A Cross-Country Move (!) - bring it or toss it???

[cristina47454]

We've been renting for a couple of years.  DH has a job opportunity in CO and it looks like he's considering it pretty seriously. Things have been crazy tight for us the past two years (as in having to borrow-money-from-family-to-pay-utilities tight).  This job promises to take the noose from around our necks...eventually. So this is the question...we will be doing a self-move.  Probably renting for a year or two until we straighten ourselves out. We need to do a huge basement/house purge (long overdue), but I've been hesitant bcs our living situation has felt so temporary (we've been renting for the past several years).  So, no, I don't have a place for all the artwork I used to have displayed when we owned a house, and we have a lot of "transitional" furniture items (bookcases, desks, patio furntiure etc that have been given to us, but that I don't really like). Do I leave that stuff here? I know we'll need bookcases on the other end of this move, but is there some way to figure out the cost of moving it vs. the cost of buying it when we get there? Another item that comes to mind...a crappy upright piano that someone gave us.  My dd plays piano, and the piano kinda has sentimental value (it was left to us by a dear friend of my mom's)...but it is in ROUGH shape. Do we move it? Or hope to find something in the penny saver or on craigslist?? Obviously, the furniture is big ticket, but what about linens, kitchen appliances, etc.  Truthfully, we have BOXES that haven't been unpacked in several moves (vases, books, home decor)...bcs I know the next move is always a year or two on the horizon...and I feel so transitory. 

Hope this makes sense...just wanting to be smart about it. And since I don't know where we are going to land when we get there, I don't really know how brutal to be in the pre-move purge. If we were buying a house, I think it might be easier. But since we're going to another temporary situation and we've been so financially shaky as of late, it's hard for me to even THINK it'll be possible to have extra money to replace things we get rid of prematurely...

[weliveintheforest]

What will it cost to move things?  Can you get money for any of the furniture and things you would leave behind?

I think I would only take things I loved, and really needed.  

[zebra15]

Moving is expensive anyway you look at it.  Gas is pushing $3.50.gal., Uhauls are not cheap, even those rent a box things where they drop the box in your yard then deliver it to your next location are expensive.  I would honestly dump everything I could and just start over.  New england to Colorado is a couple thousand miles.  Take what fits in the cars, ship a couple boxes of really important stuff if you need to but slowly rebuild your new home with things your truly love on the next end. 

FYI piano's are PITA to move. unless they are packed correctly (expensive) they are almost always damaged in transit and need repairs.

What you can do is check out craigslist for the possible new location and see whats posted to get a feel for the area.  Most places have thrift stores, target, walmart plus ups/fex deliver from the internet.  I love amazon, overstock etc.

[Ruthiegirl]

As someone who just made a huge, huge move,  I heartily recommend getting rid of most everything.  Not only was it too expensive to bring our things, we have simply not needed them.  Our home is very simply furnished, we have basic tables and chairs, dishes, towels and linens and very little else.  The move has been the most wonderful experience for me.  I love having less, cleaning less, storing less.  

Big furniture you don't like?  Nope.  Heavy books?  Nope.  And a piano in rough shape?  No, no, no.  Garage sale!  

[BathrobeGoddess]

There are jobs in Colorado (well just a little my dh has been put of work since July)...it would depend where you are moving in CO and where you are moving from. CO is a higher cost place to live compared to a lot of the rest of the nation so if you are moving from a low cost of living area, I would bring your stuff but if you are mving from a comperable place then you should be abale to buy stuff used when you get here.

[cristina47454]

I feel like the cost of living where we are is higher where we currently are, so I'm actually kind of encouraged by that aspect of the move. We rent a 3br/1ba house for $1275/mo and it seems from Craigslist that if we were in a similar price range, the place we'd end up with would be much nicer than what we're in now. Also gas here is $3.20/gallon here, dh says it's below $3 in Denver. He also went to the grocery to check out food prices and they were less in Denver across the board.

It's kind of overwhelming thinking of getting rid of so much stuff, but maybe it's time to release things.  What are all your thoughts on all the kids clothes in bins in the basement? I have a 9yo dd, a 7 yo dd and a 2 yo dd.  My 2yo has been exclusively in her big sisters' clothes, and it's been such a relief to not have to spend money on clothes. But do I hang on to 4 yrs worth of clothes and shoes for her?? i've tried to consign kids clothes, but the consignment store here never needs the sizes I want to consign...

