Ha ha! We are pretty minimalistic (except I’m not for clothes. See the, “Dressing Young,” thread )
Others have suggested a collapsible tailgate wagon. I just don’t know that we’d have a use for it after we move?? No grands on the horizon. Maybe I could find one to borrow?
Same with a dolly. I just don’t see a need for it in the future. And, because we are minimalistic, I am disinclined to get one.
We have already given the movers a projection on the number of boxes. Not that we couldn’t have more - it’ll just take more time and cost us more. We are able-bodied people, though I do understand the concept of running out of steam.
We moved from our apartment to our house. I just moved our kitchen, slowly & mindfully. We made multiple trips to see how they were doing installing the hardwood flood in the rest of the house—vinyl sheet in kitchen & bathrooms. I was happy we were able to move kitchen gradually and that I knew where everything was. We moved everything but the furniture ourselves (we didn’t have that much). It was a lot of trips but a pretty short drive.
I didn’t answer all your questions. No, we have very few tools and very little in our garage. Our HOA maintains the yards/landscaping, so no need for that sort of thing.
And, yes, we are eating down the food in the fridge, freezer, and pantry!
With boxes make sure you label specifically. Not just “ X room” but also what is inside so you know what to unpack first or if you are looking for a specific item/s.
To the extent you can pack things as you’ll use them, it’ll help - as well as make it easy to find things in your new location. If you have an organizer in your kitchen gadget drawer, for example, wrap up and transfer the whole organizer as is. Ditto silverware. Bathroom stuff.
My mom’s moving company did this for her, and it allowed her to be 80% moved in within a few hours. Seems obvious, of course.
If you use a moving company, be sure to look over furniture carefully. We had an indentation on the top of our kitchen table. The moving company sent out someone to fix it. Also, give away your moving boxes when finished. They are always needed and people are so thankful.
We didn’t pack the clothes from our closet at all, just scooped them up on hangers and moved them to new closet on the same hangers. It was fewer steps and the clothes didn’t get wrinkled in the move.
Like I wrote above, we went between apartment & house often.
This x 100. Alternatively, pack a box with towels, tp, sheets for your bed, some plates and cups, a change of clothes, shoes, and a few other things you will want to know exactly where they are, and label it " Open me first". But more than anything, actual information on the boxes, not locations. “Living room” is not as handy as “remotes for the tV, my knitting, everything from the coffee table”
To make this work, you need to start with important-to-you stuff. Because after about 10 boxes, you’ll be back to “more stuff” as a label. Moving fatigue is real
Do you have a hitch on the SUV? Renting a small u-haul for the day (or two) can be really cheap. Easier to load and unpack actually than using your car. And you can pack a lot in even the smallest. Or rent one of their trucks. For very little you can keep it a couple days and just load it to your hearts content.
For us, many trips with a few items was pretty painless & easy because we had picnics in front yard & talked to flooring crew. It took awhile to let the wood acclimate & breathe and rent on apartment was cheap, so no rush to move. The floor still looks great 35 years later so we are glad they took their time.
I also returned the portacrib and crib we had been borrowing and didn’t bring either over to our new place. It’s a good time to try to get rid of things, as you know.
Moved my sister’s house in one day with a uhaul van. Got some help unloading furniture but not bad. It was a close move like you’re doing. You’ve got movers for the really heavy lifting so the hardest part is done.
My first big move we rented a pod, filled it up and hired some guys to empty it.
Last move I’ve done was emptying my aunt’s apartment in AL and going one-way to FL. We got the smallest u-haul trailer to keep what we wanted (should’ve kept more). 60 bucks.
Well worth it to get a bigger vehicle and just fill it up vs a bunch of smaller trips.
I haven’t read through all the posts, but here is my .02. I have tried to move my “personal belongings” and let the mover move furniture and heavier stuff. The reality was it didnt save us that much money, but it certainly tired us out. Movers have the necessary equipment to move multiple boxes at a time. It’s much quicker and easier on your back. What really saved us money was packing. We packed all of our China, crystals and small breakables. I left a lot of my clothes on hangers and had the mover just hang them in their dresser boxes. They were very easy to unpack.
In the last 10 years I have probably moved 8+ times.
BTW - it probably took my mover (I’ve used the same mover for each move) extra 1-2 hours to move my personal stuff. They would drop off boxes and packing stuff off a week ahead.
Quick question on local moves - what do you tip? Son will be moving his one bedroom locally; taking some stuff himself (his leases have a three week overlap) and packing most except the kitchen. It will likely be two guys on an hourly rate - he’s getting quotes now from a few companies. It used to be maybe $20 per person.
I tipped 15-20%. It’s around 10/person/hour.
This particular mover usually came in below the estimate, so I was always happy to tip. All the moves they have done for me, they have never broken anything. They also moved both D1&D2 multiple times.
The couple of moves my daughter has made the past few years - she handed each of the 3 guys a $20 bill at the end of the move. Don’t know what is expected or usual. The moves were not cheap (like $1,000 each time for a local city move). I can’t imagine tipping 15-20% on this amount.
I would do at least $40/person. If the move is longer than 5-6 hours, the weather is bad or they go out of their way/do a great job I would tip more. I recently tipped $100 on a $500 job when we moved my mom into assisted living. The guy responded quickly when I called, came when promised, he and his assistant worked hard, didn’t complain about our poor packing (last minute so a lot was in bags not boxes) or about a delay at the facility and most important was available last minute. I thought the $500 was more than fair (local move to studio apt but we had a couple of heavy pieces of furniture in addition to everything else) so didn’t mind giving a larger tip. Heck I gave the two guys who delivered my new fridge $20 each - which was a much easier job than hours of moving! I would not consider that sufficient for movers unless there are three or four of them or it’s a very easy move (say ground floor to ground floor with no really heavy or awkward pieces).
Two years ago we tipped each guy $50 and fed them well with drinks, snacks and some light lunch. I set things out in an area in the kitchen they would walk by with each load and so it was convenient for them to grab a water bottle, bar, or whatever. It was probably a 6-7 hour move.
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