This is usually the first question that comes to mind when moving between two homes. Yes, we all know that regardless of whether it’s a local move or cross-country relocation, the home moving process is as expensive as it gets.
The average cost of a home move within the same state costs roughly $2,300, while the average price for an interstate move (move distance of 1,225 miles) goes all the way to around $4,300.
Taking into account the average moving costs above, there is little surprise that everybody’s looking for good ways to save money when moving – after all, money doesn’t grow on trees. And when you yourself are moving on a budget, then you should also be searching for smart ways to cut moving costs.
The good news for you is that there are a number of excellent ways to cut the cost of moving – cost-saving methods that you must use to your advantage. Luckily, we have hand-picked good advice on how to cut moving costs so that you can keep your moving expenses within reasonable limits.
The best ways to cut moving costs and expenses are:
1. Set up a personal moving budget
How to save money on a long-distance move?
One good way to do just that is to monitor and control your expenses in a way that will let you step up and apply the necessary fix if a task suddenly requires more money for its completion than originally planned.
Based on the typical moving costs, create a moving budget to help you stay within your limits and lower your moving costs even more. Your newly-created budget will serve as an invaluable moving costs checklist, providing you with valuable information regarding
moving company expenses: moving cost estimate, additional services, moving insurance, extra charges, and fees, or
Equally important when budgeting for a move is to know for sure that you have saved enough money to cover the future moving expenses – failure to do so will turn your upcoming move into a true financial challenge.
Your best bet to move house for less money is to use the services of a reasonably-priced moving company – aka cheap movers.
Some moving companies may swear that they have the most affordable relocation services out there, but when you don’t have a good basis for comparison, you just can’t know if they are telling the truth.
So, what you need to do is to get to the point of comparing various movers and their cost estimates in order to pick the offer that best agrees with your allocated budget.
Use our Moving Cost Calculator to get in touch with several professional moving companies.
Request in-house estimates from the movers for accurate price calculation. At the end of the survey, movers will give you moving cost estimates in writing where the moving services and their charges should be listed clearly one by one.
Compare the quotes carefully and choose the offer that best suits your relocation needs. Remember that a good mover will help you stay within your budget by providing personalized moving packages to enable you to save on your moving expenses.
A word of caution: Be suspicious of suspicious estimates.
All your efforts to cut the cost of moving could turn out to be in vain if you happened to hire movers who are only interested in scamming people out of their money.
Sadly enough, dishonest moving companies (aka rogue movers) do exist, so be on your guard for suspiciously low moving quotes – the ones that seem too good to be true. Usually, a low-ball estimate is one that quotes a price that’s uncharacteristically lower than the other moving cost estimates.
And if that happens, your priority task is to understand WHY the mover in question has quoted such a low-cost estimate. In some cases, that may be a red flag that something is not quite right and you’re advised to stay away from such low-ball estimates. In other cases, there’s usually some explanation for the cheaper moving rates and you have to find the answer by speaking with the moving company in question.
Either way, you must know how to recognize and avoid moving scams, as well as what to do if you ever become a victim of moving fraud. After all, a proven way to save money when moving is NOT to waste any dollar bills, right?
Don’t forget to ask your moving company for special deals or current discounts. After all, any way you can lower your moving costs is more than welcome.
It’s important to keep in mind that no moving company rates are set in stone, which also means that you should try and negotiate a better deal with your movers even if you are not particularly proud of your negotiation skills.
Here are some good tips for negotiating a moving company price:
Most of the time, top-rated moving companies would prefer to get your moving job by giving you a better deal than to see you go to one of their competitors. Whenever possible, use this tactical move to your advantage.
After you’ve compared the price quotes of various professional moving companies, contact the mover that you have selected and try to negotiate a better price. Tell them that you do want to use their moving services but you have been offered a lower price by another mover. Inform them of the lowest bid and ask them directly if they will be willing to price-match it or even go lower than that. Remember: you’ve got nothing to lose here.
Serious moving companies will try to keep and win customers by providing more flexibility both in pricing and conditions. The idea is to reach a mutually beneficial agreement with your mover, which may also mean some minor compromises on your part as well – if that is a viable option, of course.
If your mover is not willing to reduce the price, then it’s a good idea to try again the next day. First of all, your persistence will be a sign that you are a serious customer, and secondly, the movers in question may have changed their minds in the meantime. Besides, there’s always a chance that you resume the price negotiations with another more “flexible” moving company representative.
When it comes to reserving the services of a local mover or long-distance moving company, no move can be booked too early.
Remember that summer is the busiest season of the moving industry and if you’re contemplating a summer move, then the fundamental the earlier, the better booking rule becomes even more valid so that you can pull off a trouble-free home move.
