My Guide to Moving

Okay, so..no, I'm not moving AGAIN anytime soon (at least I hope not). I did realize, however, that I have A LOT of experience moving. Okay....so, I guess this could also be called a "guide" to moving.
I will mainly be focusing on Out-of-Town moves, but many of the same principals can be applied to same-City moves.

First, look at how much of a budget you have. Next, try to see if this budget can be expanded (even the most budgeted mover will be astonished at the cost of a long-distance move.)
In an ideal world, your company would pay to have a professional moving company pack, and carefully move all of your possessions. Well, we all know that this is Not an ideal world.

After your budget is established, decide whether you will need to sell furniture, and "downsize" to afford your move. Let's face it, going through all of your things and "purging" can be the most fulfilling part of a move, if you let it.
For the furniture and big items, you may want to consider something more than a simple garage sale. Take pictures of all your high ticket items, and post them for sale in your local Craigslist a few weeks before your garage sale is scheduled.
After posting big-ticket items, get prepared for your garage sale. Remember....The goal of your garage sale is to purge items while making some money. It's too late in the game to be trying to "get rich" off of your extra things. I will place a guide to running a Garage Sale later.

When Packing, decide whether to buy boxes, or work a little more to get free ones (people post "free boxes" on Cragslist every few days). When wrapping fragile items like dishes, decide if you would rather buy a box of wrapping paper, or use newsprint (remember that the ink can rub off onto your things)

After Downsizing, choose your truck company. My husband and I have been very pleased with prices and truck quality from "Budget", and "Penske".
Keep in mind when choosing your truck, that Diesel trucks get much better gas mileage. If a diesel truck is $100 more than a regular gas truck, then you may actually be better off going with the diesel truck (you will save more than $100 in gas on a long distance move).

If you are moving a family, and have 2 adults, decide whether the better option for you is to tow the car and fly the family, or drive the car with the family (keep in mind the expense of this option includes extra gas and motel/hotel costs, as well as possibly losing your sanity)

When budgeting, keep in mind the deposits on a new apartment/house (or the down payment if buying). Also, there will be deposits on most utility companies.

Last of all, but one of the most important.
ASK FOR HELP
Moving is never fun, but the last thing you need to do is overwork and over stress yourself to the point of getting sick (something I have done with far too many of our moves).
Ask for help with the packing. On moving day, ask for as many people to help as possible (you could offer to provide pizza for everyone helping).

I hope this helps anybody thinking of moving


Signing out,
Me