Frugal Friday: Make a Fast Move Without Losing Your Shirt

If you’ve ever found yourself in a situation where you have to move fast — the house closing happened more quickly than you expected, or you just procrastinated because the thought of packing filled you with as much joy as visiting the dentist — you know the awful feeling.

* You’ll never have enough time to find a moverstressed-guy

* If you do find a mover, you’ll pay through the nose (or other uncomfortable body part)

While it’s true you might end up paying a bit more, you shouldn’t assume you’ll have an awful experience. Here are some things to keep in mind to make your move go more smoothly, at a price that won’t shock you.

1. You Probably WILL Pay More. Just accept that fact. Organizing the moving process, especially for longer moving, takes time and money on the part of moving companies. They don’t come together easily.

2. Be Explicit With Move Dates. Your mover needs to know what he’s up against. If you must be out by a certain date, make that crystal clear.

3. Even If You’re Desperate, Don’t Act It. When talking to moving companies, make it clear you’re talking to several firms that want your moving business.

4. Get Organized. This is important for a nonrushed move; it’s crucial for rushed moving. Stated simply: If you’re organized and prepared, you’ll get a more accurate quote and you’ll have a smoother move to boot. 

Get your stuff ready to move as soon as possible, even before the moving company estimator comes to your home to give you moving quotes. Get rid of any goods not going and have everything as organized as possible. The more clear it is what needs to be moved the more accurate your estimates will be. On moving day, it will ensure everything goes more smoothly — the No. 1 cause of moving day stress is a discrepency between the estimate and the final cost.

5. Don’t Just Choose the First Mover That Can Handle Your Move. Take a few minimal steps to ensure you hire a trustworthy mover:

• Get 3 estimates. If you can’t have the movers in your home (which is always preferable), be as thorough as possible when describing what needs to be moved, and ask about extra costs if you happen to underestimate how much stuff you need to move.

• Don’t take a low bid. It’s a sign of a mover that’s just trying to win your business now, only to raise the price later with lots of little (and big) charges.

• Deal with movers that have a local presence. It makes everything easier.


Frugal Friday: A Cheap, Easy Way to Get Rid of Junk

When you move, everyone tells you to get rid of stuff, but it’s easier said than done.

There are the usual ways – try to sell stuff on eBay or Craigslist, or hold a garage sale to hopefully make some cash.

However, most people when they’re moving just don’t have the time (or energy) to organize a sale of their stuff. So most of it just gets throw away. (I love when people say, ‘Just hold a garage sale! There’s really no ‘just’ about it.)

Whatever you do, the end result for a lot of stuff you have is the dump – you’ll need to throw away a lot of stuff.

Here’s a tip to making it easier. Many people will be rent a dumpster if the job is huge. It ain’t cheap. And the neighbors might not like it. In fact, some homeowners associations won’t even allow it. And you could lose a kid or two in there.

The solution: rent a truck. Keep all the stuff to throw away in a garage or in a room, and when you want to haul it away, toss it into the rental truck and away to the dump! If you’re renting it for the day, you’ll probably have time to do other chores associated with your move, and if you’re moving yourself, you can just keep the truck to move all the stuff that you want in your new home.

Need ideas on how to reduce the junk quotient in your life? Check out this article on prioritizing the things you want to throw away.