[BigSD]

I used to do the DIY thing. But, I find the professionals to be a better choice – worth every nickel to save my back. Pack what you can and need to yourself, clothes, books, pots and pans. Let them be responsible for the delicate stuff. Dressers and desks, they will move full. Honestly, I was absolutely impressed that these guys would grab 3 boxes at a time and hump them up and down the stairs. Worth every penny IMHO.

[Tin-Foil-Tiara]

Yeah, no one is packing but me. Not even my husband. I’m very particular lol It’s the loading and unloading that gets me the most. We aren’t old but we aren’t young, either. One wrong move and you’re out. We might be able to find college kids around here that would be willing to make a buck and we should be able to find help unloading (but even if we don’t, unloading goes much faster than loading) but the idea of having someone else do the heavy lifting for once is so very appealing. We’ve always moved ourselves with Uhauls or just cars. It’d be nice for once to not. But…idk…we’ll see.

Thanks!

[Tin-Foil-Tiara]

Thanks guys!

In no particular order:

– I am doing ALL of the packing and unpacking myself.

– We are leaning towards loading and unloading ourselves but all it takes is one wrong move and you’re “out of commission.” We do have a branch of the state university here so maybe we can hire a couple college guys to help?
– PODs is unavailable where we currently live. It was the first thing I looked into after Uhaul lol

-We have had several rummage sales this year and last year. Weather permitting, we’ll be having another at the end of the month. I have also donated extensively to local churches, as well as putting stuff out on the driveway for free. Most of it has been children’s items. I was holding onto a lot of it for future potential grandchildren (still years away) but I’m sick of storing and moving it. I’m keeping a few boxes of toys, games, puzzles, etc that don’t require batteries and a few favorite clothing items, as well as quite a few children’s books, but the rest (VAST majority) is gone or going. I’ve actually got a lady from a church/school over yonder who is on vacation until the 28th. A different lady bought our train table for their preschool. I gave her a TON of other stuff for free for the preschool since that’s where I wanted it to go anyway, and in exchange, she gave me the name and number of the lady at the church/school. I’ve left word with them to have her call me when she gets back from vacation. If I don’t hear from her by the 30th at noon from her, I’m either going to call or just go over there and ask if they’ve got families in need of children’s clothing because I’ve got SO MUCH of it yet. Somehow, I doubt she’ll say no. Everyone with children could use more clothes!

– I, too, have heard horror stories about movers/moving companies. I keep trying to get quotes but it’s all online and then they want your email and phone number and we all know what they do with your info…In fact, after verifying ourselves online yesterday for a rental (while we get to know the area we are moving to before buying) I got swamped with spam emails. First came 5 from Chase to my email (and not the one I used, either) but with my husband’s name on it. Then came about 130 more from various places, in various languages (I lost count how many languages I saw), to various people who probably don’t exist. I deleted all of them, marked them all as spam, and blocked them buuuuuut this is exactly why I hate doing stuff online. Area we are moving to (North Central AR) doesn’t have much in the way of rentals. Anything big enough and cheap enough gets swooped up right away, often by locals. Which is more than fair. Absolutely. But it’s frustrating for us. The place we looked yesterday that is doing everything digitally has emailed my husband the access codes. No real person to show us around. It’s a huge red flag to me. I didn’t know that until afterwards. In hindsight, I should’ve listened to my gut and actually CALLED the office to talk to them before doing anything else. You’d think I’d stop ignoring my gut after it’s been right time and time again but nope…*sigh*

I will take everything y’all have said to heart and pray on it. Thanks guys. You rock!

[PackersRboss]

I used PODS. Not cheap but I had time to load & unload on my schedule. Moved from Texas to the Midwest in December.

[Tin-Foil-Tiara]

That would be ideal but it’s unavailable in our area. Major bummer. Originally from WI (assuming, based on your name) and moving back? Just curious because I’ve heard of a lot of people from WI who moved to TX and FL moving back to WI.

[PackersRboss]

I moved back but given the coming social unrest, I may have made a bad decision. WI is more liberal than TX. But TX had alot more crime.

