Moving costs (Page 2)

YES about getting rid of as much as you can, especially if you have someone move you.  Typically, they charge by the pound.

So me, not thinking, had them pack a crappy old particle board desk and table, snow shovel, yard fertilizer, and yes a cheap dumbbell set.  NONE of that I needed in Vegas and weighed a lot.  The thousands I spent getting robbed and packing stuff I didn't need I could have used on new stuff.  I'm sure I paid more to move 100lbs of dumbbells cost more than just getting new ones there.  Or the particle board entertainment center, etc.

Again, get your own boxes tape if you have someone move you.

They charged me for each box they used (more than getting them from Uhaul, BTW), and guess what?  They were not even new boxes.  They were left over from a previous move they did.  They just used someone else's boxes, and charged me new for them.  I only noticed this AFTER they delivered my stuff.

They charged me about 20 bucks worth of bubble wrap and tape to protect a $20 target halogen lamp.  Not their fault, but again, I should have thought, get the cheap stuff new when I get there.

They charged me for something like 70 rolls of tape, but made the mistake of leaving the spent rolls and I only counted 35 or so.  They COULD have take the other 35 with them, but they pretty much left all their trash for me to take care of.

They made up some story of why they were late getting me my stuff back to me by saying they were in California to drop someone else's stuff off first, but when I looked at the date of the scale, it says they were in Colorado that day, not California.  When I called them out on it, we went round and round and they tried to make up some excuse.  By then, I was glad to have my stuff and just wanted to be done with them, so let it go.

I often wondered if they weighed my stuff WITH someone else's and charged us both for the double weight.  How would I ever really know how much my stuff weighed?

I noticed after I unpacked that a couple bottle of my medication (Vicodin) were mysteriously empty...

I was quoted ab out $2500.  I had $1000 allowance from work, so I figured it was worth it.  All said and done, it cost me closer to 7k.  That any my transmission blew up on my SUV on the same move, I ended up going 10k or more in the hole to move to Vegas.  Thank the stars the job market was so good I was able to recoup it pretty fast compared to staying where I was.

And that's not even half of it.

Movers are scam artists.  Period.  I HATE movers.

I will just say this, and it will offend some of the people that live in the Chicago Suburbs.  I grew up in the Chicago suburbs (Wheaton to be exact).  Unless my job was out there, you couldn't pay me to live in the burbs, that is why I spent the last 15 years in the city.  I know that not everybody feels the same way I do, but I would not be happy living out there.  In fact, we are having a kid in the end of February and have decided to build a new place in the city.   We will be here for the long haul.  

You will have to take the train into the city each day to get to your job, or fight horrendous traffic and pay a huge parking expense to drive into the city.  I have had my car for 8 years and only have 50k miles on it, I put gas in it once a month tops.  The one benefit of the suburbs is that riding is much easier and safer. You can just go out your door and ride.  Can't do that in the city as easily.   

If you are going to move to Illinois, you should move into the city and take full advantage of it.  You can go out at night and hit the restaurants\bars\clubs and not worry about driving home or having to crash in somebodies spare room.  It is a great place to meet new people that are closer to your age and to just take advantage of everything the city has to offer.  Yes, there are warts in the city and it is expensive, but it is fun to live here.  

I just recently moved one way for a job. Craigslist worked absolute wonders on simplifying life a bit. It also paid for gas/etc...

Also, it might have been mentioned before, some posts were a bit long and I didn't get through them all, but, moving expense are tax deductible. Keep those receipts!

Also, you should really beat up on HR (Unless that's where you will be working) to get some cost covered. Sounds to me like they are being bullies.

If you decide to rent a trailer, or a truck, pit the moving companies against each other.  Check EVERY mover you can think of, U-Haul, Penske, Budget, etc...  They WILL lower their prices, our truck rental for our 2000+ mile move from Fond Du Lac, WI to Portland, OR should have been $1,500-1700 (according to the websites), but my wife talked them down to only about $700 I believe (I'd have to pull the receipts for the exact amounts).  Sell EVERYTHING you can.  We downsized from 2 BR to 1 BR and we thought we got rid of a lot of stuff, we transported stuff 2000 miles that we ended up getting rid of after the fact.

Also, budget a TON extra for gas, you will spend more than you think, and try to coordinate so that you have time to unpack before it gets dark, or at least get your bed out so you have something to sleep on.

If you decide to go with the trailer behind your SUV route be very careful. It is very easy to overload it and it can take a huge toll on your car. If your SUV is only rated to tow 5k I am guessing it is small to mid-size. Just the weight of the largest rental trailer and the wind will be enough to put a strain on your car, which will usually show up in the form of costly transmission repairs. 

Depends on how much stuff you have and what you drive, but renting a truck may be a safer bet. Would suck to save money up front then spend all of it and more on fixing your car.

Best bang for your buck is a 24-26' truck with a lift-gate from Ryder or Penske. 

The catch is that lift trucks almost always have to be returned to the same depot, so you have to pay for fuel twice.

When I moved from Missouri to Virginia back in October I did a round trip in a Penske with my brother, and then loaded up the F250 and a U-haul trailer with the rest (and the family.)

WAY cheaper than any moving company, and less than the cost of shipping an entire tractor-trailer.

I think I was in it about $1500 (maybe $2k) for the rental truck, mileage and fuel 2 ways, U-haul trailer and gas for the 2nd drive out.

If you can talk a friend into going with and driving the truck back or can fly yourself back to your destination after the return trip with the truck, I'd say definitely look into renting the big lift trucks.

We just moved last year. It was the 4th? 5th? 8th move in 5-6 years? 

We rented a Budget rental moving truck. $500 cheaper than UHaul or Penske. Fully covered, they'll pick you up, move your sh*t to another truck if theirs breaks down. We moved 1000miles and had no problems. Gas was just outrageous going that far though.

I sold my nicer things on Craigslist before I moved. I also got moving boxes and packing materials free there as well. Go to the moving/garagesale/free section for this. Pass the favor along when you're unpacking put a post up for "free moving boxes", doesn't matter if they're broken down or not. Don't forget several rolls of packing tape. I also used tons of race shirts to pack valuables and other breakable things. It's FREE and don't buy stuffing & padding. 

The rest of my stuff that was too big to move (since we downsized) I had a garage sale, also advertised on CL.

And the BEST...moving men. Paid about $50 for 2 guys to load the truck. From Craigslist, in the "labor" section I believe. It was a legit deal, they were professional. They ended up bringing 3 guys and were done in 2 hours. The whole house. I gave them $100 for the effort AND they listened to my preferences and were careful. WORTH the money. Big time. Unloading we had family helping, but I will gladly pay  to do that again. Seriously. At least look into it. Best moving money we spent, hands down. 

GOOD LUCK!!! 

My move a few years ago, was paid completely by me :-(

We stuffed my vehicle full and then I used UBF for the rest of the things. http://www.upack.com/ However I would highly recommend you and/or having someone else loading the things. I had them do it and they did a terrible job. I had pretty much everything in plastic containers and I lost quite a few because they put heavy stuff on top. It was cheaper than driving a U-haul. (Luckily I think a bent lamp was all of the stuff that got broken.)

However the enclosed trailer is a good option. If you are downsizing than a trailer may also be a good thing because you can only fit so much. Some things are easy to replace, but others will end up costing you a bit more.