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I'm an adult now and moving for the first time since I got real furniture. Moving from upstate NY to DC. My current lease is up in May but I'm moving to a different state in August and need to stay here in the meantime. I'm not really sure what I should do for the move. Options I've considered -Paying movers to pack everything and store it -Packing everything myself into a POD or similar thing, paying them to store it and transport my stuff to the new place -Selling what furniture I can and storing the rest myself until the move I live alone currently in a 1 bedroom apartment. My bedroom furniture is lovely ikea stuff that I've had for years. The bed frame and dresser have both already been moved like 5 times. The living room furniture is expensive real furniture. That's basically all the furniture I have. Wherever I move to in the fall will probably be with roommates so I'm not sure what I'll have room to bring. I really have no idea what to do though. If I sold stuff, I could probably fit the rest in a fairly small storage space for the few months while I sublet and then take it all with me in a tiny moving truck. But it will probably be a long time before I can afford real, new furniture again and the stuff I have is pretty nice. Advice?
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Mar 30, 2016 06:56
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POWERBALL posted:I'm an adult now and moving for the first time since I got real furniture. Moving from upstate NY to DC. My current lease is up in May but I'm moving to a different state in August and need to stay here in the meantime. I'm not really sure what I should do for the move. Depends, where are you living during the gap? Are you couch surfing, or are you crashing with your parents and can store your stuff in their garage? Have you priced out the different options you're asking about? Would it be cheaper to just buy new furniture at your new place rather than paying storage costs?
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Mar 30, 2016 09:07
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I moved from Texas to DC last August, we loaded up all of our stuff in a UHAUL and then paid movers to unload everything into the apartment after we drove there. Of course our townhouses had a good amount of street parking and an actual parking lot, which isn't always the norm in DC. That method worked well for us though.
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Mar 30, 2016 15:52
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thrakkorzog posted:Depends, where are you living during the gap? Are you couch surfing, or are you crashing with your parents and can store your stuff in their garage? Have you priced out the different options you're asking about? Would it be cheaper to just buy new furniture at your new place rather than paying storage costs? I haven't really priced anything out and storing things with family isn't really an option. Buying new furniture might be cheaper actually. I'm planning on subletting in my current city during the gap. Maybe my next step is getting a bunch of quotes from people?
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Mar 30, 2016 16:19
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Movers are a huge help but of course they don't come cheap. Same with storage... paying good money to store bad furniture just doesn't make sense. With the money you save in movers and storage space, you can buy new furniture. Or do without and pocket the savings. Look at each item and ask, "Would I buy this again." Because essentially that is what you'll be doing. The larger and more crappy the item, the more inclined you should be to dump it.
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Mar 30, 2016 22:39
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I don't know how much your real furniture costs but often it's worth the hassle and expense saved to just sell/throw away everything. If you had said "it's all Ikea" I would have unequivocally said just throw it all in the dumpster and don't worry about it.
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Mar 30, 2016 23:27
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I would see how much you need to store and what the cheapest storage unit will cost you and see how it works financially. If you spent 3-5K on the living room you might want to keep it and a storage unit might be $50/mo, never know. Sheep-Goats posted:I don't know how much your real furniture costs but often it's worth the hassle and expense saved to just sell/throw away everything. If you had said "it's all Ikea" I would have unequivocally said just throw it all in the dumpster and don't worry about it. You could easily get some money for ikea stuff on CL.
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Mar 31, 2016 00:50
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I just moved from DC to Austin TX in February via a moving company. Firstly, the actual rate we ended up paying was easily 3x what they'd quoted. Part of the problem was they charged via weight and/or cubic space. The movers themselves weren't really that helpful, as they broke a few bookcases and put a huge gash in one of my guitar cases. I made a claim to their service, but am still waiting to hear back over a month later. They also dumped off a ton of packing materials trash at my new place, hiding it all in the garage. Even though I was already planning on tipping well, they flat-out told me to give each of them $30 as a tip before they were half-way done. If I were to do it again, I'd get rid of any furniture that wasn't completely sentimental or really valuable, and throw the rest into a POD.
