5 lessons that I learned about moving cross country

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. I promise to write things that will help. Thanks for visiting!

Given that now is the time that most of us are on our way out to our new residences, I thought it might be nice to write to you all a little about my horrendous story of moving my stuff cross country and what you can do to make sure that you don’t get screwed like me.

Moving is probably one of the most stressful events in our life. They say it is most stressful after death and divorce. 2 months before hurricane Katrina, I moved from a house in the uptown area of New Orleans to the Mid City area around city park, only to have the hurricane hit. I then had to move my stuff (or what remained after the looting) to a storage facility in baton rouge after finding out all the storage places in new orleans were out of comission. The hired move did not show up at all, and I was forced to rent a van and move my stuff with a little help. I was then stupid to have bought all new furniture in minneapolis, had that stored after my transfer to UMinnesota did not go through. Now that I am in Atlanta, I had to coordinate moving my stuff in both baton rouge, some stuff at my friend’s house in new orleans, and stuff stored in minnesota.

Lesson number 1: Do not buy more things than you absolutely need.
Lesson number 2: don’t buy expensive furniture as a student.
Lesson number 3: be very weary of moving companies
Lesson number 4: do not get a uhaul
Lesson number 5: be prepared to pay a lot of money

For lesson 1, you need to decide the cost of buying new furniture at your new place and the cost of moving your stuff to your new place and see which is cheaper. Then go with the cheaper option. Also take into account the cost of storing your things. I used U-storeit in baton rouge louisiana which is a self storage facility that is not air conditioned or climate controlled so it might not be a great place for electronics. My plasma TV still survived though. I paid about 70 dollars a month for a 10×10x10 room. The other storage options include public storage that you see everywhere you go. Usually the first month’s rent is only one dollar. Remember to buy your own lock b/c you need a lock and they sell locks at markup. Also some places have policies on what type of lock they require.

Boxes and moving supplies are always inexpensive at Sams club

As for the move, I used a minivan for my stuff in louisiana because it was much easier to drive than a cargo van or u-haul and filled that car to the brim. A one way car rental tends to be more expensive so keep this in mind. For my stuff in minnesota, I stored it and had it shipped via Wheaton Van Lines and Harco Moving. Be very cautious about moving companies!

Most moving companies though follow what’s called the tariff 400 made by the American Moving and Storage Association. From an article at Bankrate, they say that movers discount the tariff to stay competitive. I took advantage of what is called “pre summer pricing,” basically promising to do business with my moving company before summer moving season went in…so reserving the move before april 1st. Movers tend to be busy during the summer months but for us…we can’t help that we need our stuff during this time.

Another tip is to make sure you only box the things that if dropped, it won’t break because they will not cover items that were boxed by you! Usually you pay when they drop off your stuff.

Some important links:
1. www.uhaul-sucks.com - a website dedicated to telling the world how much uhaul sucks.
2. bbb.org - better business bureau- take it for what it is…but its nice to hire someone supported by the BBB
3. movingscam.com - an excellent resource to weeding out the scam movers that are out there. Make sure you check this list before you send any kind of deposit! They also have a black list so look at that.
4. moving.about.com - about.com article on everything moving related
5. finally…i’ll try to write more detailed stuff on some other aspects of moving in the near future too.

If anyone else has any good advice on moving, all of us readers will appreciate it (in the comments section)

Popularity: 13% [?]