[Tin-Foil-Tiara]

In case you hadn’t heard, the WI Supreme Court just flipped blue, which means that purple state is now (imo) BLUE. It’s not even just SE WI, Madison area, and the Green Bay/Appleton area anymore that are blue. The weirdos are everywhere. I know it’s “two cheeks of the same rear end” but still…And the crime might be worse in TX, but I can assure you it’s quite rampant in WI. I don’t call it Killwaukee for nothing…idk how long you had left WI but it’s not what it used to be. Even in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by farms, there are drag shows in the parks and blue-haired “its” working the family owned dairy farms. Not to mention used needles all over. It’s beyond abhorrent.

OH! And check out State v Rector, 2023 WI 41 and Wis. Stat. (weird legal symbol that doesn’t exist on my keyboard and I don’t know the name of) 301.48. It’s a legal system, not a justice system. I’ve said it for years that criminals have more rights than victims. It’s fucking disgusting. I’ve tried calling the DOC with a billion questions after receiving notice of this (late…as it changed in May but it’s now almost the end of August) but, of course, no one answers. One step closer to legalizing pedophilia. Or, as They are calling it, “decriminalizing age-gap love.” Bestiality is next. Mark my words.

I found an article yesterday outlining the ruling, calling it a “win” and underneath it was comments from kiddie diddler after kiddie diddler after kiddie diddler. Now, I agree that sex offenders shouldn’t all be lumped together. The guy who rapes jogging blonde chicks in their 30s shouldn’t be grouped with female teachers who have sex with their students and other pedophiles (CP counts, too. Sick bastards.) And the GPS system was garbage, yes, but at least it was some sort of weak attempt at “protecting” victims. But this is BULLSHIT. I could go on and on and on but I’ve rambled enough. I’m still extremely upset since finding out. It’s part of why I decided not to pursue a career in “criminal justice.” I would blow a gasket.

Sorry for the rant and cussing. I’m just…I’m too pissed not to.

[PackersRboss]

Naw, I get ‘cha. I am looking for another property but my 3 dogs are an issue when it comes to rentals. Not ready to buy another place yet until I can see the area & know the challenges. Left WI 18 yrs ago, bought in TX, but it was too hot for me. I’d like something in-between.

[Tin-Foil-Tiara]

*nods* Yeah, dog-friendly rentals can be hard to find, especially if you’ve got bigger breeds. Wise to look before settling. That’s what we are doing (renting and checking out various areas, doing research on rules/laws/restrictions/etc) but my MIL is trying to convince us to buy NOW, despite being roughly 800 miles away from our end goal. It worked fine for them 7 or so years ago because they have extremely low standards and are fast asleep. I love my in-laws very much but sometimes they drive me nuts lol

But yeah, best of luck! And thanks for the chat. It’s nice to talk to sane people haha

[SLINGSHOT]

According to all the financial articles I have seen, real estate is extremely high. I’m not a finance expert but I would try to hold off. Maybe you will get lucky and meet someone or hear about a property that is reasonable. Keep your eyes open and keep asking questions. I’ve been hearing for over a year the used car market is going to crash. Well I’m still waiting and they are going higher. Looks like they were wrong.

[RebelFarm]

Not sure what area your looking, but the idea of renting my property has been put on the table. I’m in SE Kansas. Nothing is stone yet, but maybe next summer.

[PackersRboss]

I’m looking for south (as in KY, TN, NC, SC.). Maybe WV but southern part.

[Scrapmetal]

If you use a uhall drive slow so you can get goof fuel mileage. Back in the day I use to trip lease with a company called MOVE X I believe they are no longer in business.It was a do it your self and I supplied my equipment. I use to feel sorry for the people and help cause they were going to ruin their belongings.I sometime got a tip but most of the time at leased lunch.If you choose this type make sure the trailer is air ride.The roads are terrible. ABF has no air ride.

This was my trailer.I kept my equipment in the belly boxes!I still have the teuck.i just turned over 2 million miles on it!

