As I mentioned, I moved closer to my work. It used to take 50 minutes to 1 hour from my previous address but it literally takes 5 minutes by walk to get to work now. I can add one more benefit of renting against buying a house, which is flexibility. I can move anywhereI want without many hassles of selling a house such as hiring real estate agent, lawyer, showing the house whatnot. If you are not married or married but have no kids yet then I would strongly recommend you to just rent until you save up a good chunk of money at least for your down payment to avoid mortgage insurance fee. I learned many frugal moving tips from last moving to my current location so I wanted to share them with you.
Exhausted wife. Time to feed her 🙂
1. Be light
Sell or give away unnecessary furniture and other stuff. My wife and I got rid of unnecessary furniture before moving which relieved a lot of headache. We never realized we had that many junks at home, felt good to get rid of them and made us promise not to buy stuff like that in the future.
2. Don’t buy oversized furniture
Again, be light and economical. There is nothing gives more headache than oversized furniture when moving. We purchased recliner sofa that its back padding and arm rests could be easily taken off from the body. The body can be also disassembled into three individual pieces that can be moved by only one person. We purchased bedframe that has built in box spring. You know how much headache the box spring can give you when moving as it is big and less flexible than your mattress.
-Friends
3. Clean the bathroom, kitchen and other necessary area of the new home for you to put stuff.
4. Take pictures of the new home before moving in
I admit it. Some landlords are asses and they may blame you for pre-damaged hardwood floors. If you hope to get your deposit back take pictures in case you need to shove them to your landlord face. 🙂
5. Book a moving truck well ahead of time and get the measurement.
You know how hard to find s moving truck at month end. It is cheaper and easier to find the moving truck you want if you reserve it earlier. Make sure your big furniture such as couch, mattress, box spring … fit in easily to the truck.
6.Hiring movers vs Your friends
I don’t typically like hiring movers as they may be late (so missing the elevator schedule), they normally surprise you with charging extra for travel and moving (blaming for having a small truck so need to travel twice) and they wouldn’t be as careful as yourself and your good friends with your valuables. All I paid for renting a truck was $80 including gas and $120 for good meals and beers to my friends. If I hired movers, it could have been $500-$1200.
7. Book your good friends well ahead of time.
Don’t let them book their time for other things on your moving day. Haha
8. Book elevators for both location. Time planning is critical.
9. Nail holes can be easily filled out with a bar of soap. Try it. It is magical.
Just regular white soap works like a charm.
10. Change your address 1-3 week prior to moving. Inform your lovely ones who may send early Christmas presents in October.
Don’t let it ruin your Christmas day! Make sure telling your lovely ones about your moving!
11. Costco Kirkland plastic wrap (industrial sized for around $10.00)
I never realized until my wife started using the food plastic wrap to wrap everything we have. Mattress, furniture, monitor, all liquid toiletries, utensils etc… Two things I learned here. Lesson one, I never thought the wrap would last after wrapping couch, mattress, so many couch cushions, some clothing, monitors, toiletries, utensils etc… and we still have left with more than half of the wrap after pack them all. Lesson two, the wrap really protect. So
metimes you will have to drag your furniture on the ground such as mattress but once you wrap them and attach small cloth to reduce traction then you are good to go. They will be as good as new after moving.
12. Overnight bag
Pack all the essentials in the bag. Don’t ever forget your Frozen overnight bag for your kids. You don’t want your kids looking for the bag when you are exhausted with all the physical works that you haven’t done for years.
13. Utilize clothing
Use your clothing to pack breakables such as dishes, glasses. Bubble wrap isn’t cheap
14. Free boxes
Trust me, tones of good quality free boxes from your local grocery, convenience store, donut store, book store and liquor store wait for you. From Uhaul, 1-2bedroom box kit is being sold for $186.85. Why would you ever spend that much money when you have to buy your friends beers and pizza for helping you out?
15. Labeling the boxes
Label what’s in the box and what room it will go
16. Make sure everything is packed before your friends show up
Don’t be an ass. Be courteous to your lovely friends who will save your day.
17. Schedule your utilities to be disconnected in your old place and turn on in your new place.
18. Keep your records and receipts while moving such as rental of moving truck, gas, overnight accommodation, dining etc… You may be able to get tax deductions if met certain conditions.
19. If you decide to hire movers, make sure to read the fine print to see if being imposed of odd rules.
20. Consider hiring baby and pet sitters if you have any. You don’t have time to clean up their messes under stressful moving environment.
That’s it for me. Do you have anything to add here?
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Love your tips! Wish I had them last time I moved. It was terrifying, all that chaos and I found I have too much stuff I don’t use and don’t even need. Happily my best friend helped me with selling and donating all unnecessary items.