Moving across country: Sell everything or pay movers?

[Anonymous]

I would sell the big pieces of bulky furniture, pare down the smaller stuff and plan on uhauling the rest.

[Anonymous]

Agree you could sell the most bulky pieces and the heaviest things, and then maybe get another quote or use one of the pod services, where you pack it yourselves. There are always people moving in the DC area, so you can find plenty of used furniture here, although I would buy upholstered stuff new. Just check out Facebook marketplace for the area you might live.

We gave away or sold 400+ books when we moved, just so we wouldn't have to pay extra to move them. Only kept our favorites.

[Anonymous]

Pay! We moved a few years ago and didn’t want to pay for a full container, I figured we would only get half a container and we would get rid of stuff we don’t love and buy better stuff on arrival. BIG mistake. Buying all new stuff is super expensive and incredibly time consuming. More importantly, it is soul destroying to start with a completely new slate. You lose so much of your history, even if you are only getting rid of old Ikea crap. A mass purge is not the same, emotionally, as a gradual upgrading. Don’t do it.

[Anonymous]

Uhaul now will for a fee have a team in DC load truck, you drive where you are going and another team unloads truck.

You save a ton as you dont pay for movers sitting in truck and driving it.

[Anonymous]

There may be a tax deduction for an unreimbursed move for work. If so take that into account.

[Anonymous]

I left it behind....and I regret it. Shopping is exhausting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pay! We moved a few years ago and didn’t want to pay for a full container, I figured we would only get half a container and we would get rid of stuff we don’t love and buy better stuff on arrival. BIG mistake. Buying all new stuff is super expensive and incredibly time consuming. More importantly, it is soul destroying to start with a completely new slate. You lose so much of your history, even if you are only getting rid of old Ikea crap. A mass purge is not the same, emotionally, as a gradual upgrading. Don’t do it.

X100000

[Jennae]

That seems like an extremely high price! Yikes. I get that it's a long move and a pretty full service operation, but still. I'd try to eliminate what you can to minimize the cost, maybe even do some of the packing yourself if possible (or have friends help). We used this company https://threemenandatruck.net/d-c-packers-and-movers/ when we moved from out of state and they were among the more affordable movers we found after a bit of work. Possibly reduce the job to as little as you reasonably can and see what they would charge?