Relocating to New State

[nervous_nellie]

I have recently accepted an offer to begin graduate school this august.

I will be relocating from the east coast to the mid-west and I have never planned a move this big before

My current option is to sell/move my furniture to my parent's house and ship my car from the mid-west.

I would then fly to my new location and purchase a bed, bedroom furniture, and living furniture/kitchen stuff

I also would want to pack my car with some things that I want to bring with me (clothes, shoes, vauum, some kitchen essentials)

 

Does anybody have any other ideas/experiences in relocating to a new state? I am really looking for the most cost-effective way to move

[kayyyyy_]

I am doing the same thing. I am looking at moving with a moving container. It's super easy. They drop the container off at your house and you pack it up and then they pick it up and drop it off at your new house/ apartment when you're ready to move. The cost is anywhere between 1-2,000 but depending on the amount of furniture you'd be moving it could be worth it in the end. I calculated the cost to buy a new bed, couch, tv, all the big stuff that won't fit in my car. It would be WAY more expensive then just moving it. 

[CatLady4Lyfe]

I think it depends how much stuff you have now. If you currently have roommates/very little of your own furniture, then it would make sense to sell what you have and start fresh in your new state. I've heard lots of people say they filled up their car with about 10 boxes of stuff and they were off! It was different for me - I had lived on my own for 10 years when I was in your position so I had a home full of stuff (the kind of furniture that you would only buy once or twice in your life). I downsized as much as I could and hired professional movers. I too made a big move - From Texas to Michigan - and didn't have anyone in Michigan to help me set up all that big furniture once it arrived, so it made more sense for me to pay the $$ to have someone do it. It was pretty expensive, though, and I had to make the unfortunate decision to max out my credit card to do so.

There are all kind of options. I have a friend who hired local movers from Craigslist - usually college kids - in both the city she was moving from and to, rented a Pod and had it shipped (you do the packing/unpacking instead of someone else) and it was significantly cheaper. It also takes more leg work on your end, so it depends how much time and energy you have and are able to commit. 

I would look online for cross country moving guides. There's a lot of really helpful info out there.

Good luck!

[qt_dnvr]

I'm driving my car and my SO's family is also driving two SUV's out with us. We're shipping soft goods and books etc via Amtrak Freight and taking furniture and fragile items in the cars. We're selling the big ticket items as the couch, mattress we have aren't really nice enough to justify spending  $$$ to move them when we could upgrade them for less.

[shadowclaw]

kayyyyy made a great suggestion in figuring out what's cheaper - shipping your current stuff to your new location or selling it/storing it and buying new stuff. I recall when I was applying to various programs, I estimated moving costs to each of my top choices. For a move similar to yours, I got a quote for one of the smaller uhaul trucks (I think it was the 15' truck) for around $700-$800 (plus the cost of gas, of course) and a shipping container for around $1200. When you add in the gas, the price for the uhaul ends up being a bit less and the uhaul fits way more. However, the move I actually made was east coast to west coast, and a uhaul truck and a shipping container were about the same price ($2000), but then I had to add the gas for the truck on top of that plus driving a uhaul over 3,000 miles was not very appealing to me. So I went with a shipping container.

So let's say that whatever method you choose to transport your stuff by costs around $1000 - is your current furniture and other belongings worth that much (or has enough sentimental value that it's worth it if it's not)? Right now if I were to make a move that costs that much, my furniture and my washer and dryer are pretty new and cost enough that replacing them would cost a lot more than $1000, so I would go with the moving truck/container. However, before getting married, I owned a bed, an old hand-me-down dresser, and a cheap Walmart nightstand, plus assorted small items. Not really enough to justify spending that much money to move it and things that really mattered to me could fit in my car!

Something else I'm wondering about - why are you shipping your car when you could just drive it? East coast to the Midwest isn't terribly far (although this depends on where on the east coast you are coming from) - you could make the drive in two or three days (or even one really long terrible day) depending on how much driving you want to do. I don't know how much it costs to ship a car, but I feel like the cost of a plane ticket plus the cost of shipping a car costs quite a bit more than paying for the gas to drive plus a night or two in a motel. 

[Pink Fuzzy Bunny]

Generally, it's cheaper just to drive instead of shipping your car. Why not do that?

[01848p]

Another thing to consider would be the value of the furniture you currently own. My furniture right now is all cheap and bought second-hand off craigslist so I will most definitely be selling and buying new furniture after relocating. However, if you own really nice quality furniture that you bought brand new or paid a good amount for then bringing it with you might be more of a consideration for you since you invested more in it. Or you could always just combine the two and store your nice furniture and then buy cheap/second-hand furniture in your new location. 

[norwash]

Relocation can literally stress one out. Recently my sibling relocated to pursue her graduation. She hired a moving company and transported her household essentials. Meanwhile, she flew to California. After reaching their she asked us to ship her car through a shipping company. Well, this experience was pretty much satisfying. There are movers and shippers that provide reliable services. One can find useful reference about them through the Internet. It is easy and affordable to rely on them rather than doing the relocation process all by yourself.