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Mar 31, 2016 02:27
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well this thread has been really helpful bc i think im just gonna ditch my furniture and store everything else
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Mar 31, 2016 05:03
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I moved from New Orleans to NYC a couple years ago. It's a 20 hour drive and I didn't have much time so I just hired a moving company, it cost about $4500 with about the average amount of furniture you'd expect from a young couple. I didn't have any issues with the movers, they did a pretty good job and the price they quoted me was the final price. Remember that if you're moving for work it is all tax deductible. You will get a lot of the costs back, I'm not sure about storage costs but you might be able to deduct that as well. If you don't have the extra cash lying around then your best bet is probably what you said, sell your furniture and move the rest of your stuff yourself. If you're going to hire movers, I think the only problem I had was that I didn't book them far enough in advance. For the first 2 months in my new apartment, the only things I had were a laptop, a chair, and a plastic cup.
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Apr 1, 2016 02:20
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I had to move essentially across the country a couple years ago, from upstate NY to Bay Area CA. My employer paid for the relocation costs, but honestly it would have been worth it to hire movers anyways. It can be hard to find movers that have good reviews, so you're probably gonna end up gambling a bit, but having people load all of my poo poo into a truck without me needing to do anything and then having somebody else drive it all across the country (in the heart of winter) really reduced my stress level a lot. Definitely try to reduce the amount of stuff you have before you move; if you have a lovely desk or whatever, it's not gonna be worth the cost to move it. Just buy a new, slightly nicer lovely desk when you get to your new place. The advantage of movers is that a) they will have a shitload of packing material, b) they will have specialty boxes for e.g. your TV or whatever, and c) they will just pick up all of your poo poo and put it in the truck, which is one of the lousiest parts of moving. If you want, they'll even pack up your stuff; the last time I moved, I had them pack up my kitchen for me, because I had previously expressed to them that I had a bunch of fragile glassware and china and the worst case scenario was that some of it would break during the move. They packed it all up very carefully with a boatload of packing materials, and everything survived the move unbroken. At this point, whenever I need to move, even if it's just intercity, I'm just gonna pay movers to do it. Asking your friends for help is fine when you're twenty, but it's bullshit once you have a real job.
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Apr 1, 2016 17:05
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I just helped a friend move about an 8 hour drive away. She rented a Budget truck for a 1-way drive with a car dolly to pull her vehicle behind it, got a few friends together to load the truck and just drove it down. She did have a slightly larger apartment lined up where she was moving though, so plenty of space for all of her stuff waiting for her.
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Apr 2, 2016 04:06
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Be incredibility careful with movers, there are a fuckton of lovely/scammy ones: you're paying them to rob your house, literally sometimes http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/11/your-money/connecting-the-dots-to-catch-the-rogue-movers.html stringball fucked around with this message at 03:42 on Apr 3, 2016 |
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Apr 3, 2016 03:39
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I hope op is ok with me piggy-backing a little in his thread to get some info myself about a long move with a small amount of things and 1 small car. If it's not cool, please ignore me. I may be moving across the country soon and I already drove one way a few years ago and can't stand the idea of doing it again. I'm talking coast to coast. Good news is my new [possible] job is offering to reimburse my move up to 5k, but I have to pay for it initially (on top of buying out my lease, getting a new one, hotel while apartment hunting, etc.) That's a large initial cost for me. Cool thing is 99% of my furniture is cheap and easily replaceable. So how much would you guys estimate it would cost to ship my small sedan and let's say a pickup-truck-sized load of stuff from AZ to SC so I can just fly? Every site I see won't get me a quote without all my contact info and I don't want to do that yet. Budget just for shipping car and things: about 2k. Can I make it happen with that? Rolo fucked around with this message at 21:41 on May 18, 2016 |
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May 18, 2016 21:37
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I moved from DC to central Texas then central Texas to Nebraska and we've got another long haul move to location TBD this time next year. The first time I had no real furniture, just clothes and kitchen stuff, so I ditched the furniture except a chair or two and excess kitchen poo poo and just took 7 feet of an ABF truck for under $1000, IIRC it was about $750 total. Second time we had more poo poo but we used ABF U-Pack again and used up 3/4 of the truck and paid closer to $2000. ABF U-Pack is awesome and I recommend them to everyone who's doing a long distance move. Unless we get forced into using some other company next move I'm planning on using them again and I have a moving crew picked out I wanna use again. Before you move:
Bring with you in your car:
When you get there:
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May 18, 2016 23:22
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PODs work pretty well. If it's just a one bedroom apt, you can load it by yourself in no time and just call them to pick up or drop off when you're ready. Gives you lots of time. Just pack up one box at a time and have them hang onto your stuff until your actual move. That's what I did last time and it worked great.
