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We are about to undertake a massive move from California to Maine and I am feeling very overwhelmed. Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Here is our situation.
We = My husband, myself, two kids and a small dog
We have a lot of stuff (3,400 sq ft. home, plus 3 storage units full of boxes and extra furniture, a minivan and a truck)
We may need to vacate our house a week or two before we can actually move, and stay at a hotel. Thus, our belongings may need to be stored before the move. And we will probably require storage for a week or two at the other end.
We plan on doing a leisurely cross country drive to see sights and stop and visit relatives along the way all together in our minivan. Our truck, if we don't sell it here, will need to be transported.
Okay, any recommendations on how to do all this and do it in the most economical but safest/efficient manner? We thought about hiring movers to move the furniture but packing up all our books, photo albums, etc. (we have a lot) ourselves and using the pods. But, dh read somewhere that dividing a move up like that ends up being more costly??? Any experience? Also, how close to the estimate cost come does the actual moving cost come? Is it worth it to pack our own stuff? I know it isn't insured if we do, but is that just for breakage? Is it still insured for loss? I'm meeting with a moving guy Thurs. Any thing else I should ask him? Any and all feedback welcome!!!
We've always done the pack-ourselves, have the moving company put it in the truck/drive. When we most recently made a long-distance move the company said that they could provide storage for us, with one month free. We ended up not needing that, but the option was nice. I think at the very least you could eliminate the need for storage on both ends (which could add up when you factor in moving in and out of a truck, two different location fees, etc.) - why not just have the stuff moved once, if necessary have it moved directly into storage (or stored by the moving company) and then get it delivered to your new place when you arrive? When we looked into the pod option it was more expensive, especially if you're talking large quantities like that. Definitely try to get rid of as much stuff as you can - I know it's tough, but the more you get rid of the easier (and cheaper) your move will be.
Our most recent move had a set-price, so we knew exactly what we were paying. Our move before that was based on weight, and we did end up paying more than they'd thought. We had a TON of books, though.
We moved from Orange County to Michigan and learned a few things.
Getting rid of stuff generally does not pay off. The reduction in price is inconsequential compared to the cost of replacing things, so if your stuff is decent, keep it. Getting rid of a few things really saves nothing. The exception is if you can sell off or get rid of a huge quantity of stuff; or if your stuff is junky - then just get rid of all of it.
The truck is going from your old house to your new house anyway. Your stufff will presumably fill more than half of hte truck, so you will not get any meaningful costs savings by selling off a few things. We considered leaving our washer and dryer behind but there was no reduction in the moving cost at all.
We shopped around for a mover. Cheapest is not always the best choice. You may save money moving, but spend it rpelacing and repairing your things instead. We had 7 people in our household and a lot of antique furniture.
The movers packed about half of our stuff, loaded everything and delivered everything. OUr junk fulled about 85% of the truck. The cost was $11,500, I think. The original quote was $13,000 but we managed to trim some off of that, by negotiating and by packing a lot of stuff ourselves.
It would have been more, but our neighbors worked almost round the clock to help us pack, so the movers packed half or less of the boxes. Be careful if you have the movers pack your things. They charge by the box. We found boxes where a crescent wrench was wrapped in huge bundles of paper and put into a box with nothing else. The took the garbage out of a trash can, wrapped it up to protect it and put it into a box. Another box had nothing but packing paper in it.
The downside of having your neighbors pack is that every time you go back to visit, you will hear jokes about how many unmatched socks you have in your household.
When we moved we had quite a few pets. My wife and kids, a cat, a bird and a lizard flew out so they could start school. I stayed to wrap things up and drove out with a freind, two dogs, a gekko, and a tarantula. I was supposed to drive out with three friends, but one bowed out when he learned that the tarantula was coming in the car. THe moving compnay would not bring liquids, so any liquid things that we wanted to bring had to go in my vehicle.
We looked into getting those POD thingys. They were more expensive in the long run, plus you have to load them yourself. (That is why they were more expensive, we would have had to rent them for a long time to do all of the laoding and unloading).
We considered getting rid of everything and just rplacing it. However we had a lot of irreplaceable antique furniture and some family heirlooms. By the time we included all of that, there was no snes in getting rid of anyhting that we liked. We did get rid of a ton of stuff, but that was just becuase we did nto want it anymore and saw no reasons to go through the effort of hauling and storing it.
We moved from Orange County to Michigan and learned a few things.
Getting rid of stuff generally does not pay off. The reduction in price is inconsequential compared to the cost of replacing things, so if your stuff is decent, keep it. Getting rid of a few things really saves nothing. The exception is if you can sell off or get rid of a huge quantity of stuff; or if your stuff is junky - then just get rid of all of it.
The truck is going from your old house to your new house anyway. Your stufff will presumably fill more than half of hte truck, so you will not get any meaningful costs savings by selling off a few things. We considered leaving our washer and dryer behind but there was no reduction in the moving cost at all.
We shopped around for a mover. Cheapest is not always the best choice. You may save money moving, but spend it rpelacing and repairing your things instead. We had 7 people in our household and a lot of antique furniture.
The movers packed about half of our stuff, loaded everything and delivered everything. OUr junk fulled about 85% of the truck. The cost was $11,500, I think. The original quote was $13,000 but we managed to trim some off of that, by negotiating and by packing a lot of stuff ourselves.
