Costs of some basic odds and ends

[cute fuzzy bunny]

You had me for just a second there... "German drain? Huh...never heard of those".

[KB]

3 years ago I moved from one house to another in the same town. I found the estimate and it was for $577.06. That was for 6.75 hours of work. They had a 4 hour minimum and it took less than that. There was a 16.81 fuel charge, the mileage was something like 6 miles.

I didn't keep the credit card statement, but I know it was less than that. Possibly a little under $400. And they moved everything...washer, dryer, freezer, fridge, all the boxes we packed, all furniture, BBQ.. I had them set up all furniture and leave all boxes in the garage.

Mainly they loaded and unloaded...

[Want2retire]

Originally Posted by OAG

August 2005 -- 900 mile move. We packed ALL of the little stuff. No refrigerators, no washer or dryer. One large 250 lb TV, Large Media box, Two large bedrooms (bed, dressers, night stands, large amours. Some tables, chairs and coffee table and end tables. Office stuff (desk, file cabinet, storage dresser, computer, monitor etc.,). About 125 Boxes of stuff (about the size of a large cereal box). Did not seem to be much to me and the truck was a small straight unit. Easy move single level to a 3 story unit (first floor, basement and loft). Cost: $4,700 but a very well packed and no damage move.

This is encouraging! I would have thought that such an interstate move would have cost three or four times as much, even though you did the packing yourself. It's really hard to get a idea of what moving should cost without getting an estimate, since the companies really don't say anything general about their prices online.

[TromboneAl]

Good one, REW!

And be careful of the American drain -- it will invade your neighbor's property. Similarly, the Mexican drain will illegally cross the property line.

[simple girl]

As another poster said, it can be done fairly cheaply if you just hire load/unload help and rent and drive the truck yourself.

Sometimes it can be difficult to find load/unload help (many movers are full service only). However, if you call around, you may find someone. We found movers that charged $60/hr with no minimum for 2 men (they were running a special, with no travel time fee either). Took only 2 hours to load our 2 bdrm apartment. Note that we were completely pack and staged all of the boxes, etc. for them so it was extremely efficient. $120 (plus tip).

Rented a 24' truck for $700 (including insurance, taxes, etc.). This was for ~ 630 mile move, one-way. I've found Budget seems to be more competitive than U-haul, but I always get comparisons. Also, go for a big enough truck. Trying to squeeze stuff in a small truck is not only stressful, but costs you more time.

We also used e-move.com to find load/unload help. Worked great for one of our moves, got someone for ridiculously low price of $20/hr (1 man). Did not work well for the other end of one of our moves...the mover didn't show up (heart attack). So, can't say I recommend it 100%, but it is an option to consider if you can't find any help.

P.S. make sure you have a dolly and get furniture pads; string is useful for drawers, etc., too.

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Simple Girl...that emove web site is good stuff. Looks like I can tailor my move to suit a nice combination of what I can do and what i'll need some help with. Looks like for $25 a person or $45 for two per hour I can hire just the moving help. I can get the truck and do the pack/unpack and secure the load, no problem. I can even push everything off the truck into the garage at the other end so if a guy is late or doesnt show up, not a problem.

Couple of hours by two guys at the destination end will do me.

Thanks very much for the help.

[simple girl]

Originally Posted by Cute Fuzzy Bunny

Simple Girl...that emove web site is good stuff. Looks like I can tailor my move to suit a nice combination of what I can do and what i'll need some help with. Looks like for $25 a person or $45 for two per hour I can hire just the moving help. I can get the truck and do the pack/unpack and secure the load, no problem. I can even push everything off the truck into the garage at the other end so if a guy is late or doesnt show up, not a problem.

Couple of hours by two guys at the destination end will do me.

Thanks very much for the help.

Your very welcome! We've moved 2 times in just this past year alone, so I feel like I'm becoming an expert at doing cheapo moves! LOL Good luck!

[cute fuzzy bunny]

You'd think I'd have it worked out. My first 2 years in CA I moved six times before I settled into an area. But that was 15 years ago...

I had two movers then that I kept using just for the big stuff...and there names were...I kid you not...Hans and Franz. Made them show me their drivers licenses.

[shiny]

I'll second the emove site. We've used guys off of the site for 2 moves and it worked out well (4 different movers). I think they are partially motivated by the fact that you can rate them on the site. In fact, the way the site was set up when I used it practically guaranteed you'd rate them since they will give you your money back ($9.95?) just for filling out a rating on your movers. Plus, you can read all the comments from previous users.

[TromboneAl]

I'd recommend quality people, because no matter what, you're going to be convinced that there's some item that got lost.

[cute fuzzy bunny]

If you could see my stuff, you might think thats a good thing!

[Sandy]

If you aren't too worried about breakage and want to supervise this move while entertaining a 5 year old and containing the dogs, you can probably fine cheap labor for hire look at any local college.

[whitestick]

Originally Posted by Cute Fuzzy Bunny

leave the washer/dryer/refrigerator here for sale with the home...buy all new ones and have them delivered.

