 PM »
For interstate moves, it's much cheaper to rent a van or truck and drive it yourself while hiring separate muscle to load and unload. If you pay movers, you're going to have to pay for all thier travel and lodging costs.  It's not cheap.

This is what we did. Decluttered and packed ourselves up. Hired movers on both ends to load and unload a 26 foot Penske truck. Drove ourselves from Texas to Washington State. Total cost was $4,000-$5,000.
« Last Edit: November 13, 2022, 11:01:48 PM by Saving in Austin »

Kl285528

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Re: Frugal moving recommendations
« Reply #17 on: November 14, 2022, 06:18:53 AM »
I've had good to great success in hiring movers through U-Haul on their website. You hire movers in your current city to load up a Uhaul you are going to drive, then also book movers at the other end to help you unload. Pretty easy to do. Check out the UHaul website.

bryan995

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Re: Frugal moving recommendations
« Reply #18 on: November 14, 2022, 06:20:26 AM »
Unless you have 10,000+ worth of furniture… sell and rebuy.

When we moved cross country we loaded our car and brought only small valuables. We shipped the
second car which allowed us to fill the trunk and up the window line with additional items (mainly clothes). Everything else was either sold, gifted or donated.

Then when we arrived we slowly repurchased new furniture.

We also looked into buying a trailer to haul more things and then simply reselling the trailer once arrived. Sometimes you could even make money on this. Trailer-geo-arbitrage.
« Last Edit: November 14, 2022, 10:33:58 AM by bryan995 »

ixtap

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Re: Frugal moving recommendations
« Reply #19 on: November 14, 2022, 07:12:40 AM »
Unless you have 10,000+ worth of furniture… sell and rebuy.

When we moved cross country we loaded our car and brought only small valuables. We shipped the
second car which allowed us to fill the trunk and up the window line with additional items (mainly clothes). Everything else was either sold, gifted or donated.

Yea nice we arrived we slowly repurchased new furniture.

We also looked into buying a trailer to haul more things and then simply reselling the trailer once arrived. Sometimes you could even make money on this. Trailer-geo-arbitrage.

Interesting: when we shipped a vehicle it couldn't have anything stored in it.

Michael in ABQ

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Re: Frugal moving recommendations
« Reply #20 on: November 14, 2022, 08:07:31 AM »
Uhaul and drive it yourself. The cost of the truck, gas, meals, and lodging will probably be $1.5-3k. Load and unload it yourself - hopefully with some family/friends. If you need to hire a couple of guys locally to unload it that's probably $500 +/- for the day.


Most of our moves have been local but the last one was a 4 BR to a 5 BR so it did take two trips with a Uhaul and some stuff in the bed of a friend's pickup truck. We did a 1,000 mile move for a business we bought (moving all the inventory and equipment) and total cost was probably $2k or so between plane tickets to fly there, the 26' truck, gas, meals, and a night in a hotel along the way. My wife and I took turns driving and did it in two days, so we only had to stay one night in a hotel.


Since my wife and I got married we have moved 7 times; usually to larger and larger houses as we went from 0 kids to 6. The loading and unloading of a whole truck only takes a couple of hours. The hard part is the packing and unpacking. That takes days. We long ago invested in about 20-30 big plastic tubs with a standard size. It makes things a lot easier than trying to use random boxes picked up for free.

NotJen

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Re: Frugal moving recommendations
« Reply #21 on: November 14, 2022, 08:45:39 AM »
We long ago invested in about 20-30 big plastic tubs with a standard size. It makes things a lot easier than trying to use random boxes picked up for free.

I'm looking at moving once a year or so in the near future, with periods of keeping my stuff in storage, and this sounds like a good idea.  Do you have a specific size/style that works best for you?  I think I'll start look for some on sale, at Goodwill, etc.

Michael in ABQ

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Re: Frugal moving recommendations
« Reply #22 on: November 14, 2022, 11:28:21 AM »
We long ago invested in about 20-30 big plastic tubs with a standard size. It makes things a lot easier than trying to use random boxes picked up for free.

I'm looking at moving once a year or so in the near future, with periods of keeping my stuff in storage, and this sounds like a good idea.  Do you have a specific size/style that works best for you?  I think I'll start look for some on sale, at Goodwill, etc.

We bought most of them at Walmart for about $10. Generally, the 64 Quart Sterilite brand ones that measure approximately 26" L x 16" W x 12" H. The latching lids are a must, don't get snap on lids as they don't hold up as well. We have had some crack over the years but in some cases that's a tub that was filled with 30-40 pounds of wooden blocks that was getting dumped out and filled up and moved around multiple times per week for years on end. The ones we've kept in the garage with clothes that move around less are in much better shape. I like the clear bins and clear lids so you can see what's inside. We would just tape a label on the inside facing out. One on the front and one on the underside of the lid.

Morning Glory

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Re: Frugal moving recommendations
« Reply #23 on: November 14, 2022, 11:43:37 AM »
We long ago invested in about 20-30 big plastic tubs with a standard size. It makes things a lot easier than trying to use random boxes picked up for free.

I'm looking at moving once a year or so in the near future, with periods of keeping my stuff in storage, and this sounds like a good idea.  Do you have a specific size/style that works best for you?  I think I'll start look for some on sale, at Goodwill, etc.

We bought most of them at Walmart for about $10. Generally, the 64 Quart Sterilite brand ones that measure approximately 26" L x 16" W x 12" H. The latching lids are a must, don't get snap on lids as they don't hold up as well. We have had some crack over the years but in some cases that's a tub that was filled with 30-40 pounds of wooden blocks that was getting dumped out and filled up and moved around multiple times per week for years on end. The ones we've kept in the garage with clothes that move around less are in much better shape. I like the clear bins and clear lids so you can see what's inside. We would just tape a label on the inside facing out. One on the front and one on the underside of the lid.

Menards has nice storage totes, if you live in the Midwest.

stoaX

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Re: Frugal moving recommendations
« Reply #24 on: January 11, 2023, 05:34:40 AM »
Unless you have 10,000+ worth of furniture… sell and rebuy.

When we moved cross country we loaded our car and brought only small valuables. We shipped the
second car which allowed us to fill the trunk and up the window line with additional items (mainly clothes). Everything else was either sold, gifted or donated.

Yea nice we arrived we slowly repurchased new furniture.

We also looked into buying a trailer to haul more things and then simply reselling the trailer once arrived. Sometimes you could even make money on this. Trailer-geo-arbitrage.

Interesting: when we shipped a vehicle it couldn't have anything stored in it.

I shipped a car across country in 2020 and was told the same thing - don't put anything in the car.

bryan995

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Re: Frugal moving recommendations
« Reply #25 on: January 11, 2023, 03:02:19 PM »
Unless you have 10,000+ worth of furniture… sell and rebuy.

When we moved cross country we loaded our car and brought only small valuables. We shipped the
second car which allowed us to fill the trunk and up the window line with additional items (mainly clothes). Everything else was either sold, gifted or donated.

Then when we arrived we slowly repurchased new furniture.

We also looked into buying a trailer to haul more things and then simply reselling the trailer once arrived. Sometimes you could even make money on this. Trailer-geo-arbitrage.

Interesting: when we shipped a vehicle it couldn't have anything stored in it.

I shipped a car across country in 2020 and was told the same thing - don't put anything in the car.

Our move was 2016-ish.  They suggested that doing so came with added risk, but they did not prevent us from putting things in the vehicle.  All arrived safe and sound.  Perhaps things are different now.  The cost was ~$850 if I recall correctly.  coast-to-coast.
« Last Edit: January 11, 2023, 03:04:30 PM by bryan995 »

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!