We actually have some nice furniture that we'd probably bring (dining room table/chairs, dressers, mattresses) It's all the small stuff that is overwhelming (craft supplies, mirrors, plants, holiday decorations, toys) 

I guess we'd leave our upright freezer, right? And the piano

Can't believe this is actually happening! Still not convinced it's "real", but I'm going to proceed as though it is.  Nothing wrong with a big purge!

[momct]

Get prices for a couple different size rental trucks and their mpg when loaded.Check pod charges also..Estimate the cubic space of the things you really want to take and then see how much space you have for optional things.Do an initial sort and purge of boxable items and stack them up for cubic measurement.Keep in mind the things that would be first to eliminate if you need to cut more.Calculate what percentage of the truck optional items are taking and decide if they are worth that to you. Do not take used furniture you do not like.Do not take the piano.You could probably buy a brand new keyboard for less.Take art work you like.Go to Ethan Allen and ask if they can save you art work  boxes for anything special so they don't get damaged.Use linens and towels for padding and packing breakables. Good luck - hope it goes smoothly!

[mysticmomma]

We're going to be faced with the same thing in a few months. We've decided that no furniture is coming. We will have a yard sale here and get rid of as much as we can. The rest we will freecycle or take to goodwill. When we arrive at the new place, we will buy beds from the yard sale proceeds, and then acquire things from there. We may do a RAC type thing and rent some other furniture or do a lease/buy thing.

[Denvergirlie]

if you are thinking of Denver... leave all that sutff there, Denver has the most amazing thirft stores and local craigslist isn't too shabby either. I've lived here 10 years now, and I still am amazed at what I find at the thrift store.

Unless it's truly important to you , get rid of it now and purchase when you get settled in.

[neetling]

We moved cross country a couple of years ago.  I kept needed items and stuff that would be too expensive to replace immediately.  I kept the kids' beds and my freezer and electronics and the kitchen items I couldn't live w/o.  And clothes and sentimental stuff (pictures etc)

We got all we kept in a uhaul trailer we towed.

My mom had a bed we could use until we bought one, but I didn't want to have to replace the kids' right away.

It worked out okay.  We are still replacing things though.

I packed a ton of my kitchen stuff in my freezer.

[insidevoice]

We are also about to do a huge move and for us, it makes a lot more sense to leave things- selling what we can- and start over there. Some favorite toys will be boxed and shipped, but I'm actually looking forward to starting with a blank slate. 

[2lilsweetfoxes]

It is amazing what you take versus what you don't depending on who is paying for the move.  We may also be moving in a few months.  I've got a garage full of junk--most of it will go bye-bye.  Then I want to eliminate at least half to 2/3 of what is in the house.  I want to start over-so much of the stuff is cast'offs from others.  I want my house tobe ME.  Driving, we have a kia spectra, 3 kids, dh and I and a dog and a cat.  We can only fit a couple suitcases in the trunk and it will still be a tight fit.  No guarantee we will still have the honda pilot-the lease is up in July/August.  My employer will transport our household goods.

[beebalmmama]

We did our big move a year and a half ago to CO. Although our move was a shorter distance from ID. We probably took more than what we needed, but considering the added distance for you I would purge a little more.  We left our crappy living room furniture, large toys of ds's that we new we'd want better quality when ds 2 came along (I was pg at the time), boxes of things we weren't using while renting (ie house repair stuff, tools, ladders, paint supplies). Same as you we were renting after owning a home and after the move would rent for at least a couple of years.  We probably kept too much outdoor kids toys (ie: little tykes stuff).

We decided on a certain sized truck that we felt we needed and was affordable for us. We kept a handful of items, some somewhat large/some small/odd sized that we were willing to let go at the last minute if it wouldn't fit in the truck. For example we ended taking a plastic pool because it fit on the top of all the furniture and boxes after everything was in.

I'd let the furniture that you don't like go, let the piano go, and most things you've been storing for the last two years (except maybe things you may love or that were $$). Once we moved I found myself sending several bags to the thrift store 6 months later and so I know I should have purged more. Patio furniture.....it depends on how nice the set is and where you're moving too. I don't find patio furniture on CL a lot. Will you be down sizing? Will you have a patio/deck to use it?

[ilovemygirl]

As long as you can live with a minimal lifestyle for a while ... PURGE! 

A few years ago, I sold everything that wasn't nailed down. I can count on one hand how many things I regret getting rid of and it's not big regrets. 

I would keep things with true sentimental value, things that cost a lot to replace, furniture/household items you need & love and maybe things you need right away once you get there (like towels and silverware).

