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Moving
Derrick
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I will soon be moving from DC to Louisville KY. What method do you guys recommend? I'm thinking catching a flight and shipping, or renting a truck and driving. I get a discount on the shipping because I work at fedex, but still it's quite a bit to ship and fairly heavy stuff (also some things I wouldn't want broken, like my computer).
Driving has me a little apprehensive because my sense of direction is fairly shit. I drove up here, but then it was kind of a motorcade of sorts. Plus with the cost of gas I'm not sure which way would be cheapest. If they are fairly the same, fuck it. I'd rather fly. I can probably get a one way ticket for about $200 I'm thinking.
I'll be moving at the end of the month. Any advice is appreciated!
Driving has me a little apprehensive because my sense of direction is fairly shit. I drove up here, but then it was kind of a motorcade of sorts. Plus with the cost of gas I'm not sure which way would be cheapest. If they are fairly the same, fuck it. I'd rather fly. I can probably get a one way ticket for about $200 I'm thinking.
I'll be moving at the end of the month. Any advice is appreciated!
Steam and CFN: Enexemander
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Most cost effective would be to rent a truck, but unless you have friends/family on both ends to help that will be a real bitch. Even with gas, plane tickets aren't exactly cheap now either.
Easiest would be to hire an interstate moving company, but that's also going to be the most expensive.
You really need to price things out and then weigh how much your time is worth. Until you have an accurate estimate on how much it would cost to ship everything, I don't see how you can make a decision.
Are you going to be working for FedEx out there? You know that if you are moving for employment you can take all your relocation expenses as a tax deduction, right?
The next time my wife and I move, this is what we're doing:
1. Selling all of our furniture.
2. Shipping our clothes and small appliances that we want to keep.
3. Packing our cars the miscellaneous things we don't ship.
I know it's nice to have all of your shit when you get to your new place, but believe me, it would be so much easier to sell everything and start over in your new location.
One thing I can pass on right away - I don't know where in the metro area you are, but if you can help it, avoid hiring any company from the area of Jessup, MD....The general opinion seems to be that there's quite a few scammers operating out of that general area.
Had all our stuff secured, moved, and back off the truck in about 2.5 hours.
Golded for golden advise. Craigslist, garage sale, offload on friends/family. The weight of that furniture will likely cost you as much as it would take to move it. If there's furniture that you have to keep though, you're probably going to have to bite the bullet on it. As for replacement furniture, since it sounds like you'd be new to the Louisville area, I'd say stay away from Craigslist unless you're bound and determined to learn your way around the city (which is a great city btw - I put it on par just under Nashville). There's a number of good furniture places around. And if you can stand a two-hour drive, Cincinnati just got a new Ikea store.
August 2006: Oklahoma City to Los Angeles
May 2008: Los Angeles to Kansas City
I adamantly refused to sell our shit on the first move. Rented a Budget truck and hauled everything half-way across the country, including having to tow my car behind the moving truck.
When we moved to KC, I sold my car and we got rid of a bunch of stuff. We still had to rent a truck, but we got away with a 16" truck instead of the 24" monstrosity we had on the first move.
If we ever do this again, we're selling EVERYTHING.
If you do have a lot of big heavy stuff that you want to keep or even a lot of little stuff that would be heavy in boxes, I would recommend driving. Just get really clear directions before you head out and go over the maps a few times. It also doesn't hurt to let a friend know that you're moving and might need navigational help when you're on the road. Then, just give them a call and have them help you out if you get lost. Also, if you end up renting a truck, reserve it early. It most likely cost less. One other thing is that if you have lots of furniture and other not so fun to move things, you might consider hiring movers on either end. Usually they cost about $75/hour for a minimum of 3 hours. Still that's only $300 for not having to exhaust yourself for two days during your move by hauling stuff onto and out of the truck. You also know that the truck is packed well since you hired a professional.
This is not necessarily true, especially in the DC area where the OP is starting out. Depending on whether they charge the same rates they would during a full move, it could be more like $100-150 per hour, especially with 3 guys.
Looking back at the quotes I got back when I was moving, even the random no-name-probably-scammers companies were still quoting $90-95 per hour.
A one bedroom apartment move across town in DC will easily set you back $700-800. That is, unless you hire a bunch of day laborers and rent a truck (and if you speak spanish that's actually not a bad way to go).
Yup, I think it cost us somewhere the neighborhood of $700 in the end going with JK.
Maybe movers will charge some kind of discounted rates for *only* packing, if they do it at all, but I can't say i've had enough experience to know for sure. I'd agree it's likely $75/hour or less won't get much farther than college student/day laborer level workers around here though.
In any event, the best way to get the lowest priced guys is to do your research and get some recommendations from people who have used those specific movers before if you go that route. Keep in mind it shouldn't take professionals longer than 2 hours at the most to load or unload a truck, so if there is no minimum time required, it might save you some money.
As a reference, I'm thinking maybe 6 or 7 fairly large boxes, not counting clothes.
You will only need at max 2/3 of the stuff you want to bring. I ended up taking a LOT of shit with that was completely unnecessary. I recently moved to a condo right next door to the condo i originally moved to here, and I just threw out so much that was completely useless. Go through all your stuff, and take anything that is debatable to goodwill. Start fresh
I moved to Boston 3 years ago and have moved twice since then and I'm still throwing out stuff I don't need. I hate to throw things out because I'm afraid that if I do I'll throw out something I need later.
More like Good Riddance.
As it happens I'm from Louisville originally, so I know my way around the city pretty well. I came to D.C. to follow a girl and well, not much more need be said