Top 5 Ways to Save Money When Moving

Guest Post

Thanks to Alban Smith for this article.

No one likes moving. Between packing, cleaning and trekking back and forth, the cost of moving just adds insult to injury. These five tips will not only make your next move more affordable, but easier and less stressful.

1 – Get a professional quote

Even if you’ve never thought about using professional movers, get a quote before you start loading your car – you might be surprised. When you look realistically at costs to move yourself, consider the wear and tear on your vehicle, the cost to hire a trailer or van, the fuel to drive back and forth when you can’t fit everything in your car or trailer at once, not to mention the beer to pay off friends and family for helping out.

If you ask a professional mover to give a quote, you could find it’s more affordable to have someone else do the move. When a mover comes to your home, you get the best possible price because they quote what they actually have to move, not what they think you might have.

Remember, your time is money and how many days did you have to take off of work last time you moved?

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Yard Sales

Yard Sale

Cleaning out? Getting ready to move or just clearing the nest?

Planning a yard sale? I found this great site that you’ll want to advertise on if you’re selling or map from if you’re shopping.

Check out Yard Sale Treasure Map.

Put in your address, the distance you want to drive and the day you plan to shop.  Apparently, the list comes from sales listed on Craigslist so, if you plan to sell, be sure your information is listed there.

Happy bargaining! Let me know your results!

City Live/Work Incentives

St. Louis Park, MN

Have you checked to see if your city has any live and/or work incentives? Cities need for you to live and work in them because you pay the bills and generate tax revenue for wherever you live. In this economy, many cities are beginning to compete, not only for industry, but for population. There just may be incentives to live where you want.

St. Louis Park, Minnesota, has just such programs. The population is 47,000 and St. Louis Park is located just 10 minutes from downtown Minneapolis. If you work for a local business there, you qualify for a $2500 loan toward buying a home and an additional $1000 if you buy a foreclosure. Don’t like that it’s just a loan? Stay in the home for at least 3 years and the loan is forgiven! Great way to improve their economy and sell distressed properties!

The City of Cleveland offers residential tax abatement on newly constructed and rehabilitated homes in all 36 neighborhoods.  A newly constructed home in Cleveland receives 100 percent, 15-year tax abatement for construction of the home.  Rehabilitated properties receive a 100 percent, 10-year abatement on the increased value of their property after the work has been completed.

As an example, a $150,000 home without the tax abatement pays $2970 per year in tax.  With the abatement, they pay $594 for a savings of $198/month!

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How to Find a Rental Property

Rent to Own

The number 1 way to find the perfect rental for your family in the area you want to live is:
walk the neighborhood! Find where you want to be and walk it, talk to neighbors, they know which properties are rentals or if a neighbor is hesitant to advertise but needs to rent.

Years ago, my husband and I drove by some ADORABLE 1920′s bungalows in downtown Pasadena, CA. We stopped the car to look because they were so beautiful and the location was perfect. There were amazing rose trees all along the walkway in the center courtyard that connected the 6 individual bungalows.. My husband said, “I’m going to go knock on the door to see if anything’s available.” I couldn’t imagine we’d be so lucky. But, we were! Of course the residents knew each other and the woman who answered the door told him that one was actually available but, because they were so desirable, they were never marketed but rented by word of mouth. We lived there (and loved it!) for years.

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Well, we’ve moved…

Boxes

And we’re exhausted, but very happy.

More moving tips: when you know you’re going to move, join a gym! The amount of physical work you’re about to experience cannot be over emphasized!

Check and recheck all appointments. When you’re packed and ready to go, the movers not showing on time, the cable guy not coming to the new home as scheduled, the power company forgetting to send someone to read the meter so they can set up your electrical, all of these and a lot of other things can really mess up your move! Re-confirm appointments! Make sure the person you talked to really scheduled your appointment! It takes some time but the mistake you prevent will be well worth it.

