The last time we moved, the process stressed me out so much I told my husband that was it. I was not moving again. He was going to have to bury me in the backyard. Fast forward nearly a decade and, you guessed it, we’re prepping for an even bigger move. While nerves are gnawing their way through my intestinal lining, having a budget helps ease the financial stress aspect. We’ll dig into the numbers of our budget for fellow nerds in another article but today, we want to help you with ways to save money. Below, we cover 10 of our personal tricks to move on a budget.
10. Get free moving boxes
One of my former coworkers likes to say he’s first in line for a free ass whopping. I’m not that obsessed with freebies, but free is one of my favorite words.
If you have a lot to pack, moving boxes can add up quickly, especially if you’re buying them from a big box store for $2 or $3 a pop.
Consider looking for free alternatives from local stores. A few types of stores to check include:
- Bookstores
- Grocery stores
- Liquor stores
- Pharmacies
- Retail stores
You can also reach out to your community through sites like Freecycle, Nextdoor, or buy nothing groups on Facebook.
The last time we moved, I raided the shipping department at work. The parts department kept boxes from incoming parts to ship outgoing parts, but we often had more coming in than out.
I didn’t appreciate until our recent move how much bubble wrap costs. Holy hell, my jaw dropped from the top of the Empire State Building. And to think I used to drop it off at Walmart to recycle. If only I’d known.
Friends and neighbors are great resources as well. If you let them know you’re packing, they’ll likely check the garage for extra supplies. They might duct tape you to a chair to prevent you from moving away, but there’s only like a 2% chance of that. They’ll probably be helpful.
9. Buy in bulk
We’re all for free, but not everything works well in Amazon boxes held together with a flimsy strip of Prime tape. For your breakables and more precious cargo (books, our my case), you may want some heavier duty plastic containers.
While you might strike it lucky on the websites above, you’ll likely have to put storage bins into your budget.
For the supplies you can’t get for free, see if you can get a bulk discount. We got heavy duty storage bins at Walmart, then went to Lowe’s for some landscaping supplies. Lowe’s had larger bins $2 cheaper than Walmart and an additional 10% discount if you bought four or more. We loaded up the car and returned the more expensive ones to Walmart. Comparing prices online first can save you from the dreaded customer service line.
The same goes for other moving supplies, including that bubble wrap apparently laced in gold trim.
8. Avoid storage units
Storage units can help remove clutter while moving, but you’re paying a high premium for that privilege.
We got a storage unit for this move, as it was cheaper than renting for a month or two more while we staged and sold our home. I secured it with a holiday sale while everyone was packing away their Christmas décor and overflow of kids’ toys. A $1 first month discount and 30% off the monthly rent for a few short months felt like a steal.
With a “one-time processing” fee and a “you have to buy a lock from us when you secure a unit online” charge added to mandatory rental insurance, and my $1 first month ended up a $50 charge. I started to wonder who was stealing from whom.
It’s also a pain moving in and out of one for a short time. (Ask me how I know.) That’s if you keep it only for the originally planned timeline.
Life often gets in the way. I found reviews on the local storage unit places of several people who ended up keeping a storage unit longer than anticipated after a move. Boy, were they upset about the escalating charges on current customers.
It was only after we started putting stuff in storage that the listing agent mentioned we could utilize the garage, as potential buyers fully expect the garage to be messy and in a tradition period when you’re selling a house. Live and learn.
If you need a storage unit because you have too much stuff for the place you’re moving into, it’s time to invite Marie Kondo into your life. The KonMari method makes you assess every item you own to see if it sparks joy for you or not. If it doesn’t, it’s the weakest link and gets voted off the island.
The less of your stuff you keep, the less you have to store and shuttle from one place to the next, which will save you on boxes, moving truck space, and time.
7. Get hand-me-downs
If you’re upscaling your living (keep reading before you make this decision) or moving into your first place, you may move from a 600 sq ft apartment to a 1,800 sq ft home. Or you could upgrade to the 600 sq ft apartment from splitting a dorm room with someone who likes to eat all your snack puddings and never takes out the trash.
When I moved into my first big girl apartment after graduating college and paying off debt, I’d saved up an emergency fund, but I wasn’t rolling in Benjamins. It was very much a budget move, and I shouted it out the window of my used sedan.
Family members and neighbors I grew up with heeded my siren song of frugal living. They gifted me furniture they no longer used, were replacing, or even found on the side of the road for garbage pickup. (Fun fact: we still have that end table/nightstand.)
By taking hand-me-downs graciously offered by others, I only spent $400 on a single IKEA trip to furnish my entire first apartment. And even $400 felt like too much when my shopping buddy and I got back to my new place to put together my new purchases.
The less IKEA you have the buy, the fewer screwdrivers you’ll jam through the picture of the blob guy scratching his head because even he can’t understand his own instructions.
6. Do your own walkthrough early in the process
If you’re renting, do a thorough check and touch up before moving out to maximize the return of your security deposit. Make sure you don’t have any weird stains of mystery meat Monday of yesteryear on the carpet. Or any missing baseboards, especially if you have a puppy that thinks they are chew toys.
The Budget Beagle just barked, “Allegedly!” from her dog bed, but she’s not fooling anyone.
If you’re selling, do little fix-ups around the house that will return the cost of the repair in the selling price. Your real estate agent should be able to help you determine which ones are worth bothering with and which to leave for the buyer to update when they inevitably remodel the outdated kitchen or repaint because the lipstick red accent wall in the living room reminds them of the movie Murder By Numbers.
5. Sell some stuff
Moving is the perfect time to declutter. We made over $400 selling off stuff that had been sitting in the garage or on the top shelves of closets. I couldn’t remember the last time I looked at some of it, let alone used it.
