Best way to move?????
 

While the college kids would probably appreciate the money, unless you know them, I would not do that. You would probably be better off with someone who is bonded. I hate that we have to think like that but protecting yourself is smart.

I've had "Two Men and a Truck" help me with small moves before. Maybe check them out locally. (Think they are nationwide, not sure.) Best Wishes on your move. I'm sure others can offer advice here too.

Thirty years ago we moved five miles, and obviously we were much younger. We paid a moving company $333 (odd I still remember!), and that was the best money we ever spent - probably. Our children were young and of no "muscle" help. We packed everything and labeled the boxes for which room it was to go. The moving men quickly put boxes where indicated. My husband and I spent the next couple of weeks at night after work (sometimes until 1:00 A.M.) getting everything unpacked and in place. I have always been the type of person who wanted things done yesterday! After three surgeries in nine months, I no longer fit that description. I could easily sit and look at the boxes now!!!

I box up and move as much as I can in my car (household goods, clothes, small appliances) and leave the furniture and large appliances for a local mover to bring. Last time I got a little discount because my boss knew the owner of the company. If you have the furniture ready to go (I take the beds apart and empty all the dresser drawers), all they have to do is wrap it, load it, drive it over and unload it. I always have water and coke for them and I tip at the end of the trip.

We have only had national name moving companies, North American, Allied, Mayflower and United. They were all pretty good. I wouldn't go with someone that isn't well known to be reputable. I think Two Men and a Truck specializes in shorter moves and they seem to be all over. I've had the movers pack, which I would really recommend for you. But first you need to cull out what you don't want and maybe call in someone who does estate sales so they can try to sell the stuff you don't want. We've moved 7 times and each time it's gotten harder to deal with. Here in Florida there are people who specialize in helping older people sort through and dispose of stuff before they move. Good luck to you.

We're thinking about moving in a couple of years, and what we plan on doing, is to yard sale or donate most of our "stuff", with the exception of my fabric and stuff, and tools, everything else, we'll buy used or new, so I'm afraid I'm not much help.

You can NEVER start too early to start packing. I used Xerox boxes that I have collected over the years since they are easy to stack being the same size. I don't know who my friend called but they were awful. I think it said College students of which they weren't. Broke numerous drawers in both the chest and dresser which still haven't been fixed.

I would rent a storage unit near where you will be living and start to move all the small items into storage. That is what I had planned but since my friend was paying for the move, I agreed yo what he wanted done. Should have, could have but didn't!!

Label every box with what is in it, what room it is going and number each box and be SURE to write ALL THAT information in a notebook. Time to start purging. Good Luck.

We moved Mom with "Two Men and a Truck" They were very careful and efficient. We didn't have to empty drawers. They wrapped the dressers in saran wrap, put them on the dolly and out it went into the truck. Anything breakable or of significant value - move yourself.

I also recommend the "Two Men and a Truck" kind of help.

Last time we moved, I went online and found a company that provided moving manpower for about $50 per hour per man. I hired two men and they helped my husband move everything from the truck into the house. Turned out it would have been better to hire three men, as then there would have been two pairs of men working together to carry stuff in. My husband underestimated the amount of work, so the men stayed extra hours, but they did manage to get everything into the house in one day.

Previously we had used a local company that basically sends out a small truck and a couple of men well-schooled in how to move things. They had come recommended from a friend, but I saw they are also listed in the yellow pages. They did a really good job moving a piano, and they were extremely fast and efficient moving things from one apartment to another. They did not have one of those big moving vans so, to move a large 3-story house, they would have had to make multiple trips. Or, perhaps they could send out several crews at a time.

I have seen some horror stories about families using the large moving van companies to move households. There was one story on tv where the mother researched companies online in order to find a good one. They loaded up the entire house and then disappeared. They lost all their photo albums, including irreplaceable vintage photos of the older generation. Whatever company you use, save all the photo albums and anything else that could never be replaced for your own car.

Edit: Here's a link to the "Two Men and a Truck" website where you can find more info.
http://www.twomenandatruck.com/home

Edit2: I just read through some of the reviews at the website, and it appears that quality varies a lot from one franchise to another. Be careful.

a few yrs ago i used College Hunks hauling Junk. they charged me $100.00 to haul off two old recliners. Long time later i found my trash pick up company would haul off one chair for $15.00. Anyway, a well known company would be my suggestion after you clean house a lot. give to charity, etc. Weight is the cause of most of the high cost of moving.

I have a lot of antiques and collectibles and I've always packed the china and small things and moved them myself. I hired North American to move the big furniture and they were outstanding. They moved all my antique furniture without a scratch. They were good to work with and worked very hard. I've used them twice for short moves and would do it again in a heartbeat.

