Money-Saving Moving Tips

Moving from one home to another can be quite an expensive endeavor. Even if you are just moving across town or to a neighboring city, transporting your belongings safely to your new home can really drain your wallet fast. What can you do about it, though? Isn't it inevitable that the process of moving to a different home will cost you a lot of money? No, it isn't--try some of these ideas that can help save you some money on your move.

Get boxes from nearby stores. Go to any drugstore, grocery store, or mass merchandiser close to your home and ask a manager if you can have some boxes. The manager may tell you to come back on the store's stocking day to get the boxes-make sure to do so. It is well worth it to get free boxes from a store rather than resorting to having to buy boxes.

Use packing supplies you already have. Instead of getting bubble wrap to protect your dishes and fragile knick-knacks, wrap them in towels, tablecloths, and blankets. You can also use plastic shopping bags to wrap and cushion breakables.

Use tape very sparingly. Only use packaging tape on boxes of fragile items; for other items, alternately fold the box flaps down to close the box. No need to tape everything closed, especially since if you are trying to save money you are most likely moving everything yourself.

Recruit help from friends and family. Try to get as many people to help you with the move as you can. Hopefully you will at least be able to get 2-3 people to help you.

Or, hire help from a temporary service. If you cannot get any friends or family members to assist you, don't think that you have to resort to hiring a moving
service. Try out a temporary service instead. Go to one on the morning of your move and ask around to see if any of the workers would be willing to help out for a few hours in exchange for some cash. Chances are you will get a few takers on your offer from workers who missed out on being sent out on a job for the day shift. This will cost you much less than a moving service would.

Use your own vehicle or borrow one. Instead of renting a truck, consider using a vehicle you already own-or, perhaps you can borrow one from a friend or family member. A minivan with the back seats removed can move an entire household (trust me, we have moved our household in this manner)-items that do not fit in the back can be tied on top of the van. Or, a pickup truck would work really well for moving anything. You will have to pay for gasoline, of course, but that cost is minimal when compared to the cost of renting a truck. Truck rentals often require the purchase of insurance as well as a mileage cost-and you still have to pay for gasoline.

Borrow a moving dolly. If you ask around among your family and friends, or maybe even among your coworkers, you can probably find someone who owns or has access to a moving dolly. Borrow it, and you have saved yourself the cost of renting one. A dolly isn't entirely necessary, but it is helpful for moving the really heavy household items.

Use old blankets and comforters as padding. Sometimes you need some padding around a certain piece of furniture-perhaps you are worried about your inherited china cabinet getting nicked during transport. Grab an old blanket or comforter and use it for the padding. Don't have any old ones to use? Then take a trip to a nearby thrift store and pick up a couple for next to nothing.

Obviously, if you are doing the moving yourself (along with the help of family and friends or along with the help of a few temporary workers) you will not have any kind of insurance against things going wrong. But, it isn't really likely that anything will go wrong because you will be right there-your belongings won't get lost during transport, for example. There is the chance that someone might accidentally damage something. So, it is probably a good policy to decide to move the most special, fragile items yourself instead of entrusting them to someone else-that way you don't have to worry about those items.

Doing the moving yourself is a lot of hard work, but the money it can save is substantial-especially if you plan ahead to follow these tips. Try them out for your next move and you will be pleased to see that your wallet has kept more of its money.