Moving experts agree that the moment the moving date is confirmed is exactly the moment to book a reputable mover that will meet your relocation needs. As you can guess, the best movers in the country are the first ones to get booked during the peak moving seasons so there isn’t any point in postponing this important task.
There’s an added incentive to book your move very early in the house moving process – some moving companies may give you a price discount for early booking and that’s something that’ll also help you lower moving costs.
6. Schedule your move smartly
Another trick to cut your moving costs even more is to schedule your move the right way.
It is not always possible to choose the exact date to move out, but if you are lucky enough to have that flexibility, then you should always use your scheduling freedom to significantly reduce the cost of moving. How?
Moving company rates are the highest during the peak moving season simply because the demand for moving services is the greatest during that period. What this means for you and your budget is that, provided that you have the unique opportunity to move out whenever you wish, then you should always aim to move during the off-peak moving season.
When is the peak moving season? Roughly speaking, the peak moving season starts on Memorial Day (the last Monday in May) and ends on Labor Day (the first Monday in September). Statistically speaking, around 70% of all moves in the U.S. happen during that May-September period.
Another thing to keep in mind is that moving services are more expensive at the beginning and end of each month, and on weekends as well. So, if possible, schedule your move on a weekday in the middle of the month from September until May when the standard moving rates that apply during the peak of the moving season are usually lowered greatly, sometimes up to 20-30% of the regular movers’ rates.
Therefore, the better your moving and packing organization is, the more time you are likely to save in the end. On the other hand, if you do happen to fall behind your schedule, then that time loss may lead to you having to hire extra moving labor, which in turn will increase your moving expenses.
The top 3 ways to save time when moving home are:
Follow a comprehensive MOVING CHECKLIST that will keep your time perfectly organized prior to, during, and immediately after the home move. Half an hour saved here, one hour saved there will quickly add up to give you the great opportunity to finish all move-related tasks days in advance. Not bad, eh?
Smart packing techniques can speed up the packing job like never before. Yes, packing is often labeled as the most time-consuming task in any moving timeline, but it doesn’t need to be. Sort out your stuff faster, pack in stages, and label your boxes the write way.
Did it ever occur to you that a single photograph can save you up to 30 minutes of post-relocation time? Take photos of the way electronics are wired up to minimize the time you need to reinstall them in your new home.
Contact friends who have recently moved house to get hold of moving boxes free of charge. Also, post I NEED MOVING BOXES in your favorite social network and keep your fingers crossed.
One thing is clear – you’re going to need boxes – a lot of boxes at that. Imagine how much money you will save if you somehow manage to obtain all or at least most of these moving containers without having to purchase them brand new.
But where can you find moving boxes for free?
Most local businesses such as supermarkets, office supply stores, bookstores, specialized liquor stores, and so on have more cardboard boxes than they need. Local retailers are required to break the containers down and recycle them at the end of the day, so usually, all you have to do is talk to the store managers and leave their respective businesses with as many boxes as you can carry home.
Another way to save on moving costs is to ask friends and colleagues whether they can spare any cardboard boxes that they won’t ever need again. To get free moving boxes must feel nice but you still want to make sure the cardboard containers are completely dry, strong, clean, and do not have any signs of damage.
A word of caution: Don’t use low-quality boxes.
As mentioned above, finding moving boxes free of charge will cut moving costs greatly but do your best to distinguish the thin line between cheap/free and low quality.
The truth is that even one cardboard box in bad condition can break easily under its own weight and cause your things to break. And that breakage alone could outweigh whatever money you will have saved by not using good quality boxes.
So, free is always nice but sometimes using substandard moving boxes is a risk not worth taking.
To slash moving costs even further, use blankets, bed sheets, towels, and other pieces of clean clothing instead of purchasing wrapping and filling materials such as packing paper and bubble wrap in order to protect fragile items for transportation.
Thick socks are perfect for protecting glassware or filling up small spaces in order to immobilize the boxes. Be careful when using newspapers because they are likely to leave ink stains on some of your delicate items.
Standard cardboard boxes aside, you can easily utilize buckets, baskets, suitcases, drawers, trash bags, vacuum bags, and of course – Ziploc plastic bags as effective moving containers.
Also, consider renting reusable eco-friendly moving boxes from your chosen movers. This way, you won’t have to wonder what to do with all the containers after the move or where to recycle those packaging materials – you will be just glad knowing you’ve made your humble contribution towards preserving the environment.