I've never heard of any problems with large moving companies, but I have heard of a lot of people doing online research instead of talking to anyone and getting taken by a "company" that isn't licensed or even really a moving company. I stick with the large moving companies and check credentials when they arrive. I've always had good luck with my 3 moves in the last 20 years. Five if you count helping my mother move into and out of assisted living.

Also, be sure whoever you use it insured and bonded. If they are, you have recourse should anything go wrong. Insured companies will cost you more, but they're worth it.

"Two Men and A Truck" also get my vote. They moved us a year ago, full size house with 14 years worth of hubbys stuff and another crapload of stuff I brought from my house of 17 years. I loved not having to take everything out of the dresser drawers and stuff. They wrapped everything in saran wrap type stuff and moved them as they were. They were very efficient.....picked up really heavy items and walked them to the truck like they were paperweights. If I ever have to move again.......I will definitely use them again.

I agree. The biggest problem with just hiring a couple kids is that if they damage your tv or $1800 sofa, you're never going to see a dime. If you get someone who is bonded and insured, you'll have to file a claim but you'll be compensated for the damage.

From what many have said - the first thing to do is decide what you really want to take with you - and then get rid of the rest of the stuff.

Probably much easier said than done.

We moved less than 5 miles from home to home we found a local company that offered a a few different options. We chose to pack and label everything ourselves. They came in packed the truck drove it to the new home and unpacked it. I had gone through and put signs on the differnt rooms...and they unloaded each box into the proper destination, and placed furniture where I wanted it. It worked beautifully. With my company I could buy packing and moving supplies from them I did a few things that I wanted heavy duty protection for. All the other boxes I bought used from Craig's list and garage sales other I got from the home improvement store.

Biggest thing for us was to start packing very early and clearly label everything what room it went to for us anything without a label went straight to the garage. We also really looked at stuff do I love this? Will it fit in our new house? No to either of those questions it went into a garage sale anything that didn't sell went to good will...maybe I didn't make any money on it but atleast I didn't pay to move something I'm going to end up getting rid of anyway. We figure the money we saved on dr's bills and time off work was worth the cost of the movers...we recouped some of it by reselling all the moving boxes when we were done.

We've used Two Men and a Truck for single large items, like a piano or dining room set. For our big move (from one house to another a couple miles away), we used a national company. They provided all the boxes, and more boxes were available anytime I went over there and asked for more. They had specialty boxes for dishes and clothes, etc. I started a couple months ahead, going from room to room, filling boxes and stacking them. Got rid of a lot of stuff. I marked the boxes with their appropriate room, and then provided the house diagram the day of the move so all boxes ended up in the appropriate room. I don't recall how much it was, but it wasn't super expensive, probably around 800. We had one slightly damaged piece of furniture, but it wasn't a big deal to us.

My daughter has always used movers that come in and pack up everything for you. That would drive me crazy as things just end up in whatever box has room in it. The packing was semi-organized if your belongings were all organized, otherwise the remote control ends up in a box with bath towels and dirty laundry and stuff from the junk drawer.

We just moved recently and eventhough the company paid to move us i would recommend many tips others have mentioned.
1. Have a yard sale
2. Declutter as if you are having your house ready to show. Meaning pack early and get it out of the way.
3. Do not bring more stuff into the house than what is leaving. Ex. If you buy 5 bags of stuff at target 5 bags of old stuff needs to go out.
4. Start finding home for your plants. Amazing how much space they can take.

These days you can have someone pack you, then move yourself.
Or you can pack yourself, then have someone move you.
And, you can have estate sales type places come give you evaluations and bids for the items you can part with after all these years, especially if you are moving into smaller housing.

I moved self=packed a one bedroom house with no sofa, w/d, stove or refrigerator, from Austin, TX, to central VA, 7 years ago and the cost was over $2500. My father help with move financially, but I'd have felt it was worth every penny to have full, good help so I didn't have to exhaust myself at 62 years old.

Best to you.

Jan in VA

My friend used Graebel and was very happy with them. Not cheap but they packed attic and all cabinets and stored stufff in pods for a few months.

As your trip is only half an hour away, I would pack any treasures in small boxes that are easy to carry. Cart these yourself to the new house.Then have a yard sale of all the rest. You will only have a small amount to clean up afterward and no removal costs except for petrol. Then you can buy any new pieces of furniture you may need which will suit the new place. These will also be delivered by the company from which you have bought the items.

