Cross country move

amother

Thu, Dec 15 2022, 12:25 am

We are IY"H planning on making a big move. This will be across several state lines, enough where a day will take anywhere from 2-5 days (depending on stops) and it makes more sense to fly.
I am so overwhelmed by all of the details, and the whole starting over business. Besides for the actual packing, there are some things I'm not sure about so I'd love to hear thoughts from those who have done a similar kind of move.
What was the most cost-efficient way (but I don't want to be dumb) to actually move everything? We would only take the good quality furniture we currently have, like beds, but we still have a lot of other stuff. I'm assuming the options are: Hire a moving truck company to do it all for us (most expensive?), rent with a company that makes you pay per foot or something similar, or have DH rent a truck, pack it all up, drive it, unload it, and fly back. That would take at least a few days.
What do people do about their cars? We would only bring our minivan.
Also, I'm getting overwhelmed just by the thought of going there without all of our furniture and either waiting for a truck or trying to get some there. We can stay at family in our current town for a few days I guess...

tichellady

Thu, Dec 15 2022, 10:20 am

my advice is not to be cheap with moving. moving is one of the most stressful things and if you have the money I would spend it to make it less crazy and stressful. I would hire movers to pack you and take your stuff to your new home. if that isn't an option then I apologize, I don't have any great tips for you.

amother

Thu, Dec 15 2022, 10:58 am

Ha.
We’re trying to save money for the move but…
For us not being cheap will mean lots of takeout

tryingmybest:)

Thu, Dec 15 2022, 12:52 pm

We rented a UHAUL truck and hired mover through UHAUL to load and unload. My husband then drove the truck. It saved us thousands of dollars!

amother

Cinnamon

Sun, Dec 18 2022, 5:01 pm

Check out RedRover - it's a moving/shipping container transportation company. You'll need to hire movers on both ends to pack/unload, but much cheaper than hiring movers to actually transport your stuff.

amother

Peru

Sun, Dec 18 2022, 5:22 pm

We recently moved across the country. We priced out many different options. The cheapest was to rent a U-Haul truck and drive it ourselves, while towing our 2nd car behind. However, we ultimately decided we would be uncomfortable with this (make sure you check out the maximum speed limits in a U-Haul truck).

We ended up doing the second cheapest option - U Pack, the one you mentioned. You load up the trailer and only have to pay for the footage that you end up using. Keep calling and if you are a good bargainer, depending on who you speak to you can get the price way way down. Even just mentioning that you are still pricing out different options, you're really hesitant about using U pack because UHaul would be cheaper, etc. - my husband is super polite and not aggressive, I think he was able to get around $1,000 off of the initial quote...
Also, if your exact moving date is flexible, you can tell them that you really want to save money and ask if there's a cheaper day or window that they can help you find.

We hired movers through the U-Haul website. We did not do the cheapest movers, but it was one of the cheaper ones that had a lot lot of good ratings.

Doing this option was also more expensive because we drove both of our cars, so take into account the extra gas. It ended up working out really well to be in separate cars, as we were able to spread out the kids based on what made sense given different times of day, behavior, etc.

Regarding packing, it really depends on your personal situation. Many people hire movers to do the packing because it ends up being cheaper than taking off of work. If one or both spouses are off of work and able/willing to pack, that's obviously cheapest. That's what we did. I also packed many boxes in advance (costumes, toys, off season clothing, etc.)

Another way to save yourself a lot of money is to get rid of everything that you do not need or no longer want. If there is furniture that you don't love and is easily replaced (some areas have excellent used market), you will save square footage in your truck by not sleeping it along.

I hope this is helpful.

amother

Sun, Dec 18 2022, 6:34 pm

Thank you all! How long did it take to get your stuff?

amother

Peru

Sun, Dec 18 2022, 8:42 pm

amother OP wrote:

Thank you all! How long did it take to get your stuff?

6 days.