OT: Moving Advice

[RedStickDawg]

Here is what I did. I did two trip. One trip I got smaller stuff in uhaul on my own with help from my wife and brother.
For the second trip I used uhaul again but I used movers for bigger stuff snd boxes
uhaul also has a secondary site that list moving services you can book with ratings. I booked in one town for loading and then a second booking for the town we moved too. Between myself and them we had everything loaded in two hours and everything unloaded in an hour. Depends on how many people they bring. Last time I moved was in the summer and it was worth every penny to have the help and you don't want to hurt yourself or friends. I tell people we are friends or family but it's north worth the doctors expense if I get hurt moving heavy stuff for you for a pizza.

edit to add I saved cost by going uhaul and driving myself. The big 26 foot truck both trips. It was needed. You never realize how much crap you have until you move

I second this. We moved from Baton Rouge to Madison last summer and had movers load everything in a 26’ U-Haul, then I drove the U-Haul to Madison and had another set of movers unload upon arrival. Was around $2000. Buy them Gatorade and food. They will take care of your stuff

 

[RotorHead]

- pre pack everything leading up to the move
- take the time to purge junk. My rule, if I haven’t used it/worn it in 6-12 months I don’t need it.
- get trash bags and tie around a grouping (whichever size you can fit) of hangared clothes. This moves the clothes and the hangars in an easy manner
- either incorporate the kids in the move and do the heavy lifting when they’re tired/asleep or give em an iPad and say I love you.

one move, we used a Pod. They showed up, we loaded the pod, and they took the pod away. Called em when we were ready to move into new house. Not sure you can do that anymore.

 

[HWY51dog]

I’m moving next month. Just across town in Desoto County. Pack Rat is offering 50% off right now on moving containers. It would be more with your move but it’s a great deal. They just drop it in your drive way and move it for you. I do hire people to move the heavy stuff but I have found using pods work well.

 

[Trojanbulldog19]

I second this. We moved from Baton Rouge to Madison last summer and had movers load everything in a 26’ U-Haul, then I drove the U-Haul to Madison and had another set of movers unload upon arrival. Was around $2000. Buy them Gatorade and food. They will take care of your stuff

Yeah I want to say mine was around 1000 including the unloading loaders plus the truck but I helped a lot to speed things up

 

[horshack.sixpack]

We're relocating in a few weeks with two toddlers. It's our first major move with kids. Any tips for moving with kids to help everything go smoother? I don't think we have the necessary funds to easily use movers versus doing it ourselves, but if you have used an affordable moving company I'm open to suggestions. So, give me all your best moving advice Sixpackers!

If possible, set their rooms up the same way/furniture orientation in the new place that they were used to in the old place. It may help a little with nighttime.

 

[horshack.sixpack]

Thanks guys for the suggestions. Sounds like I'm spending my afternoon pricing movers. Someone mentioned Atlas. Any other specific companies to use or avoid? Also, keep the advice coming.

We were in our late 20s the last time we moved with no kids and were newly weds. So, this is pretty different at our age with a 4 and soon to be 3 year old.

If you fit into a U-Haul, you can find local movers just to provide labor to load and do the same on the far end. Door - door moving services can be prohibitively expensive depending on how far you are going. Unfortunately, this might mean that you have to drive the UHaul...alone...without any toddlers...all by yourself. Also, if this is job related, be sure you wring every $ of moving allowance you can out of the company that has you relocating.

 

[horshack.sixpack]

Since your move is long distance - this doesn't apply but if you are doing an in-town move - this is my other advice. Don't move a lot of little **** thinking you are saving $$. What took me 4-5 hours by myself just loading up my truck bed would have taken those movers 15 minutes with 3 guys and a moving truck.

Also, go to home depot and buy the boxes you need, including wardrobe boxes. Much easier to stack hung up boxes of clothes than to deal with untangling garbage bags full of hang ups.

 

[MagicDawg]

I second the POD thing -- we used a POD in addition to the trucks. It is still in storage and we will have it delivered to the new house after we've gotten through this round of unpacking and purging.

 

[RotorHead]

I will say, if you’re asking friends/family to help move; nothing is more disheartening to them than showing up and **** still needing to be boxed. I’ve helped people numerous times where we’re helping pack the house and the truck. They’re coming to work, not rifle through drawers to make sure ***** in the right box.
Maybe that’s a me thing, idk. I just know it sucks

 

[17itdawg]

Thanks all. We're definitely going to use a lot of the stuff yall suggested.

