Tales From My House: Packing and Moving

Moving is really expensive. Hello Captain Obvious, right? However, knowing this and actually seeing the numbers on paper are two different things. Originally we planned a full-service move that included packing. And, it cost about what we anticipated, maybe even a little less, however, after getting the estimates, I decided that I wanted to save the packing costs. I reasoned that those costs alone could purchase us annual passes at Disney World. So, I set off on a path to pack up our 4500 square foot house. Thomas helped initially, but since he left for Florida weeks before I did, I was mostly on my own. I wanted to go through all our things in an attempt to downsize. Our Florida house is significantly smaller and has very little storage. So, we really needed to get rid on things. Purging was theme of the month.

For those who are reading this because they are planning a move, or just curious, the cost of the movers was about $7000, for the 850 miles move. UBox from UHaul would have been around $5500, but they had a two to three week transit time! The other box/cube companies were also around $7000, but you don't get the other services, so for us, a moving company made the most sense. Of the three estimates, two were right around the 7K mark, one was at 9K. Obviously, we went with one of the lower estimates. I only contacted reputable companies with decent reviews (Wheaton, Allied and Atlas). The packing estimate, which included all supplies and labor was an additional $3500. The $7000 included furniture disassembly, loading of the truck, unloading and reassembly (so, a much better bargain than UPack). I could have hired packers separately from hireahelper or the UHaul website for around $1000. For this option, I would only have to purchase moving supplies; the people I hired, generally from a local moving company, would supply the labor, but for some reason that felt very complicated. I was nervous to wait until the end to have packers arrive, just in case, but I also didn't want to live in an empty house any longer than necessary. I am sure it would have been fine, but as mentioned, I also really wanted to go through our stuff and doing the packing ourselves seemed like the best way to accomplish that goal.

For those who want a full-service move, I would definitely recommend parsing out the loading and transport from the packing. Also, for anyone who is curious, UHaul had the best boxes at the best prices. The moving company sold used boxes, but with the exception of the wardrobe boxes, their used prices were higher than UHauls new prices! I had boxes from a local moving company, Lowe's, and UHaul. (I did not have Home Depot boxes which are also supposed to be really good because there wasn't one nearby, but I can definitely vouch for UHaul).

I ended up spending about $200 on moving supplies. I got several boxes, including all our wardrobe boxes from neighbors and a military family I found through Facebook Marketplace. But, I still needed to purchase more boxes, wrapping paper, tape, etc. And, even though I started weeks in advance, it took a lot more effort than I anticipated. I packed every night after work for weeks and the kids helped do their rooms and the basement, but there was still so. much. stuff! I also sold a lot on Facebook and gave tons away. It felt never ending.

Anna working in her room

The office was our inital staging room.

I took one day off work to devote completely to packing and Alecia and Michelle came to help. It was the last day before the truck arrived and all that was really left was two tvs, most of the kitchen, the computer equipment, and all the other last minute stuff. I figured it would take all day and well into the night. We got the kitchen, tv, and computer area packed in a few hours and I realized that I really should have asked for help much sooner. Lots of people offered and they probably meant it, but I knew that I could rely on Alecia and I was comfortable asking her for help. She and Michelle were awesome packers and they saved me hours and hours.

Wheaton charged $188 to pack each tv and we hired them to do our curved tv. I bought $20 tv box kits at UHaul for our other two, but of course, I needed help to get them boxed. And, in the funnest moving fact ever: when we moved into our house in 2012, Thomas was deployed. And, two friends, Josh and Matt, came and mounted our tv over the fireplace. We later moved that tv to the basement. And, it was one of the two that needed to be packed. As I mentioned, Alecia and Michelle were the ones to help me. Josh and Matt are the husbands of Alecia and Michelle! It felt very full circle. Anyway, I was very thankful for their help. And, even though it felt like we had just about everything done, all the last minute items meant I was still up until about midnight. But, I would have been up literally all night if they hadn't come to help. And, I took the day at a more leisurely pace. I also kept running out of boxes. I don't even know how it happened, but I would think I was done and then something else would pop up. Fortunately, there was a neighbor who had just moved in who offered boxes. I walked up his driveway at 10pm to grab what I thought were my final 5. Of course, I used all those and ended up walking up his driveway again in the morning for another 5.

From the basement. This is primarily the playroom, games and movies. In the right corner you can see one of our tv boxes. The $20 box did the trick, both tvs arrived in perfect condition.

The master bedroom. I should contrast this with the "for sale" picture of this room.

It really is insane how much stuff we have. It feels very gluttonous. In addition to everything we rehomed, we also threw out dozens of bags of trash. But, we still had so many boxes of belongings. Every room in the house had several. I found myself thinking that with a few small exceptions, I wouldn't mind if the moving truck caught on fire and we had to start all over. I think I could happily be a minimalist or maybe a mediumalist. I think of Little House on the Prairie and how Laura treated her precious doll. It was all she had so it meant so much to her. We have too much; we tried hard to pare it down, and we had some success, but there is still too much.

Tangent over. Wednesday was moving day! The truck arrived at 930. They had another job cancel, so they sent 6 movers. It still took them until about 4pm. I picked up Luke from daycare so he could see their big truck, he was very curious about the move, and we all waved goodbye to our stuff. In a fantastic turn off luck, they lined up another Florida job for Saturday, which meant they dropped off our stuff on Friday. So, Thomas was on his own, since I drove with the kids on Friday and Saturday. More on that to come.