Guest post by Meg from Saving On The Essentials

Moving can be a stressful time. Between packing your current house, coordinating schedules with those helping you move, and unpacking, things can quickly get stressful.

As if that isn’t enough to take care of, you also have to keep in mind the cost of moving: renting versus borrowing trucks, the cost of boxes, tape, and packaging material for fragile items, and much more.

Here are a few tips I have put into action during our last two moves to help keep our moving costs minimum:

1. Research Prices on Moving Trucks

My husband and I moved twice in a six month period. The first time was only a few blocks so we were able to use my brother in law’s truck and as well as our our vehicles to move our entire house.

However, during our second move, we moved out of state. We knew that we would need to rent a truck in order to move our house in one trip. As we began to research prices, we found a wide range and were shocked at how much it costs to rent a moving truck!

Make sure to compare prices in order to get the best bang for your buck. Read all the fine print to see who charges the most for miles traveled over the set limit, late fees, and any other hidden fees.

We were surprised to be charged a $5 Environmental Fee from our truck rental because the company uses an environmentally friendly soap when washing their vehicles.

2. Find a Great Deal on Moving Boxes

When we reserved our moving van, we had the option of purchasing moving supplies. These came to a whopping total of $100! Needless to say, we opted for a more affordable (free) option.

We were blessed to receive a lot of our moving boxes from my husbands workplace, but we also were able to get them from our local grocery stores, Craigslist, family, friends, and neighbors.

3. Use Items on Hand to Protect Breakables

Use your wash clothes, towels, newspapers, expired coupons, and other items you have on hand to protect your breakable items. Clothes and towels are going to take up space when you box them to move anyway so make sure to put them to good use during your move!

4. Plan Your Moving Day Meal in Advance

When our moving day arrived I was ill prepared to feed those who so generously offered to help us move. Due to the fact that we were moving and all of our pots, pans, plates, silverware, and glasses were loaded into the moving van, we opted to splurge for a pizza lunch as a way to thank our family and friends for their help during our move. Easy prep and clean up is a must!

Using these simple money-saving tips, we were able to keep our moving expenses to a minimum.

What are your best tips for saving money on moving?

Meg Kavanaugh is an Arkansas native married to her best friend, Andrew. When she isn’t bargain hunting she spends her spare time with family, reading, or photographing God’s beautiful creation! She shares her love for frugal living and money saving tips over at Saving On The Essentials.

photo credit

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