Moving to School

Question

How is everyone handling moving to school? What if you have furniture/beds/TVs that you are looking to bring along?

Professional movers? U-Hauls?

What are the costs involved?

Any other issues associated with moving can be discussed.

If this thread should be moved to another forum, please let me know.

riverripper · Answer

I used professional movers. It was just too much bother to do it ourselves especially once you factor in the costs with everything of a Uhaul. My wife and I know that there was no way we could move hour huge and heavy pieces of furniture ourselves and no one was going to be coming to Evanston to help. So we would have hired movers to bring stuff in and out. Add the fact that a UHaul rental and the 4.50 diesel prices last year...well put it this way the $500 it would have saved us wasnt worth all the extra work.

Downside to using movers is since you probably wont fill a huge truck they are going to put yourstuff with other peoples junk. This isnt an issue it just makes the time frame of arrival longer. They wont give you a day they will be there. Instead you will get a week or two when you stuff may come. (invest in a good air mattress) We were smart enough to bring some stuff to cook with but not really enough, we know people who didnt get stuff for a few weeks and ended up eating out every single meal. So if you have your stuff moved also pack a few sets of dishes, some cups, a pot and pan...stuff like that in your trunk.

Booking out a mover is tough. Check with the BBB in your area and research online. I heard a few horror stories of movers showing up and saying something like you owe us $300, pay or your stuff doesnt come off the truck.

As for the Uhaul thing...really do the math. Are you going to be able to move all your stuff or will you have to hire labor at one end or the other or even both. Packing materials can add up since you want to protect your stuff (especially if you have expensive **** like I do...my wife had to have that Ethan Allen bedroom set). Gas and tolls...oh and getting cars to wherever you are going.

Finally driving more than 8 to 10 hours in a day is a nightmare...especially if you are doing it in a Uhaul or a car with stiff sport suspension. Stay in a **** motel or something like that to split it up. Oh and after listening to one good story from a classmate. Stop pretty frequently to stretch, go the bathroom, and keep at least 1/4 of a tank...if you are cross the country or even going half way there are pretty long distances with no options available so dont overlook that sign that says last gas 250 miles.

refurb · Answer

After getting rid of a ton of crap, I plan on using professional movers. I'll take the bare essentials, but that's it.

A friend of mine who is attending Ross got his stuff moved from CA to MI using a service similar to this:

https://www.uship.com/moving/

You basically put up a request and movers bid on moving your stuff. I'm not sure how much stuff my friend had, but it cost him around $500, which is impressive considering the distance!

NOTE: I have no experience with the website above, but it's really cool. You can get estimates on a move based on previous completed moves. Basically movers will ask questions about timing, loads, etc. You reply and hopefully come to an agreement!

Here is an example:  Example Move

RF

balki1867 · Answer

I've done a couple of moves between cities and I can't stress enough the importance of doing your homework when you pick a mover.

I've never been scammed but all of these companies are basically hub-n-spoke operations who sometimes hire some really shady local contractors. I would definitely check out the website https://www.movingscam.com/ to read up on some of the companies out there

I am not affiliated with that site and I'm not trying to SPAM you -- see my # of posts.

riverripper · Answer

There are a few sites about moving scams...seriously if you hire professionals check them out. As for auctioning off your move, sorry but I am not putting my stuff in someones truck and letting them drive off without a hell of a lot of confidence in their company.

refurb · Answer

I agree, there are a lot of scams out there and you have to be careful. I just thought it was a neat way of getting your stuff moved.

RF

refurb · Answer

I would tend to agree. Sometimes your peace of mind is worth a few hundred extra dollars. Starting business school is stressful enough without having to worry if you'll actually get your stuff delivered!

RF

BigBad · Answer

Take it from me and please get references for movers from people you  know .

I had a no-name, budget-mover nightmare after using a similar site to the one listed above. Not only did my things arrive 2 weeks later than expected, but one of the movers on the front end really took advantage of me. He waited until AFTER he had taken all my things and put them in the truck to tell me that I'd either have to pay an extra fee (several hundred dollars!) for a long driveway or that I could TIP him $200 cash to keep the long driveway quiet.

I tried bargaining him down to a $100 dollar tip, but he got angry. I'm a small-ish woman and actually got kind of afraid and wound up giving him the $200 tip.

