Best Ways To Save Money When Moving

‍Let’s get ready to save your monnnneeeey!!!!

The initial rush of planning a move can be a unique mix of excitement and anxiety. Everything is happening quickly, and you are enticed by the possibilities of what’s to come. Sure, what’s being left behind can be sad and there’s so much work to do.  

So. Much. Work.  

But, overall, a move is mostly exciting. It’s especially exciting if you can also save some loonies along the way.

We can help you with that. If you follow a few simple suggestions, you can enjoy all the excitement of a transition, with a lot less financial pressure.   

If you write it down, it’s real 

Slap!

Sometimes throwing that debit or credit card down can feel satisfying. It solves problems instantly and takes your stress away on the spot.  

For a while. Until you realize that you’re going to need to eventually pay for that brief moment of satisfaction.    

With that in mind, it’s important to create a moving budget and then sticking to it. The better you construct your moving budget, the more you can potentially save money.  

If you are looking to create a moving budget for your move, here are some steps you can take to ensure you do so intelligently and efficiently.  

Spreadsheets are your friend

Some of you might be getting shivers just thinking about opening the spreadsheet program on your computer, but you shouldn’t be. They aren’t just for mind-numbing tasks that your supervisor assigned you for…reasons, back in that one awful summer job you had in college.  

No, they are also an exceptionally useful tool for creating a budget!    

So, now that you have your spreadsheet fired up, what now? Here are some suggestions on how to formulate your budget:  

• Create categories at the top of your page, such the estimated cost, and actual cost. 
• Make columns titled Moving Fees, Moving Insurance, Packing Service, Packing Materials, and Miscellaneous.  
• Fill in your expected costs and the actual cost once you have been charged for each section.  
• Add up the cost for both the expected costs and actual cost. 
• Add 5% as a Contingency plan for the expected cost, then add it to your total so you know you have enough for the actual price.  

• Add up the actual price, so you know how much it ended up costing you. That way, if you’re finding that things are costing more than you thought you can re-evaluate where in the budget you can make that up.  

All of these expenses can be accurately estimated through research. If you know what you can afford to spend, you won’t be tempted by add-ons and extras that could be offered to you by the moving company.    

It’s important to keep all of the quotes, receipts, and other documents you receive. This will ensure that you stay organized and on top of things.  

Make a list; check it twice! 

You’re about to embark on the only diet you’ll ever experience where you can eat as much cheesecake as you want. That’s right, your efforts to lose weight will not be hampered by several slices of delicious New York Style Blueberry (to pick a completely random flavor that I’m absolutely not going to buy on the way home today).

That’s because the weight you’re looking to shed isn’t on your body. It’s the weight of the possessions in your house.  

The lower the weight of your possessions, the less the move is going to cost you. It’s really that simple.  

So, you need to take a careful inventory of what you have and then decide what you can afford to leave behind. Once you’ve looked over that list, check it again. It can sometimes be cheaper to buy something new than it would be to move it.  

As an added bonus, once you have culled your belongings, you can hold a Garage Sale or sell them on an online marketplace like Kijiji or Craig’s List.

Box, box baby!

The instinct when getting boxes for many is to run down to the liquor or grocery store and grab some free boxes.  

To a point, that’s OK. To a point. There can be unseen damages to used boxes that can weaken the structure and put your belongings at risk. Is saving $2 on a box really worth the possible damage to an item with 100 times that?  

If you’re only moving a small amount of things a short distance, maybe you can get away with it, but why risk it when boxes are a small expense in the overall move.  

This is one space you should look for quality.  

Nobody likes gas 

One thing that can often catch people off guard is the cost of fuel. Not so much on a long move, but it can sneak up on you in an in-city move, where you might be making several trips between your spaces.  

So, you need to factor the cost of fuel into your budget. You should also ask yourself whether every trip is needed. Can you do one trip with a full car, rather than three with the back seat full?  

If you plan to save you’ll save by planning 

The bottom line is the more knowledge you have and the better prepared you are the more likely it is that your move will come in on budget and as stress-free as possible.

‍