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What shall I get rid of and what should I bring? I think it would be cheapest to just sell and re-buy most things (without sentimental value) including cars. That's a step or two ahead of myself but i'm curious about your thoughts.
i was contemplating the same thing when i moved, but i thought it would cost more since you will never make back what you paid on the things you are selling--especially cars, and then you will have to rebuy everything....so we took everything with us. although i only moved 500 miles. CA is a bit farther
if you have a gas dryer, you can leave it. most of them here, unless you are in a custom built, are electric. if you are buying a home rather than renting, they usually come with a microwave.
The cheapest way I found to move was using a freight hauler - they leave some room in their semis to load personal belongings, with big partitions between your stuff and their stuff. Kind of like UHaul where you load and unload, but a lot cheaper than UHaul and you don't have to drive the truck. I can't remember the name of the one we used, but it's something to look into.
The cheapest way I found to move was using a freight hauler - they leave some room in their semis to load personal belongings, with big partitions between your stuff and their stuff.
Did you remember how you found a freight hauler who will take household goods? Yellow pages? That sounds like a perfect solution for my nephew and his wife to move a 1 bedroom apartment worth of furniture and tons of books! He's moving from Oregon to Texas for his med residency, so he's paying the bill!
I looked in the phone book under moving companies - I remember it took some calling around. Make sure to check their record with the BBB before paying! It did take about 7 days longer for them to get across than for us to drive, but it was worth it - we were able to drive the cars and not have to have those shipped.
What shall I get rid of and what should I bring? I think it would be cheapest to just sell and re-buy most things (without sentimental value) including cars. That's a step or two ahead of myself but i'm curious about your thoughts.
Of course, this is just my opinion, but if I had to move cross-country and then after arriving in that strange place I had to buy a car right away and furniture ... well, my head would implode from the stress. Afterall, you won't instinctively know where to find what you want. Plus, you really need to have a car here from the get-go just to get anywhere. Lastly, I doubt you'll actually save any money by selling your car there & then buying one here. Of course, you can check with car dealerships just to be sure.
If you want to start here with a "clean slate", then the additional stress may be worth it. I simply think that it's important to consider the cost to your sanity as well as your pocketbook.
I recently had clients that did a cross country move, as you are doing. They came from Orange County.
Because the move is so expensive, they also left behind most items that they felt could be easily replaced, such as their appliances (fridge, washer, dryer).
Furniture is reasonably priced here so if you can sell what you don't have sentimental value to, you may want to consider that.
I've always wanted to just sell EVERYTHING I don't have ties to and move into a new house with new EVERYTHING!!! But thats just me!
It depends on the car. If you have a $5000 car and you're able to sell it for at least $4500 and you're going to buy another $5000 car - it's a wash (if you ship it.)
If you have a BMW X5...I'd ship it.
If you 'know' you're going to buy a new car as soon as you get to the Triangle, consider checking out a place like CarMax in SoCal, to trade your current car in there, and pick up your new car in the Triangle (no shipping, no transfer costs).
I've moved from SoCal to the east coast several times. The first two times, I sold the car. The second two times, I shipped the car, and packed things in the trunk that I could afford to lose, but didn't want to pay other shipping fees for.
If your furniture isn't something you'll use in your new location, either sell it or donate it. (That's what I did when I moved this time, since I had only been in SoCal for 12 months on a contract job.)
I found that donating it worked out better for me than selling, and I just shipped the rest via AmTrack Freight and UPS.
AmTrack Freight is a great way to ship things. It's fast, and much cheaper than a moving company. You just need transportation on both ends of the trip.
ABF freight does this. i remember we got a quote from them early this year, they would drive from NJ, and give us something like 26 feet for less than $800.
of course they dont load or anything. but it turned out we needed waaayyyy more than 26 feet, so we didnt use them.
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