Is moving furniture across the country worth it?

[Anonymous]

We are moving next summer and I am trying to wrap my head around the move and plan ahead a little. I know that we will have to contact moving companies eventually, but trying to get some feedback from someone who went through a long-distance move recently. I heard that moving costs went up a lot and I wonder what others have done who paid for their move themselves. Did you pair things down and only took essential/most expensive furniture? Or was the incremental cost to move more tolerable and you moved pretty much everything? TYIA

[Anonymous]

Pare down and only pay to move things that are hard to replace.

A lot of furniture these days are not made to last. I would not pay to move anything we bought in the last 10 years. But some items I will absolutely pay an arm and leg in moving fees for, like our 20 year old leather couch that just cannot be replaced today.

[Anonymous]

I just did this. The estimated cost of all items that I moved exceeded the cost of the move itself, so it was worth it. I do agree that it's worth going through what you own and paring down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just did this. The estimated cost of all items that I moved exceeded the cost of the move itself, so it was worth it. I do agree that it's worth going through what you own and paring down.

OP here. Thank you. Do you mind sharing how you estimated the "cost of all items?" Did you think about it in terms of replacement cost? Most of our furniture is 15 years old but it is high quality European furniture. So replacing it will be very expensive, but then again, it's 15 years old...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just did this. The estimated cost of all items that I moved exceeded the cost of the move itself, so it was worth it. I do agree that it's worth going through what you own and paring down.

OP here. Thank you. Do you mind sharing how you estimated the "cost of all items?" Did you think about it in terms of replacement cost? Most of our furniture is 15 years old but it is high quality European furniture. So replacing it will be very expensive, but then again, it's 15 years old...

If it’s high quality, I would keep it. Most things are junk these days. Even if it looks dated, it will become classic eventually. Anything you buy now will end up in a landfill before it comes around again.

[Anonymous]

Also, depends on what you are going to be replacing it with and how much hassle you want to deal with with new furniture.

As someone who recently moved (not cross country) and bought new furniture - the furniture I liked was:
1) more expensive than I would have thought
2) took several months for it to be made/delivered (up to 4 months for a couch in the pretty standard material I selected)
3) had crazy delivery fees and required me to be home a whole day to receive the delivery (half day delivery window that was not accurate)

So, it could be worth it to pay a little more now to keep nice quality furniture you like and not have to deal with the hassle.

[Anonymous]

If it's ikea/wayfair/bob's furniture, give it away and replace.

If it's quality stuff, hang onto it. Good furniture lasts decades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just did this. The estimated cost of all items that I moved exceeded the cost of the move itself, so it was worth it. I do agree that it's worth going through what you own and paring down.

OP here. Thank you. Do you mind sharing how you estimated the "cost of all items?" Did you think about it in terms of replacement cost? Most of our furniture is 15 years old but it is high quality European furniture. So replacing it will be very expensive, but then again, it's 15 years old...

The stuff I kept was almost a decade old, so it wasn't exactly new. I kept items that were high quality, expensive to originally purchase, and classic in style. I knew that if I sold and repurchased upon arrival, I'd probably buy the same thing or something very similar, and the cost of that alone would have exceeded the cost of the move.

I did get rid of lower quality things and/or things that I genuinely knew I would not have space for. I had a lot of things I was holding on to for sentimental value and I purged quite a bit.

[Anonymous]

I recently had a friend move across the country and her husband's job paid moving expenses, so they moved a lot of their stuff - and a lot of their antiques and nicer items were broken in the move. Not sure if there is a way to prevent this - better packing? Higher quality movers? But just another factor to consider.

[Anonymous]

We did this because my husband was emotionally attached to his things. It cost 15k to move 2 adults from CA-DC in 2022.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I recently had a friend move across the country and her husband's job paid moving expenses, so they moved a lot of their stuff - and a lot of their antiques and nicer items were broken in the move. Not sure if there is a way to prevent this - better packing? Higher quality movers? But just another factor to consider.

They needed better packers and movers. We moved cross country a few years ago also paid for by DH company so cost wasn't a factor. We lost 2 lamps in the move and that was it. Everything else arrived in the same condition. They packed and unpacked for us. The furniture we packed with a cheaper company and put into a POD arrived in a lot worse condition. This was mostly our fault as we didn't instruct them to pack it for a cross country move-just for local storage but our plans changed and we just shipped it. Quality packing makes a huge difference.

We pared down a lot before the move but still moved quite a bit of furniture. This was back during Covid when delays on new furniture were quite long. Had we not moved most of it we wouldn't have had furniture for months.

[Anonymous]

No. Sell as much as you can on FB marketplace or Craigslist. You'd be surprised how much you can get.

[Anonymous]

I think it’s not just the replacement cost but also if it will work in your new space.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s not just the replacement cost but also if it will work in your new space.

This. I would move furniture if I thought it would realistically work in the new space, but a part of the calculation is whether you even like your furniture. The furniture I have is not especially expensive but includes solid pieces and would be time consuming and difficult to replace all at once as it was purchased over decades from consignment, thrift, estate sales, auctions, etc. and some new so it all harmonizes without being matched sets. I like that aesthetic, and so it would be "worth" something to me (above and beyond the value of the furniture) to move it if I were moving now.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thank you for all the thoughtful replies. I do love our furniture. Most of it is expensive European furniture that fits our home here perfectly. Still, I will have to think long and hard about moving it. (I won’t be moving the kids’ IKEA furniture.)

It is still high quality and in good shape 15y later. And I don’t even want to know how much replacing it would cost these days. Although it probably won’t be a good fit for the new house, it will provide us something in the interim.

However, if moving it adds $10k+ to the cost, I am really not sure it is worth it.