Getting rid of "stuff" will be the biggest hurdle, I think. Sorting and deciding what to keep and what to get rid of can be overwhelming. A lot of people suggest doing a yard sale, but I live out in the country 30 minutes away from a sizable town. People don't have yard sales this far out. What is the next best thing?

Just a tip about packing boxes. We moved last year and I found this idea to be very helpful. Instead of labeling each box with the contents, I kept a book log- numbered each box and wrote the contents of the box in the book. That way, if I was looking for something specific, just look in the book and then try to find the box number. I did write on the box which room it was for. (i.e. kitchen # 21). We ended up with over 300 boxes- over 100 boxes of books and 50 boxes of sewing stuff. Oh my.

As others said, get rid of what you no longer need. Why pay to move it? Take all valuables yourself, especially jewelry, photo IDs (passport, etc)., legal papers, silver, coins, stamps...that sort of thing. We've always used national companies. My brother used a POD to move. If I had it to do over, I'd sell everything but linens and a few mementoes and buy furniture at the new place. The old furniture seldom suits, for some reason. IMHO

If you have some close friends, I'd use them. I used a nation wide company and found them lacking. So many of my totes were smashed, furniture damaged beyond repair, promised repairs never done, etc. The list goes on. On the other hand my mother used her neighbors and they were much better but they put a gas can in the wrong place and it tipped over all over the van so we had to air stuff out before putting it into the house. Overall though the friends were a better bet than the nation wide company and I paid them good bucks for the moving. Guess it's all what you're willing to accept with possible damage and/or theft.

Good luck. I hope I never have to move again as I've accumulated even most "STUFF" since my last move 4 years ago.

We moved several times from down the street to 5 hours away. Small do it your self moves are the worst!!!! Packing yourself is not always a good idea as we spend too much time and do not pack right. Our last move was the 5 hour one. We had a 4 bedroom home with 3 two plus garages full of ? We needed to be out in 6 weeks. We sold stuff, gave away lots more stuff and threw out lots more. We started packing for 2 weeks and did not seem to get ahead. We then called in professional help (luckily DH's nephew was a mover for Bekins). We finished the rest of the packing 3/4's still left after we did our packing, in 6 hours that would have taken us 2 more weeks. Learned to do it right. Everything went into 1 truck including a car. Professional is the right move! Save yourself headaches and backaches, yes it costs more but is well worth it.

We're getting ready to move after over 22 years in one place. We've been de-cluttering and find you have three piles:
one for the trash; one to give away or possibly sell and one to keep. For the trash make a pile somewhere and hire a trash dealer to pick it up. We've taken many bags of things to the dump but have had one pile picked up and are getting another pile ready.
The give away/sell pile is a problem. I've done yard sales in the past and find them a lot of work, so this time, I'm not doing that. I've taken many trips to Goodwill with items. You could call some charities and see if they will pick up things. If you have things you think you would want to sell you could try craigslist or ebay or have estate sale people look at them(this would work for furniture also). Unless something is very valuable you might give it away or trash it as a last resort. Small items of value could be moved with you and sold later.

Getting rid of "stuff" is a hurdle but the only way is to pick a room and start.

If you're moving locally it is usually calculated by time not weight as a long-distance move is. They will charge so much per hour for a truck and some men. With that in mind look at your "stuff" and ask yourself if it is worth the time it will take to move it out and into a new place. The more you move the longer it will take and the more it will cost. Also, if you are downsizing you need to keep that in you mind too. Will you have room for an item, do you really need it?
I find that we've kept things "just because" because we had the room to keep it as you always think you might need it someday. Now I'm paying the price as I sort and move all that stuff out.

Good luck in your move.

I don't empty dresser drawers. I put a blanket or something on top of what's in the drawers. take the drawers out of the dresser, move the dresser, put the drawers back in. Cover the dresser and bungie cord or tie down the drawers so they don't fall out. Saves a lot of time! whe you get to your destination, take drawers out, move dresser to proper spot, put drawers back in. I have been known to put photos in between clothes in the drawers. Mirrors and photos won't break in the drawers. I do as much as I can for myself.

This is especially good if you have any family with an open pick up truck and really don't want anything flying off the back.

Just one more, measure the new place to make sure what you want to take will fit.

All My Sons just moved us from Tennessee to Florida-The moving men said my quilt room stuff was 3/4 of the truck-I laughed till I got to Florida, and yes, it was at least 1/2 of the truck-I haven't quilted for 6 months, stuff was packed by me, and all made it okay, was kind of scared with my 4 sewing machines, packed in the trolley cases, all were fine-I did get rid of a lot of my stuff though through the Salvation Army-they appreciated all-and less cost to move it all the way here.

