Moving cross country...need experiences, advice!

[Disney845]

We've used ABF moving a few times and really liked it. I went to their site and did an instant quote and for a 2 bedroom plus house going from Fayetville NC to Portland OR it's roughly $2,700.

With ABF they bring the trailer to your house and drop it off. You load it up and when you're done they come and pick it up and drive it to your new house and drop it off. You then unload it and when your done they come back and pick up the trailer.

http://www.upack.com/

I have also used ABF U-Pack before on a move from FL to IN. It was the most economic way for us at the time. Everything arrived as scheduled and we were very happy with it.

I had lots of help (friends/family) to pack in FL even though ex-SO had already left for IN to begin his new job. When the trailer arrived in IN we hired two guys from a day-labor place to assist us with unloading as we didn't have friends/family or know anyone who could help us and I was pretty sick at the time and not much help. The work went very quickly with their assistance and although we had to pay for a preset amount of time (I am thinking like a 4-hour shift?) and it didn't take nearly that long, it was still very economical (a couple hundred dollars at most).

 

[thebeesknees]

We moved from Maryland to Colorado about 1 1/2 years ago. DH had to start 2 weeks after getting the job, so I didn't have a lot of time to get things ready or have a yard sale. I also had a newborn and a 4 and 6 year old. I had 3 different moving companies come out and give me an estimate. DH's new company was not offering a moving allowance, so we had to do it as inexpensively as possible. We wound up packing up our things ourselves, except for some artwork and china, which we had the moving company pack for us so we could get the insurance on those items. Saved us about $2,000 to pack most of it ourselves. We used Allied and I would not recommend them. They were about 2 weeks late getting our things to us, and we had some other issues with them. When we originally moved from Colorado to Maryland 5 years ago, DH's company gave him a moving allowance and we used Mayflower. They were great! I called a couple of charities ahead of time for donation pick up, and just put everything we didn't want to move into my front room for them. They picked it up about 2 days before we moved. When you are paying by the pound, there's a lot of incentive to get rid of stuff!

 

[kfeuer]

We moved from Atlanta to Spokane a little over a year ago. Like someone above mentioned, we used ABF to move. It's a good compromise price-wise between U-Haul and the full-service movers. You only pay for whatever space your stuff takes up on the truck. We hired movers on each end to held us load and unload and that was a big help. Another benefit was that they'll store your stuff for $500 a month. You just call them when you're ready and they'll bring your truck to you. That gave us time to find a place to live when we got here. The only negative was that I found their space estimates of what would fit on the truck to be very unrealistic. We took up more space then we thought, plus both of our cars were filled to the brim.

Definitely de-clutter as much as you can. Have a big garage sale. We had an enormous moving sale before we left and like you I agonized over what to keep and what to sell, but honestly I haven't missed one thing I sold. Almost anything is replaceable, anyway.

We looked into shipping a car, but in the end we drove both our cars cross-country with the kids. I will always have fond memories of that trip. We tried to stop and do something fun for a few hours each day. We stopped at Rock City, went to the top of the Arch in St. Louis, saw Mt. Rushmore and Badlands (which was all of our favorite stop), Wall Drug --we had a blast. It took us 6 days but it was totally worth it. Definitely keep track of your mileage and receipts, it does help at tax time.

Best wishes on your move. We absolutely love this part of the country, it's really beautiful. Plus we're having a mild winter, which is a nice bonus!

 

[kfeuer]

Oh and do not drive two cars / car moving van. The stress of one parent with the kids is not worth it and it is safer to have an extra adult in the auto for directions, helping getting the kids stuff, staying awake.

I agree it's not ideal, but driving 2 cars is doable (I know because we did it ). I had the kids 95% of the trip, too. DH's car was filled with so much stuff I couldn't see very well. He's a foot taller then I am, so we were better off sticking to our own cars, and my car had the kids.

Anyway, the key for us was not to push too hard. We found that 400 miles a day was our limit (we were also sight-seeing a few hours a day, so by the time we hit 400 miles it was usually 5 PM). Not being able to switch off on the driving is tiring, but we took breaks and we made it. However, if I wouldn't try it again if we were pushed for time. We weren't in a big hurry so we could take our time a bit.

 

[Halloweenqueen]

We moved from NC to WA almost two years ago. My husband was transferred and had to leave immediately. I stayed in NC with the kids until our NC house sold. We didn't want to have to move the kids twice, so this worked best for us.

