What's the best and most economical way to move halfway across the country? Soon, many of us will need to leave our home state to go to school. what do you guys and gals think is worth taking and what will be cheaper/ better to buy there?
Moving
- Thread starter GoombaMK
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I've moved a lot on my own.
My strategy is to sell all my furniture on craig's list then buy everything when I get to where i'm going. This way I can just pack my car with a computer, kitchen supplies, and clothes.
You can get all your furniture at thrift stores for pretty cheap. The only thing you can't really take second hand is a mattress. Moving things like crappy couches or dinky tables you bought in college is a waste of money and resources. My perspective is that it isn't worth investing in good furniture until I reach the 30's or after residency, otherwise you will just be getting cheap stuff you don't really like but feel stuck with.
Last time, I bought all my furniture for 150$, and bought a mattress/boxspring for 280. I sold the furniture at the end for about ~150 and got $80 for my mattress/spring. So I lived for a few years only netting -200 in furniture and saved the $$ of renting u-haul or movers.
Just my 2 cents.
My strategy is to sell all my furniture on craig's list then buy everything when I get to where i'm going. This way I can just pack my car with a computer, kitchen supplies, and clothes.
You can get all your furniture at thrift stores for pretty cheap. The only thing you can't really take second hand is a mattress. Moving things like crappy couches or dinky tables you bought in college is a waste of money and resources. My perspective is that it isn't worth investing in good furniture until I reach the 30's or after residency, otherwise you will just be getting cheap stuff you don't really like but feel stuck with.
Last time, I bought all my furniture for 150$, and bought a mattress/boxspring for 280. I sold the furniture at the end for about ~150 and got $80 for my mattress/spring. So I lived for a few years only netting -200 in furniture and saved the $$ of renting u-haul or movers.
Just my 2 cents.
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I've moved a lot and this is what I do, too. Especially if you live near a college you can get rid of stuff on CL really quickly and possibly even sell it to whoever is gonna move into your apartment after you.
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I've got an entire set of designer Swedish furniture and king tempurpedic bed from a very wealthy friend when he graduated and returned to his home country. I plan on using a POD to get it to wherever I need to go. Its easy, no hiring movers, and theyll store it for a couple of months for really cheap if you want
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Avoid Uhaul, etc. They are still ~1-2 dollars per mile, counting the fee plus gas. Very expensive, especially when most of the stuff you couldn't fit in a car can be replaced for less than the cost of the move.
If you can pull a trailer with your car (and you probably can with most, just gotta get a hitch installed- which can be a DIY thing as well), that helps a lot. 15-20 a day from uhaul, no mileage fee.
Next best to a trailer, and making for an easier drive, is a roof box. They are plentiful and cheap on craigslist. Same with the mounts for them; often the universal ones are perfectly acceptable. The set I have can cause a slight leak in the window seal, but for temporary use, they work fine.
I did a cross country move for my GF and a job. I put a 650 liter roof box on my (vintage, compact) car, which I packed with the lighter stuff. Tetris'd the trunk, with the spare tire in the back seat instead of under everything (murphy's law will apply here: if you need the spare, it's while it's under everything you own. If it's easily accessed, it will be unneeded.). Filled the rear seats with stuff too, plus passenger seat with a cooler filled with valuables. You can fit an incredible amount of stuff in a car if it only needs unpacked once. I have some space intensive hobbies too, so there is plenty of room for the typical pre-med in most any car.
When your car is heavily loaded like that, remember to inflate the tires extra. Usually to just below the pressure limit on the sidewall. Underinflated and overloaded tires can overheat and delaminate. Bump them up to the limit to get the maximum rated load safely.
When you get to your destination, unpack and take a trip to Ikea for essentials, and do some craigslisting for the less essential stuff.
If you can pull a trailer with your car (and you probably can with most, just gotta get a hitch installed- which can be a DIY thing as well), that helps a lot. 15-20 a day from uhaul, no mileage fee.
Next best to a trailer, and making for an easier drive, is a roof box. They are plentiful and cheap on craigslist. Same with the mounts for them; often the universal ones are perfectly acceptable. The set I have can cause a slight leak in the window seal, but for temporary use, they work fine.
I did a cross country move for my GF and a job. I put a 650 liter roof box on my (vintage, compact) car, which I packed with the lighter stuff. Tetris'd the trunk, with the spare tire in the back seat instead of under everything (murphy's law will apply here: if you need the spare, it's while it's under everything you own. If it's easily accessed, it will be unneeded.). Filled the rear seats with stuff too, plus passenger seat with a cooler filled with valuables. You can fit an incredible amount of stuff in a car if it only needs unpacked once. I have some space intensive hobbies too, so there is plenty of room for the typical pre-med in most any car.
When your car is heavily loaded like that, remember to inflate the tires extra. Usually to just below the pressure limit on the sidewall. Underinflated and overloaded tires can overheat and delaminate. Bump them up to the limit to get the maximum rated load safely.
When you get to your destination, unpack and take a trip to Ikea for essentials, and do some craigslisting for the less essential stuff.
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Do you even have furniture?
Pack 2 luggages of clothes... and drive to your new place. Everything else can go to trash/donation/sold
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Depends where you're moving to. If it's a big city, and you're coming from a small town, try to bring as much stuff as possible since the difference in cost may be massive enough to warrant paying the $1 K for movers. If you're going from a big city to a small town, chances are you can just buy stuff for cheap there. Definitely will be driving with all of my computer stuff, clothes and shoes. Will probably buy everything else there.
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If you opt for movers (which I wouldn't suggest if I were you) do a thorough background check and read as many reviews as you can. I had a friend that was moving to a different state and he spent thousands of dollars to hire movers that did not show up within the time frame they told him, didn't deliver his stuff for a month and broke some of his valuables and renegade on the insurance plan they had him purchase. He took them to court and was able to get money from them but it is a hassle and not something you want to be dealing with during your first few months of medical school.
how much we talking for a POD?
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