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May 29, 2016 01:05
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mostlygray posted:PODs work pretty well. If it's just a one bedroom apt, you can load it by yourself in no time and just call them to pick up or drop off when you're ready. Gives you lots of time. Just pack up one box at a time and have them hang onto your stuff until your actual move. That's what I did last time and it worked great. How much did it cost you?
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May 29, 2016 02:09
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Never have your car shipped. I did it once and got it back covered in 3 inches of gravel in places, lots of little scratches and chips. Getting it repainted was going to be about $10k, and they said it'd still never be the same. In the end, I decided to take the $2,500 that it was estimated I lost in resale value, plus $400 for to get the grease all over the inside cleaned up. Still have a little stain on the ceiling they weren't able to get out. Toss or sell all of your furniture unless you really can't part with it. It's a pain in the rear end, it's expensive, and some of it will get damaged. You'll lose screws. Something won't fit in your new place, so you'll end up storing it or selling it anyway. Or it won't be enough for the new place, so you'll have to match the old stuff with new. If your new job is offering relo and you can take cash or have them move stuff, take the cash. I did the opposite. It cost $17k for them to move me, or I could have taken $15k cash. The next time I moved from Seattle to Denver, I followed my own advice, spent $1,500 to move and $800 to fill my new place with IKEA that I won't care about next time I move. If your new place is more than 1/4 your income, definitely do the IKEA thing so you don't have to move and destroy a bunch of nice stuff when they jack up your rent. Wait until you've been in place a year or two before buying nice things, and even then only if you think you'll be there for 10 years. PODs are great, can't recommend 'em enough. If you've got a place to park it, you can rent it for a month pretty cheap, or even have them hold onto it. e: Also, gently caress cardboard boxes. Go to Costco or something and get a bunch of those stackable plastic storage bins. No more ripped tape, a billion times easier to carry, and you can use them as closet organizers. wellwhoopdedooo fucked around with this message at 23:33 on May 30, 2016 |
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May 30, 2016 23:29
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This is totally unrelated to the stuff you're worrying about and may not apply to all states, but if you own a vehicle, make sure you file an address change with the DMV, otherwise the state may come after you for unpaid vehicle registration renewal fees and property taxes. (I had this happen to me and only found out when a garnishment was filed with my company's office in my former state.)
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May 31, 2016 02:22
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I did a CA to NY move a decade ago. I was reimbursed by my employer up to a 3k limit; it probably cost $1500 more than that. Beyond seconding things that have already been said: In addition to identity stuff, heirlooms, TP: keep a set of sheets and towels out for travel. You'll be exhausted at your new place and you will want a shower and sleep without having to dig through a bunch of boxes. If your furniture is on its last legs and you don't know where you'll be moving it to, scrap it and start over. In addition, go through as much of your other stuff as possible and trash, donate, or sell any non-necessities. Otherwise, you'll be unpacking and realizing that you just paid more to move DVDs you never watch than you paid for the DVDs in the first place. This is a great time to minimize paper files, junk mismatched dishes, ditch clothes you keep because you paid for them and not because you like or wear them, etc. Label boxes or bins but not with a specific list on the box - give it a room name (bathroom, kitchen..) and a number. Keep an inventory of contents for yourself. Check on insurance - does your renter's policy cover you during a move? If you go with a moving co, what's their insurance and what's their reputation? Update your voter registration! If you have any online accounts with stored shipping info and one-click ordering, like Amazon, be sure to update those, too. Never you mind fucked around with this message at 12:15 on Jun 2, 2016 |
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May 31, 2016 18:47
