My husband just accepted a job offer in Arizona. (YAY!) We live in Illinois. We’re moving without a moving company and are just overwhelmed thinking about it all! He needs to be in Arizona in 3 weeks. Our lease is up in mid-July and I will be staying here packing stuff (and selling, donating and pitching). We have decided not to move a bunch of our furniture. We have one vehicle, an SUV that we are putting a trailer hitch on. I have a loaner from my in-laws that won’t be going with us. ANY suggestions?
I’ve moved cross country a few times, but the last was about 20 years ago. Good luck! I did what you are doing- sold what could be sold, donated what we didn’t need, and start over when we got there. Its a great time to get back to the basics. How exciting 
I hope it is a great move for you guys.
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Down-sizing is always the way to go when making any type of move.
I always find it amusing when people spend a large amount on moving trucks to move furniture and items that would cost them less than that if they simply just got rid of them and bought them again at their new location.
If you need a little extra space in your vehicle, you can always find a cheap rooftop carrier to fit extra stuff if necessary.
Buying one of those helped me have to make one less trip when moving my wife’s stuff from Illinois to North Dakota when we got married.
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MRS D, Congrats on getting out of nasty weather. AZ is so much more predictable. Shorts and tshirts most of the year, LOL. AZ is the only place I would move back to after retiring, as I grew up there and still think of it mostly as home.
I moved from CA to NM , in 2007, with the biggest uhaul truck, we could get at the time, and a trailer. My wife drove our packed pickup truck. We sold a truck and tossed so much junk before. 3 full 24 ft dumpsters. We live in TX and don’t want to move again. I retire in 6 years or so, so probably want to stay here.
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After you do some down sizing and you have bigger items that you’d like to relocate I found Door2Door the best priced upon moving across country.
Happy moving!
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I’d love to hear from others who’ve done this. My son wants me to move to where he is. I have a home I have to sell and it’s not an “in-demand” house. I have very little funds and would need to purchase something for us on the other side. How can this all be coordinated? Is there someone/somewhere you can help me? I believe I can cover the cost of the move but need to sell here before I can buy there. It’s also much more expensive there to live than here. We need to end up with a place that allows pets (he “forgot” them when he left), is affordable and easily paid off while I’m still alive and give him something for the future. I just don’t know how to do it all, in what order and how to pull it off.
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I’ve moved cross country several times.
- Don’t get rid of something you are attached to - it’s OK to keep it.
- You are doing the right thing to “clean house” and eliminate items that aren’t worth the cost to move them.
- When you get there, IKEA has low cost pots that I really like, Costco and Sams have pans, lots of low cost options. Silverware and plates, too. Keep it simple for the initial replacements until you are settled.
- Store tax documents and other sensitive paperwork in a water/fire proof container. And carry them with you.
- U-Haul has the most reliable vehicles - buy the insurance coverage. You can also look at the U-box, U-load option where a truck driver drives your stuff for you - it’s how they fill partial loads. Sometimes, that cost is equal to the self-drive options. There are a couple ways this can be done. I found, being single, that having someone else drive my stuff alleviated a lot of stress and made moving much more manageable. After paying for gas with a self-drive option, it was pretty equal on cost. They give you several days to a week to unload when it gets to your destination, and at your destination they may have a list of movers to help you unload. Same with loading, there are probably movers willing to be paid to help you load.
- If you are towing your vehicle, fill it with stuff, too, to gain extra space, if needed. I prefer to use a trailer versus other methods of transporting my vehicle just to keep the tire wear consistent. But if you do the U-load, you can just drive your vehicle and enjoy the trip out to AZ.
I hope these ideas help. So much more I could share!
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Hello. 3 years ago we moved from Virgina to Nevada. Quite a move and could be quite expensive. We also downsized ( probably should have downsized more and will if we move again) but we got rid of almost 1/2 of what we had. To save money we bought a 24 foot trailer - in the long run it was just about as cheap to do that than to rent a moving vehicle because of the distance. Also, if you run out of room and still need to move items use Greyhound. Yes, Greyhound buses. I sent 20 plastic totes of items through Greyhound and much cheaper than any other way. It takes a week or two for your items to get to their destination (at least with the distance we had) and everything was good. That was our biggest lifesaver in getting the rest of our stuff across the country. Hoping the move goes well for you.
