Is moving furniture across the country worth it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

Rent a moving truck and drive it yourself. Just have movers put the furniture in and take it out of the truck. There is no reason why you cannot drive the truck to save money. It will definitely cost less than 10k if you drive the truck yourself. Replacing all of this nice furniture for your new house will easily cost 50k+.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

Rent a moving truck and drive it yourself. Just have movers put the furniture in and take it out of the truck. There is no reason why you cannot drive the truck to save money. It will definitely cost less than 10k if you drive the truck yourself. Replacing all of this nice furniture for your new house will easily cost 50k+.

Ha! This is exactly what I suggested to DH and he just rolled his eyes and said that the days of moving ourselves are over. He is probably right. Given all the constraints that we have these days: jobs, kids, etc. it is probably not practical. But I still have fond memories helping my then boyfriend move across country when I was still in grad school. Oh to be young again!

[Anonymous]

I'm the PP that did recently move my things cross-country and doesn't regret it. One thing I didn't mention - I kept my entire Room & Board bedroom set and moved it (king sized bed, two nightstands, large dresser). The cost to replace this with the same set was about 2/3 the cost of my entire move. Completely agree with others that it's way more expensive to replace with something similar than it is to move it, but yes, it does have to fit in your space. Bottom line, if you derive joy from your furniture and wouldn't otherwise want to sell it, just move it. If you're concerned about the moving costs, just get a quote from a reputable moving company so that you have a sense of the costs - quotes are free.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm the PP that did recently move my things cross-country and doesn't regret it. One thing I didn't mention - I kept my entire Room & Board bedroom set and moved it (king sized bed, two nightstands, large dresser). The cost to replace this with the same set was about 2/3 the cost of my entire move. Completely agree with others that it's way more expensive to replace with something similar than it is to move it, but yes, it does have to fit in your space. Bottom line, if you derive joy from your furniture and wouldn't otherwise want to sell it, just move it. If you're concerned about the moving costs, just get a quote from a reputable moving company so that you have a sense of the costs - quotes are free.

You are right. I will do that. Because if we decide to not move our furniture, we will need to start thinking about the new furniture come January-ish.

[Anonymous]

It was five years ago but we had a great experience with using local movers to pack/unpack a pod for us. It saved us thousands compared to using a moving truck and it went really smoothly.

[Anonymous]

NO! Pair down what you can pack the rest on U-Box containers it's the cheapest way to move.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

Rent a moving truck and drive it yourself. Just have movers put the furniture in and take it out of the truck. There is no reason why you cannot drive the truck to save money. It will definitely cost less than 10k if you drive the truck yourself. Replacing all of this nice furniture for your new house will easily cost 50k+.

EXCEPT when you go to uhual.com and price the move out yourself and get sticker shock. U-Box containers OR nothing AFTER purging.

[Anonymous]

If you move furniture, just remember to pack for a hundred jiggles and jolts per mile. Pad and secure everything!

[Anonymous]

We moved recently (not long distance) and kept most of the stuff. Buying new stuff, even full IKEA bedroom for a child, is not cheap.

[Anonymous]

I have no idea what kind of s****y furniture these commenters have where it’s more cost effective it to trash what you have and buy new. A lot of moving costs is just procuring the truck to go point a to point b. Size just raises the cost incrementally. Unless all your furniture is junk particle board, it’s almost certainly WAYYYY more affordable to move your s*** with the driver that’s already driving. Has anyone looked at furniture prices these days??!

[Anonymous]

even a junk particle board furniture adds up. it's not about the value of your own stuff, which is low, but about the cost of buy new furniture, which adds up quickly. we looked at a sectional in ikea recently and it was 3.5k. we bought a bed for child's room and it was over 1k with a mattress.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have no idea what kind of s****y furniture these commenters have where it’s more cost effective it to trash what you have and buy new. A lot of moving costs is just procuring the truck to go point a to point b. Size just raises the cost incrementally. Unless all your furniture is junk particle board, it’s almost certainly WAYYYY more affordable to move your s*** with the driver that’s already driving. Has anyone looked at furniture prices these days??!

Cross-country moves are priced by weight. Every extraneous pound counts.

[Anonymous]

Ilead time on European furniture like yours is 3-6 months OP. We are shopping for furniture now, and a lot of furniture stores are finally noting what is available instantly, what will be a wait. But even wooden stuff from Canada and the Carolinas can be a wait... And Europe half a year, it you fall in love with or want a particular piece, fabric etc. Nice to have a bird in hand and then replace as you go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ilead time on European furniture like yours is 3-6 months OP. We are shopping for furniture now, and a lot of furniture stores are finally noting what is available instantly, what will be a wait. But even wooden stuff from Canada and the Carolinas can be a wait... And Europe half a year, it you fall in love with or want a particular piece, fabric etc. Nice to have a bird in hand and then replace as you go.

Thanks, PP. This is why I am trying to figure it out now (even though we are not moving until next summer). We are working with a designer and she will need to know soon what are all the pieces that she will need to find/order.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have no idea what kind of s****y furniture these commenters have where it’s more cost effective it to trash what you have and buy new. A lot of moving costs is just procuring the truck to go point a to point b. Size just raises the cost incrementally. Unless all your furniture is junk particle board, it’s almost certainly WAYYYY more affordable to move your s*** with the driver that’s already driving. Has anyone looked at furniture prices these days??!

Cross-country moves are priced by weight. Every extraneous pound counts.

This isn’t true at all, we just moved cross country and priced 5+ company options. They price by the size of the truck but it’s still incremental after you procure the company. It’s not like they’re going to just charge you $5 to move one lamp to California. You’re paying an upfront fixed fee and then incremental size from there.