Cost of moving cross-country

[pammysue]

We are currently living in Chicago and DH just got a job in the mountains of Southern California. So early next year we will be moving and I have no idea about the costs to do this. We currently are living in a house with a king sized bed, double bed, crib, three regular sized dressers, dining room set, large living room couches and just a bunch of smaller normal family of four house stuff. DH's new job is going to cover $2500 of moving expenses. 

Please share your experience, tips, costs, etcs...

TIA

[sunnysandiegan]

Start calling around.

Call full service places (at least 3).

Call DIY truck rental places (at least 3).

There are other ways, too, but I'd start with these to get an idea of your first level of choices. These are the most common ways to do it, but you can get a lot more creative!

[philomom]

Get three quotes. Check something like Pods to see if it works from where you move to where you are going to.

Downsize everything now. Now's the time to get rid of stuff, especially heavy stuff that you haven't used much.

It cost me 12, 000 dollars to move from Atlanta to Portland, Or. That included shipping one car.

[SugarGlider]

We recently moved 2.5 hours... which isn't as far as you are going but...

I started de-cluttering and packing early.  I did the closets and kitchen stuff first.  Everything I went through I thought to myself  "Am I willing to drive 5 hours round trip to get this if it won't fit on the truck?"  

I bought cheap plastic plates, bowls, and cups and donated my heavy ones.  I minimized my kitchen stuff to what I needed.  This stuff can all be re-placed, and none of it was worth driving back for. 

We still ended up with a LOT of stuff but we ended up with a LOT less too.

[Chamomile Girl]

He needs to negotiate with his job for them to cover more of the expense because $2,500 is woefully inadequate no matter how you go about it.

When we moved from NorCal to Nebraska we went through a full service company (because that is what we were told we had to do to get any funding...I do not recommend this).  It cost over $8000, more if you count lodging and transportation costs, and the school covered $6000.

When we moved back from Neb to NorCal we went with PODS.  It still came to like $5000.   We don't really have that much stuff (although we have tons of books...probably literally) but it took two PODS to move us.  One part of the expense was that we had to hire professional movers to pack the pods (OMG what a nightmare that was) because I was 7 months pregnant and couldn't do anything.

I would actually recommend PODS.  They are very upfront about the costs and we had no issues with their customer service or their units.  We had to order a second pod at the last minute because we ran out of space (can you say STRESS??) but they got it right to us.  They were awesome.

I do not recommend renting a moving truck if you can help it.  Most trucks are not reliable, and you don't want to have to deal with it breaking down in the middle of the Rockies.  Or Nevada!

Any way you go though it is going to cost more than $2,500, so start negotiating now!

[pammysue]

Oh no! You guys are scaring me. I really had no idea about the costs. There is no room to negotiate, really because of the nature of the job. I am going to check into Pods. Luckily, we have lots of time, so that may be the best choice for us. 

[philomom]

Unfortunately, doing this yourself will result in very unhappy kids and lots of breakage. The distance is just too far.

The only other advice I have for you would be to get rid of as much as you can and re-buy on the other end eventually. Or put your stuff in storage and live without until you have time and money to fetch it.

[pammysue]

You're right. There is NO way we would be able to do this ourselves, especially cross country and thru the mountains. I got a qoute from PODS and it seemed reasonable from what I am hearing on this thread. We may just have to purge and purge and purge until we can get everything into one Pod.

[altoidmandy]

ABF Moving is another good option for having a company do the moving at a reasonable cost:  The basic idea is that they drop a truck at your house and you pack, then they pick it up and drive it to wherever you are going, then you have 3 days to unpack it.  You pay by the number of feet you use, which is nice because you don't have to worry about needing a little more space like you might with a Pod.  I assume there are other companies that do this, but we had good luck with them.  Good luck!

[heatherdeg]

I was going to say to try ABF, too.  And a friend of mine moved out of state, but lesser distance, and said PackRat was better than PODS all around (she's kind of fuss-budgety AND cheap).

