Moving Sucks: How Much Would You Spend to Move?
My arms have lash marks on them, my feet are swollen and sensitive to the touch, my legs are sore, and running hot water over my hands makes them burn like Tabasco. No, I did not get tortured over the weekend, I moved.
And it sucked. It rained the whole time and going up four flights of stairs with heavy boxes and boxy pieces of furniture is not how I like to spend my time. You would think that now that it’s over (for the most part), I would look back and say “it wasn’t that bad.” But I’m not going to do that. It was the worst move I’ve ever had. Who knew you could accumulate so much crap over three years? Sure, buying a new place is great, but moving is and has always been a painful thing.
Anyway, enough whining. I’m curious to start a conversation on whether it’s worth it to pay for movers and how much it’s worth to all of you out there. I paid $250 for two people that M knows through work to help us out. I rented (and drove) the U-Haul truck ($36) and I was right there with them carrying stuff back and forth. But from what I hear moving can cost anywhere from $500 up to $1,000. Four years ago, paying any money seemed ludicrous to me, but I”ve come around. Let me share why.
The first time M and I moved, I figured I’d do it all myself. And I did, until I realized there wasn’t any more room in the U-Haul and I was sore, tired, and hungry. This was around three and a half years ago and that’s when M’s helpers first arrived and saved the day. They move stuff for a living so they knew how to properly pack up a truck—it’s like playing Tetris at a bigger scale (but not as fun). So when we paid them for their help I thought it was totally worth it—they saved the day.
This past weekend I was even more thankful. There was twice as much stuff, four flights of stairs (last move had an elevator), rain, and some heavy furniture. I think $250 for two guys for five hours is a steal.
So I paid around $300 total to move, which is pretty damn good. But was saving all that money worth it? Our sleeper sofa got damaged and we’ll have to replace it eventually (which to be fair we were considering anyway) so there are other indirect costs associated to it.
Did I mention how horrible it was and how banged up I am right now? That got me thinking about paying a little more. I guess there are movers out there that you don’t even lift a finger and they do it all. And then there are movers that even pack your stuff up for you—you don’t even have to pack a box yourself! That’s probably a bit much—unless you’re really lazy. But I would definitely consider paying upwards of $750 to have all the heavy lifting done for me—it was painful and I’m going to be feeling the effects all week.
What do you think? Is moving not as bad as I’m making it out to be? Would you spend more money to not have to feel like you went 12 rounds with Manny Pacquiao?
UPDATE: I started up a conversation on the GetRichSlowly forums on the topic of moving and thought you all would be interested. People have some great moving tips over there…especially on being busy the day an unorganized friend is moving!
Oh look! I hate moving so much I bitched about it again a week later!
Image by Wetsun
April 5th, 2010 at 10:57 am
I moved 2 and a half years ago, The Wife and I did multiple trips, but the bed and couches were just not going to happen. I tried to bribe friends with food and beer…but it didn’t work. In the end it cost us about 750 for 2 guys and their own truck. IT WAS WELL WORTH IT!
April 5th, 2010 at 1:42 pm
I moved recently from Pittsburgh, PA to Boston, MA. Granted, I moved from a one bedroom apartment to another one bedroom apartment, so there were no large appliances to move – but hiring movers was DEFINITELY worth it. The total came to a little less than $1200 – they moved all of the boxes and furniture out of the old apartment, drove it to Boston, and unloaded it in the new apartment in roughly the correct places (the bed was in the bedroom, couches in the living room, etc). I’m sure I could have done it myself with the help of a few friends, but it was just so hassle-free – I’ll be using movers again even if I just move across town.
April 5th, 2010 at 2:08 pm
I was going to tell you before you moved — springing for movers is DEFINITELY worth it. I did it last time I moved, and I will never move my own stuff again. I can’t remember how much it cost, but I boxed up my stuff, they took it and moved it with ease. I told them where to put it, they put it there. No muss, no fuss. They put the bed down, they set my TV up… never again do I do that stuff myself. Whatever they charge, it’s worth it.
April 5th, 2010 at 4:18 pm
I have family and friends nearby, so I rent a truck and buy them pizza, it works out great. We spent about $125 total and probably 6 hours total last July moving a middle-sized U-Haul truck.
April 5th, 2010 at 9:56 pm
I paid movers twice,, to be frank I moved from one room to another room in NYC but both times it was up or down three flights of stairs and I did not have a car, so it was either rent a car and do it all myself (eek and drive in manhattan solo)…
or pay peoples and just watch it all move in and out in like an hour.
SO SO SO WOrth it….
now if it were a whole house… I guess I’d have to discuss… wah.
April 6th, 2010 at 5:51 am
I should also add that the place we moved into is on the fourth floor and there is no elevator. And that we had to use the back stairs, which are narrower. It was raining too. I wish I would’ve written this before so I could’ve told myself not to try this at home.
April 6th, 2010 at 10:51 pm
We’ve moved 4 times with job promotions from the Pacific Islands to the West Coast … on to the East Coast and never paid a dime until we decided to settle down and move to the SouthWest region. Work was fine with our last relocation and desire to buy a huge 4000 square foot home but they made it clear that this move would be on our own dime.
We hired movers to the tune of $4500 to ship our stuff including gas for the drive over. We drove the BMW 1800 miles to our new home and had the 2nd car brought on a flat bed for free… it helps when you’ve got a network of folks to help at a moment’s notice.
It was worth it to own a huge home for less than what we were paying in rent on the east coast for a measly little 800 sq ft apartment! The cost of living is so low in our new state that it felt like we got instant “raises!” Plus we are now both permanent telecommuters with our job so there is added savings since we have banished the need for gas, dry cleaning, business clothes, make up, fancy hair styles…. the $4500 was WELL WORTH IT! I didn’t mention the tax breaks we got as new home owners. Moving to a better lifestyle situation is always worth it!
April 7th, 2010 at 11:13 pm
Wait till you have to lug a baby in a car seat up those stairs. Good luck
April 28th, 2010 at 5:55 am
[...] As for me, I’ll keep eating the same sandwich so that next time I won’t feel what I felt during this past move. For more of my whining on how moving kicked my ass, check out this post. [...]