Our move from Texas to Arizona...on a budget! (rental, trucks, furniture)

[MBryant23]

My husband, myself, my niece (who is 20) and our 3 dogs moved 1,200 miles across the country from south Texas to Phoenix, AZ. We did this on a very tight budget as well. I don't think many will believe how little we actually spent but I did months of research, planning and comparing prices to get us here.

The trip took us 3 days total. We picked up our 16 foot Budget rental truck last Tuesday loaded it up in about 4-5 hours with little breaks in between with rain and then went back to pick up the tow dolly for my second car.

Here is where the problems came in. The tow dolly we were given was missing a blinker/brake light and I didn't even think about it until we pulled it off the parking lot. My nieces step dad pointed that out. So because the rental places were closed we spent about 30 minutes on the phone trying to get the issue resolved. The first person said we could drop it off in front of the Budget rental place and we were liable if anything happened. But we needed to leave! So my niece's step dad got on the phone for me and solved the problem. We left it with him and roadside assistance came to pick up later the next morning. I was refunded the money, but the roadside assistance people said from the pictures it shouldn't have even left the lot. There was a new tire, but the previous tire had a blow out and took the light with it. That was a fun mess.


We got on the road really late, around 8pm or so. We drove as long as we could but my husband was tired so we stopped for the night around 1:30am. Drove some more the next day and had to stop again. Mind you, we had three dogs who needed potty/food breaks just like we did. Oh and gas...big rental trucks are fun when it comes to gas.

So after 2 nights we finally got to our rental house in Phoenix, AZ. We were tired and unloaded necessities and just bought an air mattress to sleep on for the night since our mattresses were further back in the truck. Unloading didn't take very long, but since we were not used to the dry heat (we come from a very humid area) we waited until night to unload.

Otherwise, we had no major setbacks, even though Budget claims they gave us a truck with a bad starter (we were told this AFTER we had the truck loaded but we had no issues). Well, I take that back, we did leave my 1996 Honda back in Texas with my dad as the brakes were bad and wouldn't have made the trip. I'm calling Budget and asking for extra compensation on that issue.

I would have to go back and figure out how much we spent on gas, but I am estimating between 300 and 450 for the truck and our car (which gets 30mpg on the highway).


Our expenses for the trip, besides gas, included 175 for hotel rooms for both nights, probably 50 bucks or so for food (we mostly got fast food), the Budget truck minus the tow dolly was 341 dollars (much cheaper than what a lot people seem to get them for), and we spent 4600 dollars to move into our house with 3 months rent in advance and all deposits (including electricity and water setup fees).


The time change is still taking some getting used to but I really like the difference I feel in waking up refreshed, which is never how I felt in south Texas. I also enjoy the dry heat, which is more bearable to me than the humidity we left behind.

Hopefully this will help someone who might be on a budget for moving.

[MBryant23]

I forgot to add how I saved so much with the Budget truck...I played with moving dates within a two week span and used a 20% off discount code from retailmenot.com (this website can be a lifesaver if you are on a budget).

[smilinpretty]

What size truck? How many rooms of furniture did you move?

[MBryant23]

We had a 16 foot truck but the 24 foot was the same exact price. It was MORE expensive by 50 dollars or so to rent the 10 foot truck. We moved a king size mattress/box springs, a twin mattress/box spring with frame, a medium sized desk, standard 6 drawer dresser, and about 50 medium to large boxes. We bagged up most of our clothing in trash bags for cushion for our 2 tvs and game systems and so we would know exactly where they were.

We really didn't have more than maybe a one bedroom apartment of stuff, but like I said that 24 foo truck was the same price and can hold a 2-3 bedroom house.