We just moved from NJ to Aurora but it was a full-service move through Graebel and we didn't pay for it.  I agree: purge whatever you can first.  Above and beyond saving you money, it's a complete PITA to unpack a ton of stuff you're not using all the time.

[sunnysandiegan]

As a child, we moved from Northern VA to the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and then less than three years later to the Bay Area of NoCal. We had one car for the moves and my step-mom drove that with all us kids and pets and food and sleeping bags, etc in it. Dad drove the U-Haul with all of our stuff. When dad got lonely or mom went crazy, they'd pull over (CB radio back then!) and switch up the occupants. We didn't stay in hotels. We car-camped. Both were a lot of fun because our parents made it into an adventure and we played verbal games along the way...before all the electronic games of nowadays.

That said, we certainly had a LOT LESS STUFF back then than most people have today. We moved from a 3-bedroom apartment to a 3-bedroom SMALL house the first time and everything was pretty much the same from one place to the next. Pictures confirm my memory. We moved once in CO and again made a lateral move in square footage and number of rooms with the long-distance move. Everything was pretty much the same again. We didn't have a lot and it didn't take us that long to pack and move. We had two vehicles of some sort in all areas we lived, but they'd sell the worst or least family-friendly one before the moves. That is about the most change we had in terms of our belongings.

As an adult, I have moved across-country twice (West Coast to East Coast, and back...although different cities each time) and from NoCal to SoCal once (10-hour drive). The in-state move was easy. Just a pick-up truck and a hatchback car held everything I owned. One very long day and then I was in a hotel for a week until I found a place to live. Moving to the apt was several trips because the pick-up went back to NoCal and I only had the hatchback since I didn't know anyone yet. West Coast to East Coast was complicated (one long-term storage packing/moving team; one short-term packing/moving team; and immediate items in our car -- all paid by someone else). We drove across country in less than three days, which was insane and totally NOT FUN. When I returned to the West Coast, I did it very differently. I shipped a few boxes ahead of me of items I definitely wanted. (I had a place to live already.) The rest I packed in a [different] hatchback and I was off on an adventure. BEST TRIP OF MY LIFE!!!

I have only rented trucks for local moves. When I was pregnant (and didn't know it, but we had stopped trying NOT to...so we knew the potential was always there), we packed and unpacked everything. And I hired three guys with a moving van (word of mouth) to do the physical move. Best thing I ever did. I would move like this again in a heartbeat!

Anyway, my point is it doesn't have to be terrible and you can do it with kids and have fun without a ton of money. It's all in the attitude....(and reduction of stuff....LOL)

[hopefulfaith]

We've moved several times, and the best advice I can give is to downsize now.  If you don't love it/cherish it/use it...then donate it now.  Do it systematically, one room at a time.  Then, go back through again!  :)  There is nothing worse than packing/transporting/unpacking something to realize that you never really needed it in the first place.

I'm a book person, like a lot of people on here.  I had 22 boxes of books in our last big move.  It was too much, and I realized that my high-school copy of "The Scarlet Letter" wasn't all that sentimental to me and if I ever wanted to read it again, there would be a copy at my library.  I played that game with a lot of books and cut them by half -- it was painful at the time, but when I didn't look back, I realized that these were books I wasn't going to read again for a long time, if at all.

It is really helpful if you know where you're moving to before you go.  I usually don't --- we know the city, but we haven't been there before our move.  (nature of dh's work)  When I get to a new place, I have to start from scratch -- call utility companies to set up accounts, go to the post office, etc., etc. --- I have a big plastic box I use for my file cabinet contents, and that box doesn't get packed in the moving truck; I store it in my trunk.  That way, when I have to set up a new bank account or natural gas account, I can pull out any papers I need --- I got burned the first time I moved when they required something obscure that I had packed deep within boxes (pay stub?) and couldn't set up an account.

[coharmony]

With 2500 the cheapest option really is renting a moving van and doing it yourself. My husband and I have done this twice. First time Idaho to PA and this summer PA to Colorado.  My husband never broke down and it worked out okay although it was a whole lot of work.  With us, we had to pay for the move ourselves the first time and got a measly $1000 this time. Suffice it to say we are now hugely in debt from the move.  I just wanted to say that it can be done yourself if you're determined enough.

