As you all know Bird and I moved across town and into the townhouse last weekend. Let’s take a look at what the actual move cost us:
Truck Rental: $90 ($29.95 + .99 a mile) – saved $15 by opting out of the SafeMove insurance thingy
Bagels for the am moving crew (friends): $18
Pizza for the pm moving crew (different friends): $36
Gas for the truck: $25
Total Cost: $169
I learned a few things on this move. First of all, it’s nice to have a lot of friends. Also, it was nice to get a truck. It was my first move with a truck and it was very convenient to have just make one trip. Previous moves were conducted with multiple minivan trips. It was worth it to pay my friends with food. They would have done it for free because that’s what friends are for, but it’s tradition to pay in food for moving help. A mere fraction of the cost of a real moving crew and without them the move would have taken MUCH longer. Plus, they didn’t break anything or scuff any walls or anything.
Moving Tip: Here’s a sneaky trick for you that I discovered on Saturday. When you arrive at your new place…unload the truck into the garage and then tell your friends that you have to return the truck immediately. By the time you get back, all your stuff has been moved from the garage and up two flights of stairs and you’ve gotten out of all the heavy lifting. I swear I didn’t do this on purpose (the truck did need to go back) but it worked out great. My friends are the best.
Now let’s cover the mental cost of moving the couch that the tenant left in the living room only to find a used condom underneath it. SO. GROSS. I’m still calculating that cost.
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{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
ewww!
But congrats on the move — enjoy your home together!
Thanks SP, we are loving it!
Well, that’s nasty. But I guess it could have been worse….enjoy the new home!
Ewww! But enjoy your new place!
You’re right. It could have been worse. Actually, we were pleasantly surprised with the state of the place. Definitely feel like we got pretty lucky with our first attempt at landlording. We had a pretty low maintenance tenant that paid on time.
uh, TMI.
I will drink, hoping to kill the brain cells that remembered this tidbit.
Eww nasty.
Glad your move went relatively okay though. Enjoy the new place!
You conducted your move exactly the way I’d done my previous moves: a truck, friends and food rewards! It’s still much less of a cost that it would have been to hire movers. I can’t stand the idea of paying $600-$1000 for movers. Luckily, our friends are glad to help out, and we’ve returned the favor numerous times.
Good luck with the new place!
Ok I sublet a furnished place for a few months and there was a used condom under the bed. YUCKKKK!!!!
That was a pretty frugal move! I suppose it doesn’t include all the “new place” fix-ups like painting and such. But I am so glad that it went smoothly and it sounds like you have some really awesome friends! Make sure to help them move when the time comes; that really can be such a pain!
Ugh, that’s so nasty.
I would probably have called a company to come clean that bihazard up!
I’m glad that your move worked out so well. BF and I are moving in a month or so, and we’re going to hire a moving service. Our friends are too “old” (mid-30s and up), busy, having babies, etc., and it’s nice to have the whole thing done in a couple of hours. It does hurt to pay the money, though. We plan on moving as much of the little stuff as we can and leaving the heavy furniture and thousands of books and LPs/CDs for the unlucky movers.