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nwrigs posted:
Hello. 3 years ago we moved from Virgina to Nevada. Quite a move and could be quite expensive. We also downsized ( probably should have downsized more and will if we move again) but we got rid of almost 1/2 of what we had. To save money we bought a 24 foot trailer - in the long run it was just about as cheap to do that than to rent a moving vehicle because of the distance. Also, if you run out of room and still need to move items use Greyhound. Yes, Greyhound buses. I sent 20 plastic totes of items through Greyhound and much cheaper than any other way. It takes a week or two for your items to get to their destination (at least with the distance we had) and everything was good. That was our biggest lifesaver in getting the rest of our stuff across the country. Hoping the move goes well for you.
Huh, I never would have thought of using Grey Hound. Thanks for the information.
SMcLain posted:
I’ve moved cross country several times.
- Don’t get rid of something you are attached to - it’s OK to keep it.
- You are doing the right thing to “clean house” and eliminate items that aren’t worth the cost to move them.
- When you get there, IKEA has low cost pots that I really like, Costco and Sams have pans, lots of low cost options. Silverware and plates, too. Keep it simple for the initial replacements until you are settled.
- Store tax documents and other sensitive paperwork in a water/fire proof container. And carry them with you.
- U-Haul has the most reliable vehicles - buy the insurance coverage. You can also look at the U-box, U-load option where a truck driver drives your stuff for you - it’s how they fill partial loads. Sometimes, that cost is equal to the self-drive options. There are a couple ways this can be done. I found, being single, that having someone else drive my stuff alleviated a lot of stress and made moving much more manageable. After paying for gas with a self-drive option, it was pretty equal on cost. They give you several days to a week to unload when it gets to your destination, and at your destination they may have a list of movers to help you unload. Same with loading, there are probably movers willing to be paid to help you load.
- If you are towing your vehicle, fill it with stuff, too, to gain extra space, if needed. I prefer to use a trailer versus other methods of transporting my vehicle just to keep the tire wear consistent. But if you do the U-load, you can just drive your vehicle and enjoy the trip out to AZ.
I hope these ideas help. So much more I could share!
These are great, thank so much. We’re not trailering the car, my husband will be towing a trailer with our car. And, yes, he will be filling the car up also.
Sheils posted:
After you do some down sizing and you have bigger items that you’d like to relocate I found Door2Door the best priced upon moving across country.
Happy moving!
Thanks, I will check into them.
Moore Income posted:
Down-sizing is always the way to go when making any type of move.
I always find it amusing when people spend a large amount on moving trucks to move furniture and items that would cost them less than that if they simply just got rid of them and bought them again at their new location.
If you need a little extra space in your vehicle, you can always find a cheap rooftop carrier to fit extra stuff if necessary.
Buying one of those helped me have to make one less trip when moving my wife’s stuff from Illinois to North Dakota when we got married.
Good idea on the roof carrier. Thanks so much.
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Wow, I would have never thought of Greyhound. Thanks so much for the information. We are definitely downsizing BIG TIME.
Congrats! I’ve moved a few times (all over Texas, which might as well be its own country) and from Texas to Colorado and back. I agree with the minimalist approach – I tend to sale everything that isn’t tied down or that I’m not emotionally attached to.
It sounds like you all are further in the process, but I also consult several ‘cost of living’ relocation calculators and salary wizards to get an estimate of how much my new city will run me versus how much I can expect my dollar to stretch. My favorite is Bankrate, but there are several available.
For what it’s worth, this time around (I’m moving soon, again), I’m putting most everything in storage locally and will look to cost-compare AirBnB / extended stay hotel options in my new city for the first 1-3 months. This will be a slight short-term inconvenience but long-term, my hope is that this will allow me to get a feel for the new digs without the full commitment of moving directly into a new apartment or house. Once I’ve got the new locality figured out, I plan to bring everything down in a separate move versus getting overwhelmed by trying to do everything at once.
Hope something here helps!
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We just completed a cross country move and used PODS for our stuff. You pack them yourself and they are dropped off at your destination. You’re given a little time to unpack, then they pick up. U Haul has a similar service. // Packing materials. Newspaper end rolls. You can get them cheap at your local paper. Cardboard boxes, try freecycle or craigslist for free ones. Pack things in things. We had just gotten a new fridge so weren’t inclined to get rid of it before the move. After taking all the shelving out, it’s just a big box. //Ask for help from friends to pack your stuff.// Radical downsizing. Thrift stores are great places to get replacement items.
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I’ve made many cross-country moves. My family typically goes to the liquor store to get boxes–they always have them, they’re a good size, and the liquor store typically wants to get rid of them. In college I rented a half-furnished apartment and made my own furniture–end tables and the like–out of cardboard boxes covered by a throw blanket. If you’re looking for packing material, a lot of larger cities have free newspapers.
