Cross Country Moving

Jenna, one of our guest authors, offers some tips on moving across the country.

Moving across the country can be an incredibly stressful time for a family. However, when it’s the best financial decision you can make, it’s a stress that you should be happy to take on your shoulders. Different areas offer different costs of living, which could greatly benefit a family that was struggling to make ends meet in a place with a high cost of living like San Diego.
If you’re willing to trade in the expensive city life for something a bit more modest, then you will save thousands of dollars each year. This is why many families are taking the plunge and moving across the country to places that offer a more reasonable cost of living rate. However, the benefits you will get once you arrive does not make the actual move any easier. Here are a few tips to make this move as easy as possible:

Have a Huge Sale Before the Move
Chances are, you don’t need to pack up everything in your house and move it with you across the country. You can drastically shrink the amount of things you have to box up and pack by trashing and selling the things that you haven’t used in ages. Yard Sales, announcements on social media and ads on classifieds sites are great ways to get rid of some of your stuff.

Get a Moving Plan Ready
If you’re going to have professional movers do the work for you, then you need to get rates and quotes from as many different companies as you can. Don’t be afraid to negotiate to get the best rate possible. If you’re going to do the moving yourself, then you need to start planning that as well. Boxes will not pack themselves, nor will they magically show up at your house. You must take a proactive approach.

Ship and Store Larger Items
Driving a moving truck can cost up to several thousands of dollars in gas already. There’s no need to add more weight to the shipment than needed. Save yourself gas money by shipping very large items ahead of time and store them until you’re ready to use it. For example, if you’re moving from San Diego to Charlotte, NC, send these larger items ahead of time and have them sent to a truck storage unit you can rent on a short-term or long-term basis.

While it may seem very stressful, by taking a proactive approach, moving across the country doesn’t have to stress you out too bad. Plan ahead, only pack what you need and ship the things that are too big, and you’re on your way to a great move across the country.

Thanks Jenna! Teacher and I moved 10 times in our first 11 years of marriage. Our shortest move was to the next-door apartment and our longest was from St. Louis, MO to Newark, PA. Even thought we’re do-it-ourselves people we hired movers to pack the truck, and it was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made! Another great moving decision was taking the ferry across Lake Michigan when we moved from Michigan to Wisconsin. It wasn’t cheap and didn’t save us any time, but it was so much less stressful than driving a moving truck around Chicago.

What is YOUR best moving tip? How about a funny moving story?

Photo by the Muuj. Used under Creative Commons 2.0.