Two men and a truck has moved us a couple times. I have heard horror stories about movers, so I move my precious items, photos and jewelery myself. Good luck!

Our daughter recently moved 8 hours away. She also hired 2 men and a truck. She had to pack everything but didn't have to lift anything...they were wonderful..very accommodating and polite...

I definitely think hiring people to do all the heavy lifting and trudging up and down stairs is the way to go.

I actually enjoy packing and I'm quite good at it, so I do that all myself. I like to buy most of my boxes so they're all the same sizes; I buy bundles in 3 sizes from Uline - I pick small, medium, and large size boxes and order bunches of each size. Small boxes are used for heavy things (books, rock collections) and really fragile things that I'll be carrying myself. Medium boxes for medium heavy stuff (kitchenware, general household stuff) and the big boxes are for lighter stuff and anything just too bulky to fit in a smaller box. I try to make each box similar in weight, to make life easier on the moving guys. I label boxes with the room location, and then in a corner I will scribble a short list of what's inside the box. I don't list everything, just a few things; I can usually remember what things are together in a box so that helps me find things very well.

I don't buy packing material; I use clothes and linens and fabric and batting to pad all my belongings instead. I end up with fewer boxes overall that way and no packing material waste to dispose of at the new house.

Some things, DH & I move ourselves - I pack a large box of things I will want immediately at the new house: stuff like toilet paper, paper towels, paper plates, plastic utensils, some bottled water, some hand soap, some dish soap, some windex, a basic first-aid kit; also stuff like extra packing tape and a box cutter...things that myself or the movers might want to use during the moving-in process or right away on first day. DH & I each also pack a suitcase for personal/precious stuff - medications, toiletry kit, spare change of clothes, all our jewelry and watches; also stuff like photo albums & an external hard drive that holds all our photos, etc. Those go into our cars. Anything extra fragile goes into a car, my PC and my main sewing machine go into a car. The dogs, cats, fish & birds ride in the cars. Any leftover perishables go into coolers that ride in the cars as well. DH also usually does another trip and puts all of his music equipment and guitars in the car and transports those himself. (Some of it is not replaceable; either due to sentiment or because it's vintage stuff that just doesn't exist anymore)

At the new house, I put signs on each door so they know which boxes go where. My job, as they're moving stuff, is to flit around (out of their way) and smooth bumps and answer questions. DH focuses on getting the animals settled in somewhere safe and out of the way and also handles buying food & water.

We usually buy pizzas or sub sandwiches for ourselves & the movers when the work is done, and keep lots of cold water available for everyone throughout the process.

Good luck on your move!!

In our area, there is a company called Three Men and a Truck. They do excellent work. They moved my daughter and also a good friend. Would definitely check into them if I move.

We have the Two Men and a Truck in this area.
We have lived in the same house for 45 years and do not plan on ever moving.
I routinely donate things I no longer want so not as much stuff as you might think. The things I keep on small knick knack type things. A lot of them are put away as I got tired of dusting them years ago. I have lots of them in glass cases and they stay clean.
I would strongly suggest you donate stuff you no longer want.

I have moved 10 times in the last 40 years. Each move I add a few more garbage cans on wheels to my collection. The lids are taped shut. This has worked best for me. The garbage cans hold a ton of linens, pots, sewing, etc. I just number the cans in a spiral notebook and they are ready for moving. I can handle the cans because of the wheels and they can take the weight. You have to use the better cans because the wheels on the cheap ones will split. The cans go to the room they belong in and depending on the need determines the ones that are unpacked first. My family has made fun of me for years collecting bubble wrap, but once moved and unpacked the bubble goes back into the cans for storage. This last move was 10 miles and I moved 1 room at a time, leaving the furniture but moving every thing else in the room. It was the easiest yet. I may have one more move and then I can get rid of the cans hopefully.

I have moved so much I should be professional...I have had the best experience with Atlas. I have used them several times and thus far they have been the best..

Both of my sons worked for a moving company when in college. A couple notes - You can buy used boxes from the moving company for way less than buying new ones, and they only keep the good ones to resell. And you can hire their guys through the moving company for what they refer to as "side jobs" to do the packing and moving for you since it is only 1/2 hour away (probably only on Saturday or Sunday if the company is busy during the week). They usually charge about $15 per hour per person. You can even "rent" their truck for the day. Also, the Salvation Army will send a truck to pick up any donated items from your house so you don't have to move it yourself.

Before you rule out the college kids, a lot of these are insured and bonded. Just because they are college kids does not mean they aren't professional business owners.

Also, check with your local fire dept. In our area, the firemen work 24 hrs on and 24 hrs off so they often have a business like a moving company or a lawn care service they take turns working their days off.