[Ydolem]

Well, use Budget. Heck of alot cheaper than U-Haul!!!! http://www.budgettruck.com/Home.aspx?partnerid=65&ICID=homepage_left_truck&IID=truck&EADID=bcom_home_15 Probably 26' truck. They have 20-25% off coupons if you subscribe online. Deposit and insurance for the truck. Mmmmm, maybe 150. The 26" trucks have 50 gal tanks. 6 miles per gal. I am serious about the 6 miles per gallon. :) You can figure gas here  http://www.roadtripamerica.com/fuel-cost-calculator.php   Don't forget to figure your other cars gas if you are driving instead of towing. Which I figure you will since you are bringing the gang. Figure your nights at hotels. Bring your own food in a cooler. Budget dinners only. You can keep stocking the cooler along the way. Hope this helps! We did that from Ottawa Illinois to Washington. Now we are moving to Oregon. Not as far but still pricey! Take care, good luck and BE CAREFUL!!!! You will LOVE California. Lived in San Luis Obispo for 2 years.....miss it! (POUT)

~~Melody

[zebra15]

Ive moved cross country twice and my honest advice is sell everything except your most cherished items (read important papers and what fits in your car) and start over.  Honestly that couch and mattress is going to cost you more to move than its worth.  Start downsizing, selling, decluttering and saving that $$ to start over.  You can probably ship a couple boxes ahead of time via UPS/FEDEX to someone with stuff in it and thats pretty cheap in comparision but when I hopefully relocate again I will be taking only the most important papers and items.

IMO moving companies and the like are huge money sucking animals.

[MovnMama]

OP, I am going out on a limb right now and saying - just consider - it might be better to keep your furniture and big items and move them rather than sell and start over. Just saying!

We moved from Portland OR to Alaska (!!!) and shipped everything... had to. No time to drive for two weeks! Had to start the job in less than 10 days. (traveling with a toddler). We sold everything. Bought all new. What a waste of money. When you think about it, you were able to hunt for a good buy on your [bedframe - bookshelf - kitchen organizer - desk - couch - chair - dresser...] while you had all the time in the world to accumulate and look for the right thing. When you move and you don't have the thing you need, well... it's supply and demand... if you need it now, you'll pay a premium. Versus watching craigslist for weeks until just the right used item comes up. AND conversely, your stuff that you'll be selling, you will be selling at a time when you NEED it gone and so you won't make much money at all from it. Supply and demand again. Bit us in the butt!

DH and I are not going to stay in AK (hopefully moving to Maine next fall! talk about a long move!), but we have discussed this at length. We will NOT sell and start over every again. Way more of a PITA than just hauling it all in a truck. We'll go budget or uhaul, tow our car, pack our tent, move in the summer and camp the whole way. It'll be fun! (I agree with an PP that it can be a fun and cool adventure - eye of the beholder and all that )

This is not to say that you shouldn't downsize. For sure, dump all the crap you don't need. Easily replaceable items (like dishes, etc, that aren't treasured, and books, and cheap particle board organizers) should go. I'm just saying, it was not worth it to buy new beds and bedframes and dressers and couches/chairs, etc. when I look back and the stuff we had was great, met our needs and honestly would've cost less to ship (even to AK). And we sold it dirt cheap because of our time frame!

But, I agree with a PP that books are the worst. True that - if a book is not an autographed orginal or something, make a list, save it in word, and put that list on a back up flash drive. You'll always know the books, they just won't be right there - it's like having a virtual library. I had a friend, very frugal, who did NOT purchase books, but got all the books he read (20+ a month!!!) from the library and kept track of all of them in Word. So easy and simple for making recommendations!

Congrats on the job and the move! How exciting!

[Thystle]

Do you have money to buy a house or to pay rent+deposit+ pet rent/deposit (if have pets)+utility deposits+ newplates and driver licenses?

