Moving Tips- Part 4

HI! It's Jilly. It's finally the post you thought would never come...Part 4 of our Moving Tips Series! We moved from Arizona to New York, and now that I'm getting a bit more settled I have just a few more things to share with you. Hopefully it will help some of you out!

First, did you know you can price match your moving truck?! All the big companies- U-Haul, Budget & Penske- want your business and are willing to beat their competitor's prices to get it. So, you can get a written quote from one company, take it to another company, and they will match or beat the other company's quote!

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Some people like the fact that U-Haul has the lower truck bed, so you can get a quote from Penske or Budget, then take it to U-Haul and they will beat it. This is a great way to save yourself some moola on your move.

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You can also save money on the truck rental by booking online. Most places give you a 10-20% discount. Plus, they usually have discounts for students, military, AAA, AARP, and other things. Look for promo codes online. Be sure to explore all your options and all the ways YOU can get a discount. Moving is not cheap, my friends!

image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

We got our truck from Penske this time. They didn't have our truck the day we reserved it for (grrrr...). But, they gave us a huge discount as an apology, plus gave us an extra day, since we had to move our truck-loading help back when they didn't have our truck on time. So, in a way, not having the truck on the day we reserved it may have been a blessing in disguise, because it saved us even more money on our ridiculously expensive move cross-country.

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Another way to save money on your move? Get boxes from local grocery stores. Some of the best boxes come from the produce department. Get apple and orange boxes, because they come with lids and are nice and sturdy. Check your local health store, because they usually have more produce boxes. In the Phoenix area we have Sprout's and Whole Foods. 

We got some great boxes from Albertson's. At the stores in Phoenix they call them "Ponca" boxes, because they are shipped from Ponca City, OK. The boxes come with hair & body products in them, and other non-food items. They store them flat in the back near the baler. 

Ponca boxes are great because a) they give them to you flat, so you can fit more of them in your car when you pick them up, and they take up less space in your house while you are packing, b) they are all the same size, so the stack well together in the truck and in your house, c) they are nice, sturdy boxes, and d) they are free. Mwahaha!

My friend, Pam, suggested making a schedule when preparing to move, i.e. Monday- Master Bedroom, Tuesday- Office, Wednesday- Kitchen, etc. This is a great idea, as long as you stick to your schedule. I am terrible at keeping myself on track. Hence, one of the reasons we left FOUR DAYS LATE! Granted, we left a little later because we had a lot of little projects to finish up on our house before we sell it, but still... If I'd stayed on schedule we would have been a LOT better off! Then I might not have looked like this because I was sleep-deprived and running on Dr. Pepper.

As a comparison, this is me at the park with my kiddos the other day, not sleep-deprived and running on Dr. Pepper. Ok, well maybe a little sleep-deprived. I am a Mom, after all. ;)

The last tip is good for anyone, but is especially helpful when preparing for a move. Do you have a pile of stuff you want to get rid of & donate, but don't want to/can't/don't have time to take it somewhere? Well, many of the places that take donations- like Goodwill, Deseret Industries, and The Salvation Army- will come out to your house and pick-up your donations. You just call them, schedule a pick-up date & time, then put your stuff out in front of your house. Everything from clothes, housewares, and toys, to bigger items like furniture, they will accept. Then you know your stuff is going to help people in your community, not just going in the trash. Plus, it's a tax write-off! 

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We had DI (Deseret Industries) come out TWICE to pick-up a huge pile of stuff. SO easy!

That's the end of our Moving Tips Series. I hope at least one of these tips will help your move go a little smoother. If you missed the rest of the series, follow the links below.



And, I feel like I need to add a disclaimer here...just because I'm giving you all these tips does NOT mean I am a pro! I felt like I was in WAY over my head! Not everything I wanted to get done before I left got done. Not every road-trip activity I envisioned was made. Not every box was perfectly marked. (That's Ethernet cable, btw. Yeah...)

So, when trying to move don't let yourself get discouraged if things aren't going according to plan. Life happens. Unexpected road-bumps get in your way. Just go with the flow and do what you can to make it go smoothly, then just let the rest go. It will all work out somehow, I promise!

Sometimes I link up with THESE parties.

Check out the rest of the series!