Don’t let the sunk cost fallacy hold you back here. Having spent $500 on a 3D printer that you’ve relegated to the garage for a year or $250 on books you’ve never read doesn’t make them worth that cost anymore, especially if you have no interest in using them or if you’ve been looking for a different model or books.
Thank them for the joy they gave you, channel your inner Elsa, and let them go.
The more you have, the more opportunity to take a huge dent out of your moving expenses line item on your budget. There are plenty of options for rehousing your belongings to a new home for some cash, including:
- Having an old school yard sale, especially if you’re moving in a great weather season and live in a community with a lot of foot or vehicle traffic
- Facebook Marketplace, though look out for scammers as there seem to be a lot these days
- Apps like OfferUp and Letgo
- Websites like eBay or even Amazon, though beware of merchant/transaction fees and shipping costs
4. Pack yourself
While it might be nice to stare at a college hunk while he flexes to carefully wrap your wine glasses, a month of Netflix is a lot cheaper.
When you’re on a budget, you don’t need the luxury of having someone box up your belongs. Set your tablet up on the kitchen counter and binge your favorite show with a few hunks while you load up your tableware with the free bubble wrap and boxes you got earlier in the list. I haven’t seen Grey’s Anatomy yet, but I have heard the term McDreamy before. Binge and pack.
Pour yourself a glass of Aldi Winking Owl while you’re at it to incentive you to keep the packing party going.
3. Put the you in U-Haul
Moving trucks, like professional movers, can be one of the most expensive aspects of moving.
When we moved across town, we rented one of the smaller U-Haul trucks and made two trips. The first was to the dumpster to pitch the furniture we couldn’t sell or giveaway. The second was to the new house.
For our cross-country move, driving tandem with a U-Haul for 2,000 miles while we stopped at national parks along the way didn’t sound like much fun. We looked into a moving truck, but we went the cheaper route of cube moving, getting quotes from companies like PODS and U-Pack, where you load and unload and pay only for the transportation. Even with my work discount code (and always check for a discount code) U-Pack was around $3,000 cheaper. I’ll give you one guess which one we went with.
If you don’t have a college hunk living in your house to help with the heavy lifting, have some friends or family members come over to help. We like to pay them with pizza and beer and eternal gratitude to save on truck loading and unloading. We haven’t had any complaints so far.
You don’t have to be as nerdy as we are and sketch the new house layout onto engineering paper to dictate where to put everything as it comes off the truck, but do your cheap labor a favor to show your appreciation. Make sure everything is boxed, clearly labeled (this is a huge favor for you too—I always label as least two sides of every box or bin) and ready to go when your helpers arrive.
Load up your favorite audiobooks, podcasts, or music before moving day. Once you’re loaded up and the tearful goodbyes are complete, cruise along like grandpa in the right lane, chilling out.
Not sure if it’ll actually be cheaper to pack up and drive yourself? We’re a big fan of trust but verify. Get a few quotes and compare the costs. And remember, the more you get rid of, the smaller a truck or container you can get away with, giving you more money to splurge on extra cheese on the pizza for packing day.
2. Make a budget
I so wanted to make this number one, but alas, it was not meant to be today.
Still, having a budget is critical to moving on a budget. Wanting to save money and move on the cheap is something we’d all like to do. But if you don’t plan to actually do so, it’s super easy to swipe the plastic and charge it all to cards. With this method, you won’t even know how much you’ve spent as the charges will trickle in as you buy boxes here, get Netflix to watch Grey’s Anatomy there, pick up your wine at Aldi here, and then the gut buster of the movers at long last. Credit card interest will send your moving budget into orbit if you can’t pay the balance off.
Knowing what you can afford and/or plan to spend on moving expenses can keep you on track and intentional with what you buy during the process. Your first edition books might get the first class treatment of a waterproof plastic storage bin while your board games get the old Amazon boxes.
On top of moving expenses, making a realistic and conservative budget for your next rental or house purchase can save you a world of hurt in your future finances.
Visit our budgeting station to jump on the budget bandwagon.
1. Consider downsizing
This final tip reigns supreme above all others when it comes to saving money and moving on a budget.
Society expects us to buy as much of a house as a bank tells us we can get approved for or to rent at the nice complex with the fancy gym and the hot tubs and pool with the grill area. Instagram shows us ALL THE THINGS. The problem is that neither social media nor society pay the corresponding mortgage or rent.
Living in a large house or apartment, as is expected by our culture, is one of the biggest regrets we see when talking to people approaching retirement and realizing how far behind the curve they are.
Moving is the perfect time to consider downsizing to reduce your fixed monthly expenses. A lot of people in the personal finance realm suggest a limit of 25% of your income for your housing. We’d love to see you drop that number as much as possible. The less you spend on rent or a mortgage, the more you’ll have to pay off debt or save for retirement.
Downsizing also has a trickle down economic effect. It will decrease your utilities, maintenance costs, property taxes, and insurance. I lived in 1,200 square feet or less for a decade and (almost) never felt lacking. The opposite was true, as living smaller allowed us to save a ton of money compared to friends and colleagues in 1,800 square feet, 2,800 square feet, and 3,800 square feet homes. In 1970, the average American single-family home was 1,500 square feet. In just forty years, that average jumped to 2,400 square feet (1). Consider channeling your grandpa again and moving into the house he raised his kids in.
Ready? Set? Move on a budget!
Moving always has an associated cost, but we’re here to help keep that cost as low as possible. If we overlooked one of your favorite hacks, share it with others in the comments below.
If you have other questions about moving, we’ve got you covered. Check out all of our moving articles, then drop us a line in The Budget Brigade Facebook group for tips from the hive mind on your specific situation. Happy travels and moving adventures!