[FaithK]

This may be too late to help, but… Movers are crazy expensive. They generally charge per pound. So that 20 lb box of canned goods is going to cost you $10-$15 to move, based on average costs with reputable companies. So you see why people tell you to sell stuff and rebuy when you get there. If you have a 50 lb dresser, especially one that’s not sentimental or valuable, it makes as much sense to sell it for $75 before you leave and just buy a new/used one at your destination, depending on distance.

What I’d do (we ended up not moving, but researched it super hard in the last couple of years) is pack it all up myself, and yes, get rid of stuff that will take up a ton of space and won’t be super expensive to replace. Sell that dresser because of the room it takes up, and find a thrift one with the money you saved, both on a smaller truck (or only 1 instead of two, that’s what I was working with) and less gas money. I wouldn’t get rid of preps, just like I refuse to give up our books – we have about 3500 between house and husband’s office. Anyway, what I ultimately decided on was to pack it all myself, declutter a LOT, sell what wasn’t sentimental or required (like, we have a ton of furniture that we’ve kept from the kids that they didn’t want (and my son passed away), but that we’ve kept for guest rooms, or just because there’s no need to get rid of it right now. Sell it, but don’t expect to get your money out of it. Some extended family have tons of garage sales, but charge out the butt for common items… and then stuff they could sell on ebay with a little effort they let go for hardly anything Ugh. That’s a different rant LOL

Damn, I can ramble. Anyway, yeah, our decision was to declutter, sell, package thriftfully (liquor store boxes here we come) and hire some folks locally to load the UHaul(s). If you get the kid of someone you know, they generally work hard and will take less money than a questionable business in many areas (not saying cheat them, I’m saying cut out the middle man, taxes they’d have to pay, etc.). Do the same for unloading. LABEL EVERYTHING WITH COLORS! This way the folks unpacking you know which room to move stuff, rather than leaving you a pile of boxes to sort through aimlessly. Also pack cheaply but effectively. Check craigslist or something else local for things you could use for the move – get some of those college kids to save their air packs from amazon purchases, cheap ziplocks filled with air, balloons, shredded paper from a local business, etc etc.

In the end, we would have paid about 20% doing this over a moving company, 10% of the cost or even less if they were to pack as well as load.

[Farm-Ranch-Homestead]

I’m jumping in to this discussion quite late, but wanted to toss my 2 cents in…

I looked at Pods, but they didn’t service both ends of my move, so they were out.

I thought about a rental truck, but they are quite expensive, and I’d still have to tow another vehicle to drive when I got there. With the rental expense, including per-mile charges, and the cost of fuel, along with the fact that I’d have to drive it, this did not appear to be a good option for me.

I looked at ABF freight, and seriously considered it. I could load all or part of a 28 foot semi-trailer, then have them transport it and deliver it to my destination. I would basically have two or three days to load on one end and two or three days to unload on the other end. The cost, I believe, was similar to a rental truck, but I would have more space, and wouldn’t have to drive it. This meant that I’d have to have everything ready to load when it arrived, and I’d need a crew at each end for loading and unloading. I could drive my car from one place to the other and meet the trailer at the destination, but it would have to coincide with the trucking company’s schedule. This was my second choice option, but I opted for another option.

My final option, and the one that won out, was to purchase a large (8.5′ x 20′) cargo trailer and tow it with the truck I already had (3/4 ton diesel pickup). I could load and unload the trailer at my leisure, because I had a place to park it at each end. I could transport a car (or even a tractor) in it if I need to (which I will eventually need to do). I can make multiple trips with it as necessary. I could use it at the new house to move furniture, appliances, and other things I bought for the new house. I could use it to haul cattle panels or 16′ gates that would not fit in the bed of the truck…

I’ve already made two (it might even be three) trips with it from the old place to the new one, and I am getting ready to do that again soon. This was certainly the best option for me, but I’m moving 30 years worth of stuff from one place to the other. Much of what I am moving is stuff I acquired with the intent of having it for retirement. Some of it is preparedness supplies, some is hobby stuff, some tools, some books, etc.