Usually moving turns out to be not only stressful, but also rather costly. Still, there are many ways to save money on your move even if you hire an affordable moving company rather than try to do the moving yourself.
Reducing your supplies is the best way to save money. One of the most important aspects of moving your possessions is to pack them well and securely. You may think you need to spend a lot of money to protect your possessions, but read on.
The most important thing for you will be to get enough boxes. You need to carefully pack up all of your favorite personal items like photographs and souvenirs so that nothing gets broken. Moving companies will gladly provide you with special boxes, but, naturally, at a hefty price! If you know of anyone that has moved, ask them if you can take their extra boxes from them.
What is more, you can call around to warehouse stores and other retail establishments to find out if they will allow you to take some of their boxes. Most grocery stores will set aside boxes you need for you to pick them up at a certain time, usually between 10PM and midnight when the stocking is done.
Sometimes, you need very large boxes and you can get these from warehouse or appliance stores. These boxes are usually well made, which makes them suitable for moving fragile electronic items. Businesses such as law firms and construction companies are good places to get mailing tubes to protect posters and other artwork, house plans or important papers.
Most movers usually use bubble wrap and inflated plastic bags to protect breakable and fragile items. Although these might be the ideal packing materials, they are quite expensive and you don’t need them for most of your items. You may use newspaper instead: if you get a daily paper you’ll quickly accumulate enough to move two households! If not, ask friends for their old newspapers or call a business office that gets a daily paper. Most of your neighbors and local businessmen will gladly let you have their old papers!
You can also ask your friends to save the packing peanuts in merchandise shipped to their homes and if you know far enough in advance, spread the word during the Christmas season for people to save excelsior, peanuts, and other cushioning materials.
Fragile items may be wrapped with your household linens. Visit a local thrift store if you find that your bed sheets are too delicate. There you can get comforters and quilts for a song, several of them for the price you would pay to rent just one cushioned furniture wrap from a moving company!
Some moving companies will offer you a discount if you agree to let them store your items for a short period of time so that they combine several loads being delivered in your area. If you don’t need your items immediately, consider this great way to save money.
One of the best ways to get the deals that you want is to look for the reviews online and in consumer publications. There you may find some tips on saving money and negotiating rates.
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