How to Save Money on Moving Costs

Although moving can be fun and exciting, it also comes with various challenges and expenses. Whether you’re moving across the country or locally, you might wind up spending more than you want.

Here are some recommendations on how to save money on moving costs.

Downsize Your Life

The simplest way to make moving more manageable and more affordable is to get rid of junk and clutter from your life. The challenge, however, is determining what the clutter is and what items are necessary. Downsizing is not only an excellent way to cut down on moving costs, but it will help you stay focused on your goals.

Even better, if you can sell some of your belongings, you can offset more of your costs. That said, if you can’t sell items, donating them is another excellent option. Helping those in need can make you feel even better about moving.

Get Gently-Used Packing Materials

One moving cost is buying boxes or containers to fit all your stuff. But utilizing gently-used materials can help you save money. Check with friends, family, and social media sites like Nextdoor to secure gently used boxes. The chances are that some people you know have moved relatively recently, so they might have the items you need.

Another option is to start saving boxes as soon as possible once you know you’re moving. For example, if you order products online, you can keep the packages in which they arrive. You might also try local grocery and liquor stores. Often they have boxes available for reuse.

Get Help With Packing

If you’re going to ask friends and family for used boxes and packing tape, you might as well ask them to help you store your items as well. Depending on the situation, it may be hard to enlist help for moving day, but it’s much easier to pack boxes and consolidate furniture and other items.

If you want to seal the deal, you can have a pre-moving party a week or two before your move-out date. Not only can a party encourage people to come and help pack, but you can also use it as an open house for anything you’re donating or selling. So, whether guests put your belongings in boxes or take them home, it’s a win-win.

Use a Moving Service

At first, hiring professional movers might seem like a way to increase costs, not save money. However, that depends on how you look at the situation. After all, isn’t your time and energy valuable? How many hours will you spend on packing, moving, and unpacking? If you have a busy lifestyle, it’s often more efficient and cost-effective to hire moving services.

Also, you can pick and choose the options that work best for your budget and your situation. For example, you might not need a “white glove” service where movers pack and unpack your boxes for you.

Finally, what happens if you or someone you’ve enlisted to help gets injured? What if you break something valuable? When using professionals, you can protect your items. Doing it all yourself means that you pay out of pocket for injuries or breakage.

Move More Efficiently With Us!

Moving brings many challenges and obstacles, so don’t let them get in your way. Instead, contact us to see what we can do to make your move as streamlined and affordable as possible.

 

5 Ways to Decompress After Packing

As you prepare for your household move, you’ll read a lot of guides about how to pack. But what about removing the stress once you finish?

Decompressing after a long day of packing is essential. It helps keep you ready for the next day.

Here are a few ways you can take care of yourself during the packing process.

1. Finish Your To-Do List

When you finish your packing day, it’s important to feel ready to move on. You can achieve this by following some finishing rituals. This might include checking a few boxes off your list or making a new packing list for tomorrow.

This step shouldn’t be time-consuming or overwhelming. Instead, you should choose a task that will give you a sense of relief and allow you to transition to the rest of your day.

2. Take Time to Transition

When you have a lot of tasks on your plate, it’s tempting to rush from one to the other. But sometimes, the transition process is just as necessary. Some people need extra time to adjust from one responsibility to another, especially if they both require a lot of energy.

Pick a task that you can do after packing that helps you relax and doesn’t require a lot of focus. For example, you might make yourself a cup of tea or browse social media for a few minutes.

3. Relax Sore Muscles

Packing is a lot of physical labor, and you may feel the results in the hours afterward. Therefore, it’s essential to stretch your muscles once you finish the day. For mild pain, heat works well for muscles, while ice is more likely to help joints.

If you feel exhausted and sore, it’s easy to camp out on the couch for the rest of the evening. Instead, make sure you get up once an hour, even for just a few minutes. It will help keep you from getting too stiff.

4. Do Something You Enjoy

Doing something you enjoy is a mental reward for your hard work when you get to do something you like, it’s a mental reward for your hard work. That’s why you should include a pleasant task at the end of your day. Pick something that doesn’t require a ton of setup, especially if you don’t think you’ll have the energy.

A fun activity doesn’t have to take a lot of money. Just think of something you enjoy doing or look forward to as you pack. It will serve as its own motivation, and then you’ll get the benefit of doing the activity as well.

5. Appreciate the Break

Once you start packing, it’s easy to agonize over the things you didn’t finish. But to have a break, it needs to truly feel like a break. That means you’ll need to look for ways to set aside the packing task until you can return to it.

Allow yourself to stay in the moment without worrying about your to-do list. Instead, occupy yourself with activities that provide a healthy distraction, like exercise or entertainment. That will make it easier to focus on what you’re doing instead of other worries.

Moving Help

Decompressing after you pack gives you the staying power to do it every day. To schedule your upcoming move, contact us to request a quote.