The moving part may be moot. Where you are going to live in theory (pretty much anywhere in CA) will be MORE than $2500.

As for moving you can:

1.) Moving company  (all one price)

2.) PODS or Packrat or Public Storage pod (all one price)

3.) Rental truck (yes Budget costs less) But you have to pay gas for the truck and any other vehicle you are driving, plus motel and food costs if you are not driving straight through, plus truck insurance if you car insurance does not cover rentals.

4.) Get rid of everything bulky and rebuy in CA ($$$). Mail most books through post office. Get small truck or trailor and hook to your vehicle.

Those are your basic choices.

[shayinme]

Originally Posted by MovnMama 

OP, I am going out on a limb right now and saying - just consider - it might be better to keep your furniture and big items and move them rather than sell and start over. Just saying!

We moved from Portland OR to Alaska (!!!) and shipped everything... had to. No time to drive for two weeks! Had to start the job in less than 10 days. (traveling with a toddler). We sold everything. Bought all new. What a waste of money. When you think about it, you were able to hunt for a good buy on your [bedframe - bookshelf - kitchen organizer - desk - couch - chair - dresser...] while you had all the time in the world to accumulate and look for the right thing. When you move and you don't have the thing you need, well... it's supply and demand... if you need it now, you'll pay a premium. Versus watching craigslist for weeks until just the right used item comes up. AND conversely, your stuff that you'll be selling, you will be selling at a time when you NEED it gone and so you won't make much money at all from it. Supply and demand again. Bit us in the butt!

DH and I are not going to stay in AK (hopefully moving to Maine next fall! talk about a long move!), but we have discussed this at length. We will NOT sell and start over every again. Way more of a PITA than just hauling it all in a truck. We'll go budget or uhaul, tow our car, pack our tent, move in the summer and camp the whole way. It'll be fun! (I agree with an PP that it can be a fun and cool adventure - eye of the beholder and all that )

This is not to say that you shouldn't downsize. For sure, dump all the crap you don't need. Easily replaceable items (like dishes, etc, that aren't treasured, and books, and cheap particle board organizers) should go. I'm just saying, it was not worth it to buy new beds and bedframes and dressers and couches/chairs, etc. when I look back and the stuff we had was great, met our needs and honestly would've cost less to ship (even to AK). And we sold it dirt cheap because of our time frame!

But, I agree with a PP that books are the worst. True that - if a book is not an autographed orginal or something, make a list, save it in word, and put that list on a back up flash drive. You'll always know the books, they just won't be right there - it's like having a virtual library. I had a friend, very frugal, who did NOT purchase books, but got all the books he read (20+ a month!!!) from the library and kept track of all of them in Word. So easy and simple for making recommendations!

Congrats on the job and the move! How exciting!

I totally agree with this. We moved from Chicago to Maine 8 years ago and in deciding to go the cheap route got rid of all our stuff and figured we would just get new stuff when we settled. In the end that decision cost me more than had I just moved my stuff. Turned out that prices were vastly different, not nearly as many good thrift and bargain stores as we were accustomed to back home. I mean its been 8 years and there are still items that I am missing and that haven't been replaced due to lack of access.

Frankly $2500 is not a lot of money to move, I mean you are talking going a fair decent, since Chicago is the middle of the country. Best I can suggest is a DIY move also I am thinking that Southern Cali is a tad more costly than Chicago so how much would it cost to replace your stuff in CA?

[pammysue]

Originally Posted by heatherdeg 

I was going to say to try ABF, too.  And a friend of mine moved out of state, but lesser distance, and said PackRat was better than PODS all around (she's kind of fuss-budgety AND cheap).

We just moved from NJ to Aurora but it was a full-service move through Graebel and we didn't pay for it.  I agree: purge whatever you can first.  Above and beyond saving you money, it's a complete PITA to unpack a ton of stuff you're not using all the time.

I checked into ABF and PackRat, thanks for the suggestions. ABF is a little cheaper than PODS and PackRat gave me the wrong quote so I need to get back with them.

