How to move like a Mustachian

[FIPurpose]

So I plan on graduating college this December and I have been blessed enough to have a job lined up and ready for me that begins in January.

The question is that since my wife and I are moving from Tuscaloosa, AL to Vancouver, WA, what is the most Mustachian way of moving that distance?

We currently live in a single bedroom, and I have been told that the moving package is somewhere between $8000 and $9000. The bonus is that I keep whatever I don't spend. So doing this as efficiently as possible is to my advantage.

We've thought about doing a pack a box and have it shipped. My wife thinks that that will cost us about 3,500.

I thought that we should try to dump all our furniture, sell our 2 cars, buy a SUV and take what we can in a single SUV.

Does anyone have experience in moving that far maybe in a similar situation?

[ketchup]

My girlfriend and her sister were able to move across the country (Phoenix, AZ to Chicago, IL area) in a Kia Spectra5.  With two dogs.  Their main trick was simply a lack of furniture or big stuff. It was extremely uncomfortable for them, but they were able to cram all their stuff into that little Kia.  Before they left Phoenix though of course, they gave away, threw away, or sold plenty of their "stuff".

[StarryC]

Spend some time on Portland Craigslist and your local Craigslist.  How much could you get for your furniture and how much would comparable furniture cost?  If you are a student, your probably don't have "nice" and "expensive" furniture and household goods, right?  And you can take your time.  You need a bed pretty quick, but you could pick up some folding chairs for $20 at target to wait it out for a couch and table and chairs. 

On the cars, when you move will you need 2?  If so, then it is probably better to keep them both.  If you won't then selling one and driving one might be just fine. 

I've heard cars can be "shipped" and that when shipped they can have up to 100lbs of goods inside. This is entirely rumors, so verify it.  Perhaps ship one car, with your bikes in it.  (Bulky and hard to pack around and expensive to buy used in the Portland area).  Then load up the other car. 

When I moved about 700 miles away, I shipped a very large suitcase by Greyhound.  Slow, and unreliable in that it could take 4-10 days, but I think it was only $50 to ship my heavy sewing machine, and a bunch of clothes wrapped around it. 

[Eric]

Depending on supply and demand, one way U-Haul type rentals can be very cheap.  And you can get a trailer to tow one of your cars behind it.  I'd at least look into prices for a one way truck from U-Haul, Ryder, Penske, and the like.  Then you get a cross country road trip out of the deal.  Go to the Grand Canyon and then drive up the California/Oregon coast.  Or something similar.  It'd be slightly more expensive, but you're pretty much being paid to go on vacation.

[geekette]

Have you checked out pods?  They drop a container in your driveway, you pack it, and they collect it and move it. Cheaper than movers, but probably not cheaper than trailering.

[badamsa]

We moved from DE to TX in March which was about 1500 miles. Uhaul was going to be 2400ish for the rental (not including gas). Read reviews about the pack rat box and heard mixed things and didn't want to go that route. So, my wife and I decided to go the car route. We have two hyundais (hatchback and stationwagon) and not alot of furniture that we were attached to. We sold off/gave away most of our expendable possessions and furniture. We kept all of our camping/skiing/biking gear, our dog and our leopard gecko. I bought a thule box for the car that had a roof rack and strapped our mountain bikes to the back. Packed both cars to the brim and left whatever wouldn't fit. We ended up bringing two book shelves, a vaccum cleaner, dog crate, all of our kitchen stuff, clothes, shoes, pictures, etc. The only part that got old quick was being in separate cars for 3 long days of driving. When we arrived we slept on our camping pads for about 2 weeks while trying to find a bedroom set on CL. Found an entire set for $300 with an older slightly used mattress. Slowly accumulated furniture as we found things we liked on CL. Only thing we bought new was a dining room set (only because we are both tall and couldnt find a tall person table, still only $300).

It was great getting rid of a bunch of crap that we didn't need. Our plan is to move in this fashion again when my wife graduates from her master's program. Buying CL items is also great because your likely to get most of what you paid for when you go to sell the item. Would highly recommend this route. Probably saved close to $2,000 doing it this way.

[Rural]

For that distance, I'd ditch the furniture and replace on the other end. You're moving all the way across the continent, after all.

Congratulations on the degree and the job!

[DocCyane]

If you do the U-Haul thing, I would go directly from point A to B with as much efficiency as possible. This isn't vacation time. It's not easy maneuvering those trucks and all your possessions are in tow and ripe for theft.

If necessary, ask a family member to be a third driver and fly him or her back home. Also, every night you have the cost of a hotel, meals, etc.

When you rent, they only give you so many days with the truck. That's their product, not your toy.

[Russ]

I've always rented a truck and packed/driven myself, but I don't have a car to deal with. I like the idea of selling your furniture, driving in what you have, and buying again on the other end. Not sure how the actual numbers work out on that, but back-of-the-napkin math suggests you'd break even on fuel with the 2 cars vs. one truck (or even vs. the 1 SUV you're suggesting) and save the $1500-$2000 that I'm guessing a U-haul rental would cost.

I also agree that if you do rent a truck, go straight to wherever you're going. Too much liability (truck + your stuff) for me to want to mess around, plus they burn hella gas.

[SunshineGirl]

I'd probably keep the more reliable of the cars, pack it fully, maybe get one of those things that goes on top, and drive with one car.

[DocLago]

I am blessed to be able to move wherever in just my small hatchback, but I'm single and can justify dumping all of my big items at any given time.

You being married I would look into a couple options.  U-haul, 1 way moving is farely cheap and you just have to pack up your stuff on your own.  You can tow a car and have the other car driven by your spouse.  Another option is PODS.  there are a bunch of these companies around now and they seem to compete farely well against each other.  I used PODS to move my grandmas belongings to my mothers house after my grandma had passed away.  You just pack it up, they pick it up and drop it off at the new spot.

[FIPurpose]

Well even though I am a college student I am married and we do have some medium nice-ish stuff. We decided on doing one of the pods though U-Haul has their own kind. They're saying that for them to do the packing, shipping, and unpacking will be a little less than 2500. Though this is for a small box, so we may have to sell the bed and maybe the dresser/mirror (I don't really like it much anyways). So I guess we kind of took a both sides approach so that we don't have to spend a week across the country shopping. Since the company is paying for it I'll take a back seat and finally have someone move my stuff for me (ahh the life).

PODS quoted us a price that was slightly higher (somewhere around 3200), and PODS did not have as great reviews on BBB as UHaul so I guess you could say that was our reasoning for going that way.

We were always planning on selling one of the cars. It's a 2000 malibu with about 185000 on it. I don't think it could make a drive, and it's definitely not worth shipping. The move really nicely coincides with Winter vacations. It looks like I'll be spending Christmas in Oklahoma with my uncle, so we're going to drive our way to WA after Christmas. Gas, hotels, and the $2500 moving expense will probably total somewhere around $4000. I might be low ballin', but that does leave me with a nice $5000 sign on bonus.