Moving to a new home is an exciting time to start a new chapter in your life. After all, you have fresh surroundings to discover and concentrate on navigating your latest home and neighborhood. Though as thrilling as that sounds, you also may have some hidden costs of moving associated with relocation, especially if you move across the country that you may not have planned on while preparing for this new home. Therefore, in this post I will explain how you may have overlooked some of those hidden costs of moving and solutions that can help.
Get Rid of Unnecessary Items From Your Home Before the Move
One of the best things that you can do to keep down moving expenses is to declutter, hopefully a few months before or even longer. This is advisable because a coast-to-coast move can be expensive. It can range from $3,000 to $15,000 depending on the company you hire. Even if you move one hundred miles from your present location, this is also considered a long distance move, which is subject to those type of high rates. Regardless, a local move can still be pricey as well from $2,200 to $8,000. For this reason, this is a great time to start going room to room and sorting what possessions you can’t live without and ones that you could part with in another section. The items to get rid of are ones that you sell through a garage sale or taking to your local flea market.
However, if you hope to sell things, you may need to have several garage sales or trips to the flea market. The reason items usually are hard to sell is because the price is too high or the right customers don’t appear at your sale or flea market that week. For instance, if you have a paperback book or an item of clothing and expect to get nearly the sticker price, then be prepared to take it home. An item of clothing or a paperback can sell for about 50-cents to $1.00.
Another helpful suggestion for your garage sale is selling items by the box. For example, if you have a box of books, then calculate a price. You can also organize a box of household dishes and gadgets and come up with a price. Do the same for a box of toys, clothes for kids that you might have kept and they outgrew, adult clothes, etc. You can move more unnecessary items before your move this way while earning money.
Of course, you can just donate items that you don’t want to haul to your new home as a charitable donation. This can solve what to do with unsold heavy pieces of furniture that won’t fit into your home. You can use that itemized receipt to claim the deduction once you settle into your new home.
Compare Moving Companies and Fees
Another of these hidden moving costs you may have neglected to factor into the price when comparing movers are tips for the movers (anticipate five to 20 percent) and extra insurance the moving company might offer since items often get damaged or lost during the process. You also want to find out prior to making your decision if the company charges extra for carrying the furniture or boxes up stairs, moving bulky goods or if working after hours. Because of this, you may want to get multiple bids on that move and try to negotiate some of those extra fees.
Tips for Movers
Extra Insurance
Stair Fees
After Hour Fees
Label Your Boxes Clearly
You might have items in boxes ready for the movers. Nonetheless, it pays to label each box clearly with the contents, especially for everything you need immediately for your first night in that new home. Otherwise, you are subject to hidden moving costs when you might be unable to find the box that had your bathing supplies such as towels, soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste or food and cooking supplies and would need to make last minute purchases.
Essentials Box
Bathroom Box
Kitchen Box
Here is something else you should check out with the best moving discounts and deals of 2023.
I hope you found this post helpful and informative. If you have any questions or feedback, please leave a comment below. I’d love to hear from you. And if you enjoyed this post, please share it with your friends and followers. Thank you for reading!
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