Not sure what's available in your area, but two thoughts are:
If you have a local day labor place, you can pick up three or four bodies at a very fair daily rate to help you move - you provide directions and communicate in spanish.
If you are replacing major appliances and aren't too picky, I have had great luck at Loew's store (competition to Home Depot). They usually have an aisle for scratch and dent, which really translates into open box, or demo units, usually, sometimes there are missing items - like the screw on the back that holds the cord during shipping . The best times for finding the best selection on those kind of items (at least here in North Texas area) is Thursday - Thursday evening. They are pulling the items and putting the mark down labels on them in preperation for Friday morning when the contractors come in and clean them out. Example, I bought side by side Stainless Steel Refrigerator/Freezer for $450 (orig 1200 - took some negotiation, but that's what we do best isn't it), a top of the line washer with all of the fancy features for $250, (orig 700), non-matching, but exactly the dryer DW wanted for $120 (orig 450), combo Convection oven/double broiler oven for $145 (orig 680), chest freezer for $45, (orig 150), you get the idea. Not saying this was one trip, and they dropped to that price immediately - you have to find something wrong that they will accept as an excuse to drop the price just to get it off the floor (my favorite is - look there's those terrible black smears on the front of the door [little graffeti remover and some soap and water removed them], or gee it's missing the box, so it will probably get horribly damaged getting it home [when they delivered it, the shipping guys tripple wrapped it in plastic bubble wrap and foam, and tape], or the classic - it's missing the manuals and that custom kit for hooking up the ice maker [plumping section sells a kit for $14.95, and manuals are downloadable on the web]. They just need an excuse that is semi-plausible to put on their paperwork, and they will work with you. Cannot say the same for Home Depot though, but that's another thread.
Can't really help you on the big screen TV though, although, with the current Plasma/LCD screens wall mounted, you can recover a lot of space for your media room, and not have to worry about Gabe playing with the controls, or running his tri-cycle into the speaker grill

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Lowes scratch and dent isnt bad. I have a sears clearance center with a boatload of tasty looking stainless appliances that are discontinued, low stocked, floor models, scratch and dents, etc. I saw a dozen of each category that I'd buy in a heartbeat for 30-40% off of list price.

See if you have one of these clearance outlets near where you live if you're buying appliances. Go to the sears web site and look up store locations, checking off 'clearance centers'.

Lowes did have a nice Bosch dishwasher for under $500 when I was in there the other day. Kickpanel underneath was dented. If I was closer to closing on the house I'd have had it in the back of my car.

I wish I ever had a place I could effectively mount a big screen on the wall. Every place I've wanted to put one was in a corner of a room, where a regular rear projection set fits fine. Picked up this toshiba 65" rear projection set last year on clearance at Costco for $1200. Not only a nice set, but it has a bunch of big speakers in the bottom and makes some pretty great boomy noises.

No problem keeping Gabe away from the controls. Piece of cardboard and 5' of duct tape do the trick

[mja]

Originally Posted by Cute Fuzzy Bunny

See if you have one of these clearance outlets near where you live if you're buying appliances. Go to the sears web site and look up store locations, checking off 'clearance centers'.

I wasn't aware of that a couple weeks ago when GF and I bought new kitchen appliances. We did get 20% off buying 3 appliances at sears. Somehow our $2k budget turned into a $3200 purchase; the 20% helps, but we still went a "bit" over budget. It's the first time I've purchased new appliances and I'm glad I wont have to do it again any time soon.

No problem keeping Gabe away from the controls. Piece of cardboard and 5' of duct tape do the trick

I'm sure that's attractive

[sgeeeee]

Here's a number producing calculator. I have no idea about accuracy.

http://www.falconsolution.com/moving-calculator/

[savedapile]

Just a thought about hiring someone. I would call a temp agency and have them send over help. If you hire someone yourself and they get hurt you could have a problem. Temp employees are covered by workers comp if they get hurt. Take it from someone who has spent years working on medical files in litigation. Lawsuits are no fun.

My son did this at his last move, even though only one showed up. He rented a truck and dollies etc. He had no appliances to move.

We have moved 13 times and the most helpful thing to do is to start now going through stuff and getting rid of junk you don't use. I also would leave the appliances behind or sell them separately and get new ones. since it is so close you can probably move stuff right on hangars and pack up food which you wouldn't bother with in a long move and save a lot of hassle.

[ijuba]

Next door neighbors just moved this week -

-Approx. 3000 sq ft
-Moved about 100 miles into the DC Metro area (NOVA)
-Got 3 bids and they were all over the board.
-They packed and moved all items that were not furniture/heavy themselves, over about 3 months time.
-Movers arrived at 10 AM and were gone by 4 or 5 pm.
-They loaded all the heavy stuff. Unloaded next day at destination.
-$1800

[Want2retire]

Originally Posted by savedapile

We have moved 13 times and the most helpful thing to do is to start now going through stuff and getting rid of junk you don't use.

Best advice in this thread! You can't start this too soon, either, because it takes longer to sort through everything and get rid of junk than you might think. I started doing this aggressively last summer, and I don't plan to move for another 3 years or so. I don't see much point in moving a lot of stuff that I don't even want.

Since last summer, my closet space has tripled due to getting rid of junk, and I haven't missed any of it one bit. There's a lot more that could go, too, so I need to go through those closets again. Also I need to start on my kitchen cabinets at some point. Who knows what useless kitchen devices lurk in the back corners of those lower cabinets!