Our biggest problem was the moving estimator. We were billed $220 per hour by the movers. We were only moving 5.5 miles to our new home. The time estimate we were quoted was 5 1/2 hours which came out to be a reasonable charge. Well, it took 11 hours and the movers (all 4 of them) worked hard all day. The mistake was entirely the estimator’s. However, when it came time to hand over my credit card, there was an additional $1100 to be paid. I didn’t pay for all the additional and the estimator is supposed to be calling me to “work out the misunderstanding”. Now, I could understand if he’d been off by 2 hours, maybe 3, but 5 1/2? Double the estimate time? Part of this problem is not mine…

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Never too many boxes…

Moving Boxes

Moving? It’s a lot of work just getting the boxes! (just ask my husband) So far, we’ve packed over 100! And, like I’ve said before, banana boxes seem to be the sturdiest. We go to the local grocery every other day to get them. Did you know that bananas are delivered to the stores every two days? They’re so fragile and so perishable that they don’t keep long so the stores have them delivered more often than any other product!

At any rate, we’re boxing all we can to make the move as easy as possible so – banana boxes, free and sturdy. Plus, you can stack more easily when most of your boxes are the same size.

4 days to go until the movers come! We emptied the attic last night and started packing the kitchen yesterday. Almost there!

Craigslist for buying & selling your items

Refrigerator

Moving? Have lots of things you don’t want to give away but that you think may sell? Have you ever used Craigslist? I wanted to sell my refrigerator (since I’m moving and don’t need it where I’m going) so I posted it on Craigslist, had about 12 contacts in a matter of hours, and sold it! We also use it weekly to buy and sell homes.

Its such a great FREE site and free is always good! List what you have to sell. Look for what you need to buy. Even if you’re looking to buy or rent a home in another city, you can check for available properties in the city of your choice.

Great site. Not sure how they make their money… but you can’t beat free. Check it out!

More Moving Tips

Moving

Thanks to Sean for the tip (for the article “Boxes, Boxes & More Boxes”) about using different colored boxes for different rooms. You could also use different colored tape or stickers so the movers would know which room to take each box to in your new home. Sean also told us about Used Cardboard Boxes.com as a resource for buying as well as disposing of cardboard boxes. Great green tip!

When you’re getting ready to move, start saving newspapers! Ask friends and neighbors to save theirs for you. You can never have too much packing material! Buy bubble wrap for the dishes and glasses.

Grocery stores and liquor stores are great sources for strong boxes (for free!). Most stores crush their boxes after emptying so ask them to save boxes for you. Sometimes they have boxes available, sometimes they tell me when to come back to pick them up. Perfect!

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Boxes, Boxes & More Boxes!

Boxes

Well, I certainly have much more appreciation for our residents moving in and out. What a lot of work! So much to do! So much to think about! All the little decisions. Take this? Throw these away? Give this to someone? Sell these? Will I still want this in my new home?

And, I’m already exhausted! We’re paying a moving company, but we’re boxing everything up ourselves. They charge about $150 per hour so I’m being careful with the packing plus, if I pack it, I’ll know where it is.

We’re off to a good start after about 4 days but we have miles to go! Time for extra B vitamins for stamina. Any great moving tips you can share?

The Moving Process – Cleaning Out

Moving

Well, we’re moving. Ugh. So excited to be in the new home. So dreading the move! We’ve been in this house 11 years. We have A LOT of stuff. Too much stuff. Oh, well!

So, what’s the moving process? To start with, we made the decision to move and started looking for a new home. Here, at home, I started cleaning out (thank goodness). You can never clean out too soon, too often or too much! The best Feng Shui advice is GET RID OF THE CLUTTER! Well, neither one of us are pack rats but, after 11 years, the closets and cabinets have magically filled.

Best advice? If you’re not using something, pass it on. I’ve passed on a lot of things this week. I started the cleaning out process with my shoes and clothes. I took two large boxes of clothes to the women’s shelter. The clothes were nice enough for someone else to use but things I no longer wear. I did that quite often when my kids were growing up. If it didn’t fit them anymore, pass it on. Jim takes his things to the homeless shelter.

Then there are the unnecessary knick-knacks. Those I’ve packed up for Goodwill. I hope someone appreciates them. Cleaning out the closets and drawers is so therapeutic. It feels good and increases the energy in the home to get rid of the excess and it feels good spiritually to know you are helping someone else when you “pass it on”.

Our moving process has begun – cleaning out, clearing up, passing on!