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tl;dr: drat everyone is doing Austin->DC-Austin, who's a good company for just a medium cargo van (whatever is smaller than a 10' moving truck) to go one-way to Austin over 2-3 days? God drat, is *every* goon moving between DC and Austin? I'm also about to move from DC back to Austin. Basically everything I have that's worth moving fits inside a closet that's maybe 5x10'; if I had any less stuff or didn't have some semi-fragile musical instruments I'd consider just USPSing everything to myself. I looked at PODs and "by the foot in the cargo truck" options but the cheapest/smallest are still like $1k. Then I looked at a UHaul 10' truck and that's around $1k too, but I have full control of my stuff at all times, no shipping delay, don't need an airplane ticket or to pay for an extra suitcase or two for things I don't want to ship (or risk gear being damaged in either), which to me might balance out $300 in gas and $75/night for two nights on the road (23hr drive to ATX, so two hard days or three easy). Thinking on it more though, if I had a 10' truck I'd take some castoff semi-cool old furniture I've accumulated from neighbors who ditched it (just stuck to hardwood stuff, no Ikea), but none of it is worth jack so if I can save a few hundred, I'd do totally fine with just a windowless cargo-van. Is there any goon-recommended place to rent a cargo van from for a one-way trip? My impression is that a cargo van company would also be less likely to make me pay for 6 days (and UHaul won't refund you for doing it quicker) which is absurdly long for that drive. EDIT: when I moved Austin-DC in 2009, I USPSed maybe a dozen boxes to myself and moved all the rest in a Toyota Corolla if that gives any idea. Currently I have maybe 10 more boxes, and while I'd easily abandon all my furniture, if I can fit it I wouldn't mind taking a few shelves and tables and things that are easy to stack boxes on/around so don't take up much positive space. TapTheForwardAssist fucked around with this message at 00:06 on Jun 1, 2016 |
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Jun 1, 2016 00:03
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Could you rent a mini-van from a car rental agency? They also rent 15 passenger vans but the expense would be very close to an actual moving truck.
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Jun 1, 2016 07:14
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Do you not have your own car? I was going to suggest a UHaul trailer. Are you moving for work/have friends who work at large companies on either end? I've gotten some stuff to myself using corporate FedEx accounts on both ends for fairly cheap/free.
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Jun 1, 2016 23:27
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Aquatic Giraffe posted:Do you not have your own car? I was going to suggest a UHaul trailer. Don't own a car, sold it when I moved into DC proper, and besides been living overseas. I work for a very small company, and anyways I'm less concerned about the stuff I can ship like books (Media Rate) but mostly concerned about music gear, tools and specialized equipment, documents, etc. Leaning heavily towards trying to rent a large van for a one way move as most viable option.
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Jun 1, 2016 23:33
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How heavy is your backpack? Reduce your life down to needs, not wants. Take the needs, but no more than you can carry. Those "needs" you decided were wants? If you have a social support network (and I hope you do), leave it with them. Friends, family, whatever. Leave your hardest to move but most useful stuff and most valuable stuff with your hardest off parts of your social support network. After you move you'll say "eh keep it" and you'll both be better. After that just pitch it.
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Jun 2, 2016 02:30
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stringball posted:Be incredibility careful with movers, there are a fuckton of lovely/scammy ones: you're paying them to rob your house, literally sometimes You can check moving companies out on this site: https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/consumer-protection/household-goods/protect-your-move
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Jun 2, 2016 06:57
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wellwhoopdedooo posted:e: Also, gently caress cardboard boxes. Go to Costco or something and get a bunch of those stackable plastic storage bins. No more ripped tape, a billion times easier to carry, and you can use them as closet organizers. This can't be repeated enough; plastic totes are pretty sturdy and last basically forever. They also don't get soaked and disintegrate in water so raining doesn't prevent you from doing anything.
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Jun 6, 2016 11:02
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Movers actually prefer cardboard boxes since totes have a tendency to crack. I used totes for a few moves and most of mine are pretty beat up and cracked at this point. Boxes have a little bit of squish so if something presses up against it in the truck it has some give rather than cracking and breaking.
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Jun 6, 2016 13:12
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