It’s important to keep in mind that some cost-saving tips for moving on a budget are better than others. While you may not save enough money when you use alternative padding and wrapping materials instead of purchasing a few rolls of bubble wrap, purging your home of all no longer useful things prior to packing will enable you to cut moving costs seriously.
Ultimately, you’re paying for the transportation of each and every item found in your home. So ask yourself if you really need all your old belongings in the new house or apartment. Give it a little thought and you’ll see that you do not need to move all of your stuff to the new place – you may have even forgotten about the existence of specific items accumulated over the years.
How to REALLY reduce moving costs?
It’s REALLY easy: just get rid of all your excess items by
You already know how to keep your piggy bank friend happy.
Since moving house can be an expensive affair, you should always look for simple ways to reduce moving costs, especially when you’re moving on a budget.
However, you shouldn’t forget that using proven cost-reduction techniques is not the only way to keep more money in your savings account – whenever possible, you should also try to earn some cash that’ll help with moving costs.
Once you’ve come up with a decision on which items you will be moving and which ones you will just leave behind, do consider selling for a profit the things that are lightly used or even never used for that matter.
Organize a profitable moving sale before you move out or try to sell those items online. Either way, the money you earn from the unwanted things will help you cover some of the upcoming moving costs.
A full-service move is the most expensive option for moving house, so you might want to consider packing your household belongings by yourself. Completing a critical task of the moving process on your own will always be a good way to save on moving costs.
Be a smart packer and pack up whatever you can by yourself. Seriously, will it make any sense to hire professional packers to arrange your books in cardboard boxes? No, it won’t. Similarly, what’s the point of paying professionals to box up your clothes and shoes when you can get it all done on your own?
Thus said, some household items may indeed require professional packing services in order to survive the relocation trip. Such items happen to be the ones that are extremely fragile, exceedingly heavy, exceptionally bulky, or too special to be handled non-professionally.
When was the last time you disassembled and wrapped up a pool table by yourself? Do you even know how to protect an expensive and valuable piano?
Reduce your moving costs greatly by completing a part of the packing task by yourself without letting possible overconfidence compromise safety in any way.
13. Consider organizing a self-move when moving locally
You may succeed in lowering the cost of moving if you decide to perform a DIY move, but there are numerous factors to take into consideration before you can make the best decision under the circumstances.
Distance is the major factor that can determine whether it will be more reasonable to move on your own or hire reputable movers. Moving only a short distance is the ideal “excuse” to organize and perform a self-move – simply make sure you rent a moving truck of the right size and have at least 2 or 3 reliable friends who will be by your side when packing, carrying, and loading your possessions into the vehicle.
On the other hand, if you’re moving to another state far from where you live, then contacting top-rated state-to-state movers is the option that makes the most sense.
Time, of course, is the other prerequisite that you need to factor in during the decision-making period. If you happen to have enough days to get ready for the big move, then maybe moving by yourself is the way to go.
However, if sufficient time is a commodity you can’t really afford, then hire professional packers and movers who have been trained to find adequate solutions within any time frame.
What would you do without your good friends… on Moving day.
Another good way to bring down the moving cost is to ask your friends to give you a hand, either with packing or with moving heavy furniture and boxes, or both. This way, you won’t need to pay professionals to help you out, which should help you save money during the house-moving process.
Make sure you ask your pals for assistance early enough so that they can include you in their plans. It’s important to give them enough time for minimal disruption of their daily schedules and for a maximum chance of them saying YES to your cry out for help.
Also, be straight with your best friends and tell them exactly what you need them for instead of downplaying the situation just to get them to agree. This way, they should appreciate your honesty and you won’t feel uneasy on the day of the move.
Don’t forget to offer your buddies snacks, sandwiches, and refreshing drinks while they’re working with you on Moving day. And it goes without saying that you should assure them that you will return the favor when any of them needs moving help in the future.
One of the smart ways to cut your moving costs is to avoid making any mistakes that will cause you to lose money.
It can be really hard to stay error-free throughout the entire move, especially when you’re moving out for the first time. Luckily, not all mistakes are costly and by being extra careful when it matters the most, you can still avoid losing any hard-earned money.
Here are the top 3 costly mistakes you must avoid at all costs:
You hire a dishonest moving company that scams you. This is often the result of you failing to research movers properly. Use our cost estimator to get in touch with moving companies that are properly licensed by the U.S. Government.
You move all your items without paring them down. Declutter your home and get rid of the things that you don’t need or don’t like anymore. The more items you decide to take with you, the more money you will pay for their transportation.
You pay for professional services you don’t really need. A classic example of spending money you should keep in your pocket is packing. Whenever possible, you should always choose to pack up your things by yourself to reduce packing costs.
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