Don't use sketchy internet movers.

nink · Answer

+1

Very good post. Thanks for sharing.

Now I might have to use the movers myself soon. Although I was planning on hiring professional help, anyone know a great, reliable site or service that he/she can recommend to rest of us? (Regional or National service)

Jerz · Answer

Are people with long moves (~1000 miles) generally considering moving their furniture or buying furniture at school - either from graduating students or IKEA? I've just started considering what to do with my stuff and am not sure whether it would be easier or cheaper to just store my nicer things at family's house/storage and trash the things I wouldn't mind trashing, than to move everything to school and move it back 2 years later.

riverripper · Answer

We thought about this...However, there is no 100% sure thing you will be located where you want. Some companies pay to relocate you and some dont. I think it also depends how much stuff you have and how nice it is. I think my move was like 2200-2400 from the Boston area to Chicago, I used one of the huge national chains so it wasn't the cheapest but I figured it was reliable and wasn't going to close up shop. I think you would be hard pressed to get everything you need for 2-3k. Yes a lot of things could be cheap but I sure as hell wouldnt buy a cheap or used mattress, or another HD-TV. Those two things alone were about what my move cost me.

MeddlingKid · Answer

I was planning on doing the move myself, but I'll have to see how that works out. When I was single, I tried to keep my junk accumulation to a minimum. Since I have gotten married, the accumulation of 'stuff' has been ridiculous. Moving ourselves will now be much more of a challenge.

River, if it cost you $2400 to move from Boston to Evanston, I can't even imagine how much it would cost to have our stuff moved from San Diego. I suppose I will have to create a spreadsheet to determine which option is the most affordable. When you hire a moving service, do they just basically load up your boxes and furniture for you, drive it to the destination, and then unload it? I don't really mind packing our own things, but if it's cheap enough, it'd be awesome to have somebody do it for me.

In any event, great thread here. This was something I have been meaning to ask myself.

refurb · Answer

My plan is to move light. I just bought a new bed, so that's coming with me. Kitchen stuff is too hard to replace, so I'll take that with me. A dresser and my sofa and that's about it. I'll be getting rid of all the boxes of books I have, all the clothes I don't wear, etc, etc. I've got an old IKEA kitchen table that I'll toss and some other stuff that will be pretty cheap to replace.

I've moved three times in the the last 6 years, so I'm pretty good at it!

RF

cul3s · Answer

yea when it's my time.. I would just buy cheap stuff for 2 years use. Try to pack light. 
Me too, I moved 2x in the past 2 years..and I pack everything inside my car (I don't have a bed, and I got a furnished place) and travel for 8 hours. 
If you have more stuff, 1-2 boxes overload, you can fedex it..almost the same price as USPS, but a few of my friends/relatives had bad experience with USPS (boxes went missing). 
The farther the move, the more reason to just buy some used stuff... I'm sure you can find a lot of quality stuff from the graduates. 
I don't know what factor plays in pricing, but if anyone's thinking to ship their car, my friend recently did that and it cost her 1500ish, and that was from Seattle (Wash) to Sacramento (Cali)

futuredukemba · Answer

If you do not have a lot of stuff to move, you should consider ABF relocube. It is similar to PODS but cheaper for cross-country moves. It cost less than 700 last summer to move my stuff from Atlanta to Evanston.

riverripper · Answer

futuredukemba exists still haha...and is the only kellogg poster I have yet to meet at school.

terp26 · Answer

time to change your name lol maybe, how about currentkelloggmba

MeddlingKid · Answer

I'm going to try to get rid of all our useless stuff before we move, so hopefully we can cut down on it. I have moved FOUR times since July 2005. Does that qualify me as a gypsy?

isa · Answer

My furniture is pretty basic. So I need to figure out if it's cheaper to : - pay for movers and keep the furniture 0r - sell the furniture, move the rest myself and buy new low-cost stuff fun stuff

Anonymous · Answer

We'll probably be hiring movers. We just have way too much furniture that we'd rather not toss.

BUT if you ask my husband, he's driving one car out. Flying back, driving the truck out, and I'm driving the other car. And somehow, after 12 hours of driving, the two of us are hauling all our furniture and electronics into an apartment. Yeah right, he forgets I'm not capable of lifting massive furniture.
Which is why the wifey suggests professional movers

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