It would have been more, but our neighbors worked almost round the clock to help us pack, so the movers packed half or less of the boxes. Be careful if you have the movers pack your things. They charge by the box. We found boxes where a crescent wrench was wrapped in huge bundles of paper and put into a box with nothing else. The took the garbage out of a trash can, wrapped it up to protect it and put it into a box. Another box had nothing but packing paper in it.
The downside of having your neighbors pack is that every time you go back to visit, you will hear jokes about how many unmatched socks you have in your household.
When we moved we had quite a few pets. My wife and kids, a cat, a bird and a lizard flew out so they could start school. I stayed to wrap things up and drove out with a freind, two dogs, a gekko, and a tarantula. I was supposed to drive out with three friends, but one bowed out when he learned that the tarantula was coming in the car. THe moving compnay would not bring liquids, so any liquid things that we wanted to bring had to go in my vehicle.
We looked into getting those POD thingys. They were more expensive in the long run, plus you have to load them yourself. (That is why they were more expensive, we would have had to rent them for a long time to do all of the laoding and unloading).
We considered getting rid of everything and just rplacing it. However we had a lot of irreplaceable antique furniture and some family heirlooms. By the time we included all of that, there was no snes in getting rid of anyhting that we liked. We did get rid of a ton of stuff, but that was just becuase we did nto want it anymore and saw no reasons to go through the effort of hauling and storing it.
Thanks for the VERY funny and informative response! Can I ask you, was the stuff you packed, yourselves insured by the moving company at least for loss? And do you remember the name of the company who moved you and if you would use them again if needed? DM me if you prefer. Thanks.
We've always done the pack-ourselves, have the moving company put it in the truck/drive. When we most recently made a long-distance move the company said that they could provide storage for us, with one month free. We ended up not needing that, but the option was nice. I think at the very least you could eliminate the need for storage on both ends (which could add up when you factor in moving in and out of a truck, two different location fees, etc.) - why not just have the stuff moved once, if necessary have it moved directly into storage (or stored by the moving company) and then get it delivered to your new place when you arrive? When we looked into the pod option it was more expensive, especially if you're talking large quantities like that. Definitely try to get rid of as much stuff as you can - I know it's tough, but the more you get rid of the easier (and cheaper) your move will be.
Our most recent move had a set-price, so we knew exactly what we were paying. Our move before that was based on weight, and we did end up paying more than they'd thought. We had a TON of books, though.
Good suggestion about only storing the stuff at one end. I'll check into it.
Thanks for the VERY funny and informative response! Can I ask you, was the stuff you packed, yourselves insured by the moving company at least for loss? And do you remember the name of the company who moved you and if you would use them again if needed? DM me if you prefer. Thanks.
It was insured. We did nto have a complete inventory though. We had over 500 boxes and over 700 items altogether. Making an inventory list was not practical. There was a lis of sorts but it said Box 432 - stuff; Box 453 - stuff. (Actually I think that it said household items. We made them list anything that was particularly valuable and took digital pictures of all sides of it so that we could tract anything that was damaged.
I will look up the name of the moving company. I would have said that we woudl use them again until I found the box with a carefully wrapped crescent wrench and nothing else, or teh box of garbage, or the box of nothing. To me that is dishonest and shows a lack of management. Who was watching these people?
Thy broke a few things, but becuase our move was complicated, we had them put everything into the garage of a rental house that we intended to move from in a few months. Two years later, we unpacked and discovered some broken things and those boxes where they did stupid things that cheated on the box count. Too late by then to be worth doing anything about it.
Lesson we learned - unpack everything right away even if you just put it back into the box.
If you are traveling during the spring/summer be sure and make reservations ahead of time. I learned this lesson the hard way during one of my cross-country moves from NY to California one summer. No reservations meant I had to add several hours to my drive each night looking for a room, often the only thing available was a small room in a not so nice motel. There were no vacancies for miles on end since everyone travels during the summer. Lot's of conventions and such all across the country. I was exhausted since it took me until midnight most nights to find a room after driving an entire day.
Judging from your description of your home and items you want to ship, you’re going to need more than one 53’ long tractor trailer unit to transport everything to Maine. The moving industry enters its peak season in May. The longer you wait to make your plans the more expensive it can become.
Suggest that you quickly obtain at least three in-home estimates from legitimate local service providers and ask them to quote their transportation rates based on everything in your home, the contents of your storage lockers, and the dimensions of the vehicles that you want to ship. Since they can’t see what’s in the storage units, most reputable companies will only give you an actual weight estimate. Scammers will tell you what you want to hear.
Request the quote to include the price for storage-in-transit (SIT) at both origin and destination. SIT rates will be much cheaper in Maine but because some of your furniture is already in storage in California you can compare costs.
Plan to ship the vehicles via a licensed car carrier. It’s much cheaper than putting them inside a van.
The best way to pack is to purge. Moving is a great excuse to clean your closets. Bet your family hasn’t used most of the stuff in storage for at least a year. It doesn’t make economic sense to pay to take something out of storage, transport it 3200 miles and then place it back into long term storage. Have a moving sale and get rid of as much as possible. Donate what you don’t sell. Your final bill may very well approach $30K.
Okay, can't help myself today but I would most probably put on my coat an then go to the coast
Sorry for the above, I don't have any experience with a coast to coast move so can't help you there
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