The company moved our things, transported one car, and paid for our travel expenses. We decided to sell our second car and fly. I think the time of year had more to do with our choice. (we moved in March)

Our stuff was delayed almost a week because of bad weather (snow and whiteout conditions in many western states that year)


We love the Northwest! Welcome!

 

[hopemax]

We've used ABF moving a few times and really liked it. I went to their site and did an instant quote and for a 2 bedroom plus house going from Fayetville NC to Portland OR it's roughly $2,700.

With ABF they bring the trailer to your house and drop it off. You load it up and when you're done they come and pick it up and drive it to your new house and drop it off. You then unload it and when your done they come back and pick up the trailer.

http://www.upack.com/

I also highly recommend ABF. My parents used them twice to move from WA to FL, and we used them to move from AZ to CO. And we are going to use them again, this fall to move things from FL to CO. Because they charge by linear foot and not weight, they are much cheaper than traditional movers. You can, separately, hire people on both ends to load and unload the truck to make it easier on yourself, and it should still come up much cheaper than full service movers. Uhaul and similar, is probably about the same cost, but with ABF you don't have to make the drive, worry if the truck will break down, etc. Just make sure to secure your cargo really well.

 

[DisneyMomma81]

We spent a summer in Biloxi MS while my ex was there for his military tech school. We rented a truck from Penske and my dad drove it with our car towed behind it from UT to MS - my ex was already there (went straight there after basic training completion) my 2 kids and I + my sister (who came along to help ~ DD was a newborn, DS was 3) flew to New Orleans. When we came home ~ my ex drove the truck the kids and I flew. We were reimbursed by the Air Force. We didn't bring a lot with us ~ we were only there for a couple months. Good luck ~ OR is lovely.

 

[devores]

Some great advice on here.

#1 being to declutter now. Being military and moving allot, Ive learned to declutter at least once a year. If I have not touched it in the past year, its gone. Some say 8 months, but a year works for me.

I would personaly hire a moving company myself. The stress of moving to a new home is enough. Let the moving company drive your stuff there. Not to mention, if you do not have a place to live rightaway, you will have to store your stuff. This means unloading the Uhaul only to have to load another one later. The moving company will store it for you till your ready. You pay either way, which is less work on you?

I know some moving companies charge less if you pack the boxes and some even have space available rates. This means your stuff goes on a truck bound for the same location, not a dedicated truck for you. You basicaly piggy back on someone elses move. Of course, this could create a delay in getting your stuff. If there arent any trucks heading your way or the trucks are full, your stuff sits and waits till there is. Saves some money.

 

[Local_Girl]

All I can say is Purge, Purge, Purge!!

My heart goes out to you, having to move in the middle of winter. We just moved a little over a month ago. We thought we'd be moving out of state, but as it turned out, DH found a job only 2-3 hours away, so we had a much shorter move. (being ex military though, we have made our share of cross country moves )

We rented a truck--the largest available--from Penske (DH likes their trucks/company better) and moved ourselves. We ended up with 2 FULL truckloads. Honestly, who has this much stuff?? Anyway, we didn't have a lot of notice to make the move either and didn't purge anywhere near as much as we should have. So, we ended up moving a lot of junk.

Be careful loading and unloading a truck in snow/ice conditions, if it comes to that. DH is a great mover (done it often for us and others) but he fell a couple of times, and once he almost injured himself badly.

Good Luck to you...hope all runs smoothly for you and your family. BTW, had we moved further, we would have also gone with ABF.

 

[digitalgiga]

Last Summer we moved out to Texas, and i agree with you, it was soooo much easier to just pay movers to work for us rather than rent a truck. It really wasnt even that big of a difference. What part of Texas are you in? And just out of curiosity how long did it take your movers to get to your destination? I just want to compare against mine. Thanks!

 

[RangerPooh]

Our stuff was delayed almost a week because of bad weather (snow and whiteout conditions in many western states that year)


We love the Northwest! Welcome!

That was our last year living in eastern WA, so I remember the sorms that we had in January, February, and March. We lived in WA for 5 years and never had a winter like that until our last one there....5 more months until we move back

 

[mommyof2princesses]

Thank you for all your help! I am a little stressed, but excited. We have called a few moving companies and hope to be set by next week. I think it will either be ABF or Mayflower. Now to go pack, pack, pack!

At least we found an apt to live in for the first few months.