Do-it-yourself moving

(this post originally appeared on my other blog on 3/5/10, and I thought it was worth keeping around on this blog)

A week from today we'll be loading up all our stuff for the trip across the country. With this move, we'll have moved 6 times in the 8 1/2 years we've been married. We've also had our stuff in storage on 4 different occasions.

So I thought that today I'd talk about some of the things we've done, and what we've learned.

Our first move was across the street and down several blocks, about a year after we got married. Since it was so close, we loaded my Jeep and my sister's pickup truck and made a couple trips till everything was moved.

Our next move was an out-of-state move when we went to language school the first time. For this move, we rented a Budget truck and drove it ourselves. Since housing wasn't available right away, we put our things in storage for a couple weeks. When a house came available, we rented a U-Haul and transferred everything.

Our third move was back to where we'd been living before language school. Mr. M was finishing some training in another state, and I had stayed behind while I finished my classes. Once I was done, I didn't want to stay there by myself, so I loaded what I could in the car and moved back. We had to have orders in order to have the move paid for by the military, so we put everything else in storage. This was our only move that was done by professionals- they came and packed everything up, stored it for 3 1/2 months till Mr. M was done with his training, then shipped it to where I was living, where they unloaded it. One glass jar was broken and our ironing board got lost, but I'm not complaining- my parents always had massive amounts of breakage/theft/etc with their 'professional' moves.

Our fourth move was back to language school, and we used a Budget truck again. Once again, we put our stuff in storage for about a month while we waited for a house to become available. When it did become available, we used a Budget truck to transfer everything.

Our most recent move was here, where our families are. We loaded everything into a U-Haul truck and drove it here, where we unloaded most of our stuff into a storage unit in town. We eventually used my parents' truck and trailer to move everything to a shipping container in their back yard.

Our upcoming move will be made using ABF to ship our stuff. We're using their ReloCube option, but we have to take our stuff to the ABF terminal to load them, so we'll have to load everything into a U-Haul truck and haul it into the city (a hassle, but way cheaper than all the other options, so still worth it). ABF will ship our stuff and store it for a week or so till we can move into our house, at which time they'll deliver the cubes to our house and pick them up once we've unloaded them.

Some things we've learned:

1. U-Haul will match other companies' posted prices for the same trip/services. If you go to Budget's site (they've been the cheapest option for our past moves) and get a quote, then call U-Haul, they'll confirm the quote and then match it. I didn't learn this till our second move back to language school, after I had already rented the Budget truck, unfortunately. Budget and Penske trucks are higher off the ground, with a higher center of gravity, which makes them feel less stable. When you're driving a big truck over the mountains or in windy conditions, this could be an issue. I like the U-Haul trucks because they have lower beds and a lower center of gravity, which makes for a more stable ride.
2. If you don't want to drive a truck, there are other options: PODS, ABF, etc. I called PODS for a quote, but they were going to charge almost twice as much as what ABF quoted me. ABF actually has two options: fill a semi trailer (and pay by the linear foot) or use their ReloCubes. For our move, the ReloCubes are cheaper to use, but I imagine that could change based on where you're moving to and from. The trailers are not as secure- you don't get to lock it; but you do get to put your own locks on the cubes, so no one else can get into them- much safer.
3. When you're storing things, call around for rates and deals. Both times we stored things for a short time while we waited for a house to open up we used Public Storage. They had a deal where the first month was $1 plus some administrative fees. Since we were out before the first month was up, I think we paid a total of $20 each time. Way cheaper than the $200-300 regular monthly rate (it was an expensive area). I've frequently seen half off the first month's rent and other deals, so call around to see what you can find. Make sure you read the fine print to make sure they don't require a minimum stay- Public Storage didn't.
4. We didn't have a Public Storage option when we moved here, so we used a local no-name company. I didn't like how much we were paying each month, so I started researching other options. I ended up renting a shipping container from Mobile Mini for half what I'd been paying the storage unit company. Mobile Mini does charge delivery and pick up fees up front, but when you average that across the length of time we used the container, it's still way less than what we were paying for the storage unit. I think for how long we've had it, the fees were only $15-20 a month. Plus, there was the added convenience of having our things in our back yard.
5. Look around before buying boxes: I've bought them online from Uline, and I've bought them from moving companies and even Home Depot. Buying them online only works if you're buying enough to make the shipping charges worth it. For smaller amounts of boxes, check out moving/storage companies and hardware stores. You can also get boxes for free from stores like WalMart- just ask for them. I like having just 2 different sizes of boxes (I'm OCD like that), so I do pay for boxes. It makes it easier to load the truck or stack in storage.

If you're doing a do-it-yourself move, research the options and see what will work for you and your situation. What are you willing/not willing to do? How much stuff do you have? Are you ok driving a big truck? I drove UPS trucks one summer in college, so I don't have a problem with it, but I've also reached the point where I just don't want to deal with it on a 3 or 4 day trip. What is your budget? How far are you moving? How much time do you have? Do you have friends to help you load the truck, or are you doing it yourself?

Figure out what's important to you, make your decision from there, and enjoy the adventure of moving to a new place.

Have you picked up any money-saving tips for moving?

9/17/11- edited to add:
We've now moved seven times in 9 1/2 years of marriage. This last time was when we bought our house and moved about 6 or 7 miles away from our rental. Several friends helped me empty the cupboards and closets and we hauled most of the small stuff in our vehicles (small SUVs and minivans) before the actual moving day, when I rented a UHaul truck and some guys from church helped me load all the big stuff up. Unfortunately, we have more crap than I thought we had, despite getting rid of a lot of stuff through craigslist, so we had to make a second trip with the UHaul truck. It wasn't a huge deal since we moved just down the road, it just took longer than I thought it should have.

What I learned this time? Never underestimate how much stuff you have- inevitably you have more than you think you do :)