Originally Posted by Ydolem 

Well, use Budget. Heck of alot cheaper than U-Haul!!!! http://www.budgettruck.com/Home.aspx?partnerid=65&ICID=homepage_left_truck&IID=truck&EADID=bcom_home_15 Probably 26' truck. They have 20-25% off coupons if you subscribe online. Deposit and insurance for the truck. Mmmmm, maybe 150. The 26" trucks have 50 gal tanks. 6 miles per gal. I am serious about the 6 miles per gallon. :) You can figure gas here  http://www.roadtripamerica.com/fuel-cost-calculator.php   Don't forget to figure your other cars gas if you are driving instead of towing. Which I figure you will since you are bringing the gang. Figure your nights at hotels. Bring your own food in a cooler. Budget dinners only. You can keep stocking the cooler along the way. Hope this helps! We did that from Ottawa Illinois to Washington. Now we are moving to Oregon. Not as far but still pricey! Take care, good luck and BE CAREFUL!!!! You will LOVE California. Lived in San Luis Obispo for 2 years.....miss it! (POUT)

~~Melody

With the fuel costs, it does not seem that much cheaper to rent a truck. But Budget was the cheapest we looked into.

Originally Posted by zebra15 

Ive moved cross country twice and my honest advice is sell everything except your most cherished items (read important papers and what fits in your car) and start over.  Honestly that couch and mattress is going to cost you more to move than its worth.  Start downsizing, selling, decluttering and saving that $$ to start over.  You can probably ship a couple boxes ahead of time via UPS/FEDEX to someone with stuff in it and thats pretty cheap in comparision but when I hopefully relocate again I will be taking only the most important papers and items.

IMO moving companies and the like are huge money sucking animals.

Well, we are going to move the big items, king sized bed, crib, dressers, couches, antique DR table, antique toddler bed and high chair, china and silver from my GM and purge almost everything else. DH sold boxes of books to 1/2 priced books and got about $250, I should be able to get a few hundred for my wedding dress, we have more books to sell, tons of baby clothes I am thinking of consigning. So hopefully we can make some money selling stuff. 

Originally Posted by Thystle 

Do you have money to buy a house or to pay rent+deposit+ pet rent/deposit (if have pets)+utility deposits+ newplates and driver licenses?

The moving part may be moot. Where you are going to live in theory (pretty much anywhere in CA) will be MORE than $2500.

As for moving you can:

1.) Moving company  (all one price)

2.) PODS or Packrat or Public Storage pod (all one price)

3.) Rental truck (yes Budget costs less) But you have to pay gas for the truck and any other vehicle you are driving, plus motel and food costs if you are not driving straight through, plus truck insurance if you car insurance does not cover rentals.

4.) Get rid of everything bulky and rebuy in CA ($$$). Mail most books through post office. Get small truck or trailor and hook to your vehicle.

Those are your basic choices.

Luckily, we already have a place to rent until we are ready to buy. I don't think we are going to need to put down a large deposit. We can wait for a while on the plates/driver's licenses/etc until we can afford to change them.
 

[Chamomile Girl]

They have a vehicle registration fee calculator on the California DMV website if you want to figure out how much it will cost.  The state is pretty vigilant about getting out of state vehicles registered, but this will matter more if you are living in a small town (because you'll stick out more).  Here is the info from the DMV site:

Fees must be paid within 20 days of entry or residency to avoid penalties. Any vehicle owned by a California resident must be registered within 20 days of entry into California unless a special permit was obtained. Nonresidents whose vehicles are properly registered to them in their home state or jurisdiction may operate their vehicles in California until they:

• Accept gainful employment in California.
• Claim a homeowner's exemption in California.
• Rent or lease a residence in California.
• Intend to live or be located here on a permanent basis (for example, acquire a California driver license, acquire other licenses not ordinarily extended to a nonresident, registered to vote).  
• Enroll in an institution of higher learning as a California resident or enroll their dependents in school (K-12).

NOTE: Nonresident military personnel stationed in California or their spouses may operate their vehicles with valid out-of-state license plates from their home state or the state where the military person was last stationed.