Cheapest Way to Move Local

Most people who are looking to move into a new home do not have an unlimited budget to work with. The amount of money that they can spend on their new place, the furnishing of that place (if this is necessary) and the costs associated with the physical move represents months or years of saving up in order to make the move possible. This means that every penny spent needs to be accounted for and keeping costs down is usually of the utmost importance.

Negotiating Prices for a Move

When it comes to the rental or purchase price of the new home that you will be moving into there is usually some wiggle room and an ability to negotiate a better price. Although given the fact that rental vacancy in the U.S. is somewhere around 6% currently and home vacancy is around 2% there isn’t as much room to negotiate these days. However, you do have an ability to keep the costs associated with a move down by attempting to negotiate price before you agree to anything. This usually doesn’t represent a tremendous amount of money upfront, especially if you are renting, but over the course of a year it could save you hundreds or thousands of dollars.

You are also able to somewhat negotiate the cost that a moving company will charge you. When you are meeting with a moving company and they offer you a quote it never hurts to see if they can knock some money off of that quote. Considering how competitive the moving industry can be in metropolitan areas, if the moving company won’t work with you, then you should be able to shop around until you get a price that you are comfortable with. Remember that almost everything in life is negotiable and it never hurts to ask. Most people do not attempt to negotiate the prices that they are given because they believe that it will offend the other entity that they are dealing with, but this is never the case. If you speak with the moving company and tell them that you are looking to spend less than the quoted price, they may work with you and come back with a better number.

However, if you are looking for the cheapest way to move local, and you are really attempting to keep your costs down then hiring a moving company is not going to be the way to go. For local moves and by this we mean moves that are 50 miles or less, renting a moving truck cannot be beat in terms of price. Beyond this there are number of ways to keep your costs down when it comes to the cheapest way to move local and we will explore some of them in the information presented below.  

Cheapest Way to Move Local

While moving locally is going to inherently be cheaper than if you are moving a long distance there can still be a dramatic difference in the amount spent, depending on how you go about performing your move.  If you choose to go with a moving company you can expect to spend anywhere from $300-$500 for a one-bedroom home to around $1500-$2000 for a four-bedroom. If you are not attempting to keep your costs down, but would rather just have the easiest move possible, then hiring a moving company is the way to go. However, if you are attempting to find the cheapest way to move local than you will save yourself hundreds of dollars by renting a moving truck and doing the move yourself.

The most expensive moving truck, which is going to a 26’ truck is going to cost you around $39.95 plus an addition .99 for each mile driven and the cost of gas. So if you are going to be moving 20 miles and you pick the truck up from near your old home you can expect the whole endeavor to cost you somewhere around $80-$100 depending on the price of gas in your state. A 26’ truck can hold around 5 to 7 rooms worth of items in it and so as you can see going this route will save you anywhere from $1400-$1900.  With that said a move of this size can take some time and so if you are able to, it is best to get 4 or 5 friends or family members together in order to help with the move. If you are really on a budget then these individuals should be understanding and will more than likely be willing to help.

When it comes to moving an entire 3 or 4 bedroom house it may not be possible to do the move in one day and in this particular case you can expect to spend double of what we estimated above, but with that said you will still be saving yourself thousands of dollars by renting a moving truck and performing the move on your own.

Ways to Save with a Local Move

By and large the most expensive aspect of your move is going to be renting a moving truck, but there are other factors to take into account as well if you are looking for the cheapest way to move local. For starters you should never purchase boxes for your belongings. Many times individuals will go out and buy boxes in bulk in order to pack up their smaller items for the move. They do this because they are either unaware that they can get free boxes at their local retail stores (we go into greater detail about this here) or they do not trust the used boxes that they are going to get from these place. While yes a used boxed that has already been used to ship detergent or some other item may possibly be weaker than a brand new box, if you are doing the move yourself, and you pack the boxes correctly, you do not need to worry about them breaking.

Like we have stated in other parts of this guide if you are need in of a bunch of boxes for your move then the best thing to do is go to a local big box retailer in the morning and speak to someone in customer service about getting their used boxes. Every one of these stores will have hundreds of boxes after they receive a delivery and these boxes are destroyed in a bailer after everything is received. If you get there before this occurs the store will be more than glad to oblige your request and you can save yourself a lot of money by doing this.

The next way to really cut down on your costs and find the cheapest way to move local is by using newspaper or magazines as packing material. Doing this will keep you from having to buy packing material, which essentially becomes useless after the move. Most people will not have enough newspapers or magazines to pack up all of their boxes but if you talk to neighbors and friends you should be able to gather enough to complete your move. When you do this, coupled with getting free boxes, and shopping around for such items as tape and box cutters, you will be able to keep your ancillary costs of the move down, which all adds up to the cheapest way to move local.