While it’s true moving locally is significantly cheaper and easier than moving across the country or internationally, it doesn’t mean there’s not an expense involved. You can still find ways to lower your moving costs by following several moving tips and saving tips.
You don’t have to follow every tip, but the more moving tips and saving tips you follow, the more likely you’ll lower your moving costs when moving locally.
Plan out Your Local Move
The No. 1 way to stay organized when moving locally is planning and creating a moving budget. Whether you move by yourself, hire full-service movers, or utilize Moving Help Service Providers, you still need to know how much money you can spend on moving costs.
You’ll want to create a moving checklist or timeline of when you want to get each moving task accomplished. You need to figure out how many packing supplies you’ll need for your move because nothing is worse than running out of boxes close to moving day.
Speaking of packing supplies, if you’re unsure about how many packing supplies you’ll need to move locally, you can check out U-Haul’s moving supplies calculator.
Saving Tips
Moving is a great time to purge through your items since you’ll have to pack everything to move locally. What’s the point of packing some belongings that you don’t use now and won’t use at your new place? For items you no longer use, you can sell them, donate them, or toss them.
Bubble wrap costs can get expensive, so use clothes, towels, linens, and sheets to protect breakable items before buying bubble wrap to lower moving costs.
Whether you buy new, used, or recycled moving boxes is up to you, but you need to make sure the boxes are designed for moving and aren’t too flimsy. Otherwise, your items will fall out of the box and break.
Suitcases are great to pack your items because of their wheels and easy to lift handles. You should put heavier items into suitcases, such as books, DVDs, or video games.
Moving Day Tips
Even when planning your moving day, you can save some money. Below is a list of moving tips to think about when trying to plan your moving day to help lower moving costs.
- Pack all your belongings vs. having movers or Moving Help Service Providers pack your belongings
- Move during the offseason and avoid the summer months
- Move Monday through Thursday vs. Friday through Sunday
- Be prepared for the movers or Moving Help Service Providers
- Get family members or friends to help you move
- Use a dolly to move more boxes and keep less strain off your back
- Read reviews for the company or companies you are hiring (Moving Help® has more than 2.3 million unedited reviews)
- Have your U-Haul truck rental booked a month out vs. the day of moving day
Other Tips That’ll Lower Moving Costs
Below are some other tips that are great moving tips and saving tips when moving locally.
- When packing yourself, make sure you pack properly
- Label all boxes carefully, especially fragile boxes
- Label where all boxes will go in your new home
- Use everything up in your pantry, fridge, and freezer
- Wake up earlier on moving day
- Pack a necessities box
- Pack an overnight bag
- Depending on your move, save your receipts for potential tax savings on your tax returns
Lower Your Moving Costs When Moving Locally
By following Moving Help’s tips, you can find different ways to make your move less expensive when moving locally. These moving tips and saving tips will help you put that money elsewhere.
No matter how many tips you follow on Moving Help’s list, the best way to lower moving costs is to create a budget. This way, you can plan out where and how much money you can spend in each category during your local move.