 

[CochiseCowbell]

Man my little nieces LOVE that show, it's the only thing that holds their attention and they seem to even learn a little from it. So of course my numbnuts brother in law finds out she once said something nice about gay folks, that was a wrap and now they all stay miserable. Real, real smart.

Well that's just ridiculous. We love her. My son has an extra chromosome and he benefits from it greatly. That's probably due to her creating the channel for her own son who had speech delay.

 

[Dawgbite]

When you pack the kids make sure you don’t use the biodegradable packing peanuts. Biodegradable packing peanuts are made with corn starch and smell like Fritos but don’t taste near as good. If it’s a long move the kids will eat their way out of the boxes! That’s all I got.

 

[ronpolk]

We're relocating in a few weeks with two toddlers. It's our first major move with kids. Any tips for moving with kids to help everything go smoother? I don't think we have the necessary funds to easily use movers versus doing it ourselves, but if you have used an affordable moving company I'm open to suggestions. So, give me all your best moving advice Sixpackers!

At least get a quote on movers. I found it to be not as expensive as I thought it would be. Well worth the money I spent.

 

[biodawg]

I don't care if you have to borrow from your 401k or rob a gas station: hiring movers is literally the best money you can ever spend.

I'm not saying pay for packing/unpacking and stuff like that, but as far as moving the heavy stuff - seriously dawg, hire professional movers.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Can’t be overstated. If you’re over the age of 30, just pay someone to do it.

 

[SemillaHombre]

I have done 4 cross country moves since graduating from MSU (about 8900 total miles). Last move was a few years ago and the only one I've done with kids (3 of them under the age of 6). I had full service movers paid for by my employer which is an incredible but disappearing benefit so I can't really help with those logistics. I can tell you if you are already driving cross country and time allows stop somewhere fun for at least a half day. This will give your kids something to look forward to when driving away from your current house. Prioritize not only getting your kids furniture setup first but also any painting or improvements be done to their rooms first and get them involved in the planning. Sounds like you are using movers, go buy an apple airtag or equivalent and put it in the drawer of your heaviest piece of furniture to allow you to track your movers unless you just plan on following them. The most affordable cross country moves are like an uber pool where a huge truck picks up several households in one general region and then delivers to another general region. Having the abliity to track the truck in this instance is very helpful for timing delivery and can allow you to have more time at that fun location you stopped at.

 

[17itdawg]

Bumping this to say THANK YOU ALL!!! We hired movers based on everyone saying it was worth it! 1,000% worth it. They loaded, unloaded, and helped unpack. It made things so much better for my kids.

 

[dawgstudent]

Glad you’re still married.

 

[17itdawg]

Glad you’re still married.

I can neither confirm nor deny that the advice in this thread is the reason I'm still married.

 

[HRMSU]

I moved 2000+ miles in the summer of 2020. I remember looking at Uhaul and it was going to be 2 trips and $5k for the rental plus gas. I went with United Van lines and they were $6500. But that included loading everything up, and unloading and putting it in the rental house we lived in for about a year.

I learned about "lumpers" during this process. The van lines hire lumpers to meet the truck at your destination. If you need help but don't have friends at your destination, if suggest looking up lumper services. They charged me like $350 to load up a 26' uhaul to the brim when we moved out of the rental. It was worth $1000 to me.

United Van Line alumni here. Most long haul drivers are 1099 contractors that own the truck and contract the trailer. Corporate funnels moves to the local dispatch along with local franchises making their own sales. Most local moves are done by the local franchise and their W2s.

At least when I did it they had local guys not employed by the local franchise that would gather on the dock in the morning....a lot of fireman on their days off. They'd wait for an out of town truck to come in and usually they had a specialty like loader or packer. A good loader is worth their weight in gold to a driver. Most good loaders I worked with would walk through the house and mentally have the majority of the house loaded in their head. These guys could make $150/$200 cash money per hour with known minimums and their rep spread like wildfire. You had to call early to get them and they worked late into their years since they weren't lifting or carrying anything heavy. It's a more fascinating business than it looks like on the surface.