If it's sat in boxes for several moves already you probably don't need it and I'm guessing don't even want most of it. All the simplicity blogs and books I've read/heard about have some version of the idea that if you haven't used something in a certain amount of time that you don't need to own it. It's usually somewhere between 3 months and a year. I find that to be pretty true. If I haven't used something in a year, it's pretty likely I don't need it anymore. The only exception I think is things you know you will need down the road. Like the clothes for your dd. Still, I'd go through those and only keep what you will really need for her and sell the rest. I know I always end up with way more clothes per season than my dd actually wears. 

I agree with pp's about using the freezer to put things in and using linens that you are taking to wrap delicates in. 

[BathrobeGoddess]

Then by all means sell and move! Colorado would love to have you AND could sure use the extra tax revenue when you re-buy everything! Good luck on your move!

[LeighPF]

Get a sense of the kind of home you will be moving into and bring no more than will comfortable fit into it and that you will get lots of use out of. We have done the self move in a U-haul a few times and more recently a fully paid for move.

-Most of the expense of a self move is the size of the truck. You can take more stuff. The work of a self move is packing, hauling, hauling and unpacking. You want very little. Even the fully paid move I still had to unpack and was glad to have purged.

-Beat up pianos are pretty easy to find for very little money. Good pianos need a piano mover.

-If you have not used it in years, you are not going to use it now. Check through the boxes for anything super important (paperwork, photo albums) and let them go.

-I kept most of the baby stuff we used since #2 was in the plans. So I would keep clothes for you little one. But only what she needs and not the extra stained T-shirts and hole filled jeans that tend to get kept as play clothes.

[cristina47454]

Thankfully, we have until the end of the summer to finalize everything. One thing it's made me realize is that we have TONS of stuff that we could get rid of without really missing it...especially if we start with the stuff in the basement. At this point we don't have any idea where we'll land, but getting a jump on it now certainly makes the prospect of moving less daunting. I'm sure there will be things that will be hard to decide about, but there is a lot of CRAP that will be a no brainer and we'll start there. Just talked to my SIL, who has done THREE cross country moves in the last two years. They didn't have time to purge bcs the moves were so sudden, and she was saying that the money that they spent on trucks/pods/storage could have easily replaced the things they ended up trailing behind them. I guess the big issue is that money has been so tight it seems impossible that we will ever be in a place financially where getting a "new" couch is a possibility.  But our couch is trashed (leather but three kids and a dog + 15 years of use have done a number on it. No tears, but ink, marker, stains...). We'll NEED a couch, and that's not something I'd really want to buy off of Craigslist...so DH says leave it, and I tend to agree, but don't relish the idea of being couch-less until such time as we can afford a couch. So that's where it gets tricky...

[insidevoice]

Craigslist is a fabulous resource- especially when you have kids and pets- buying a NEW couch just doesn't always make sense. Thrift stores,  etc.  Have a big yard sale and set those monies aside to replace things slowly when you get to your destination. 

You can probably manage bare bones furnishings to get you started for less than $1000.  That is a whole lot less than the moving truck would be.  For my family, a sturdy table and chairs, a couple desks for the computers (we homeschool) and couch and beds would be the 'must have' things.  The rest you can fill in as you are able.  This approach also gives you time to learn what you do want to bring into the space you have, and it can help to create a great clutter-free space to live in. 

[NikonMama]

I say get rid of it also.  We're going to be moving in 2.5 weeks, and only about 7 hours away, and we are getting rid of a lot of our stuff.  We are getting rid of our living room set, the tv, all of our bookshelves, our kitchen table and chairs, our crib/dresser/changing table set (dresser was used in the spare bedroom), DS's old loft bed/desk set (he currently uses a reg full size bed), and various small stuff we have hiding in our basement.  We are moving to an area without basements, so no storage.  We are only taking our two bedroom sets (bed and two dressers each) and a queen size bed/frame, and a couple desks.  That's it for furniture. 

We're trying to get rid of as much small stuff as we can.  We have a full size basement here, and 1/4 of it is filled with boxes of junk.  We will have a shop with a loft area on our property, but we can only put so much in there b/c that is where DH's business will be going and he'll need the room for that.  All of our appliances are staying, including the washer and dryer.  We are considering this a fresh start for our family, so we're going all out...though I have no idea what we are going to be sitting on when we get there b/c we are buying our new furniture with the profits from the sale of our house, so we're going to have to buy after we get down there.  We'll figure it out, though.  It will be an adventure! 

[AZgirl2207]

If you haven't needed it in two years, you need to get rid of it.  No judgement, I need to do the same thing.  We moved into our current home five years ago and there are things we still haven't unpacked.  I've considered tossing unopened boxes in the trash so many times.