Moving 600 Miles & How: PART 2

Moving long distance, comparing all the different methods, what we chose & why!

It’s no secret that when you Google search, “moving companies” or “moving long distance", about twenty different ads pop up all claiming to be the absolute best and cheapest. I won’t lie to you, it’s overwhelming, confusing, and suddenly you’re entering your email for free quotes and getting phone calls to book your moving truck that you’re not even sure you want.

Let’s dive right into the many ways and options to move long distance.

The Ditch & Drive:

This is exactly what it sounds like. You take a look around you, take a serious inventory of what you actually need to bring with you and ONLY TAKE THOSE THINGS. Everything else now belongs to goodwill, your little sister, or your friends who are staying behind.

Pros:

• The Ditch & Drive offers maybe the most simplistic approach to moving

• No moving boxes

• No moving trucks

• If you’re not taking anything with you, the potential to sell your belongings and rack up some extra dough before you move is huge!

Cons:

• You’ll need to re-purchase a good number of essentials, which can add up quickly

• You may have to leave behind things with sentimental value

I like to think The Ditch & Drive is for our single men/ladies out there. Maybe you were renting an apartment with a friend or still living with mom, when all of a sudden, an adventure presented itself. So, what do you do? Hop in the car, leave everything behind and GO! Bonus points if Mom will keep your room just so while you’re out living life!

With my mom, fiancé, backyard flock and bearded dragon…The Ditch & Drive wasn’t for me.

The DIY:

When I started planning my move I was all, “I’m doing everything myself and no one can tell me otherwise.”.

I was moving from a two-bedroom home and thought–I really don’t have that much to move–so I began research on exactly how to move all by myself.

This consisted of a few steps:

• Install a tow hitch on my jeep

• Purchase a 10'x6' used enclosed trailer (I figured this would cost roughly what paying for a moving truck/trailer would cost me)

• Then drive all my things down in one trip

So, I made moves executing this plan! We installed a tow hitch, step one done!!

My brother-in-law knew we were looking for a trailer and came in clutch when he offered to let us borrow his (having bomb ass family is a bonus).

Then we were ready!! Let’s pack this baby up and hit the road.

Well…we packed it, and I mean really packed it. That’s when I learned even with selling off a good bit of our belongings, this 10’x6’ enclosed trailer would not fit our entire move in one trip. It would actually take about three trips at full capacity.

At the end of the day, no this was not for us. We’d wind up spending more money making three trips back and forth, and it simply didn’t make sense for us (at the time gas was $4.60 a gallon).

For those of my friends in a one-bedroom apartment, condo, or traveling light. TOTALLY!

Things to consider when contemplating The DIY method:

• How much stuff do I have, and what size trailer would I need?

• How much can my vehicle tow?

• Would I be comfortable driving a vehicle towing between 1,500-3,500lbs?

• Do I have a tow hitch, or would I need to get one installed

Pros:

I really love the notion of this method because when all is said and done you have something you’re invested in, the trailer! You could use this for future projects on the homestead, rent it out to neighbors, or sell it for a profit.

Trailers are in high demand right now, so keep an eye out on Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist, be ready to jump when you see a fair priced one because they go FAST.

We strongly recommend an enclosed trailer for this method, when moving your entire life long distance you don’t want a sudden rain shower to literally rain on your parade. Contemplating tarps and waterproofing an open trailer is just one more thing to worry about during an already stressful time.

Cons:

You have to drive xxx amount of miles towing an F ton of weight, and honestly, it’s nerve racking. When we did our little test run with our fully loaded trailer, my nerves were through the roof. Every bump you drive over is amplified, you have blind spots you’re not used to, and the noise level is something to consider. It wasn’t for me.

The Moving Truck Method:

So next on my list of ideas was, let’s just get a moving truck!

The prices weren’t terrible. From NJ to NC, it was roughly $2,000 for a 15ft truck (before taxes and gas costs).

If towing is something you are interested in, U-Haul does have trucks with trailers to tow your vehicle while you move long distance. This option is definitely a viable one whether you are moving a one-bedroom apartment, or a four-bedroom home. With different size trucks and trailers you can mish mash until you have the perfect set up.

We strongly considered U-Haul, the price point was manageable and it offered a slew of benefits.

Pros:

• Our things would be with us from the moment we left NJ to the moment we arrived in NC

• We wouldn’t have to wait on our bed being delivered, or going without any essentials.

• It was quick and convenient: Go to the U-Haul pick up location, check out the U-Haul truck, drive home, load up, hit the road!

Cons:

We have two vehicles; how do we drive the U-Haul and two cars 600 miles?

It’s a huge time crunch; rent a U-Haul in the morning, load up EVERYTHING in one day and then get on the road the next morning. The more time you have with your U-Haul truck the more they charge you, so it’s not something you can really take your time with.

Check your pick up and drop off locations because if you are moving somewhere a bit on the rural side like me, we were 45 minutes to our nearest drop off location.

When we were pretty certain, this was the route we were going, we decided to just double check if there’s any other options.

Thus, we discovered……**drumm roll please**

The Drop & Deliver

We have a winner folks!!!

The Drop & Deliver was by far my favorite, and I had NO IDEA this existed until the final hour of my moving journey.

Company: U-Pack

Cost: $2,200

Services: U-Pack will drop off a 26ft long trailer, give you three full days to pack it up, utilizing as much or as little space as you need, then pick it up and drive it to your new destination.

FOR THE SAME COST AS A U-HAUL!!! WHATTT!!!! Sign me up!

I couldn’t believe how easy this was, and no people I am not getting paid to write this.

I called the number and booked on the spot. The whole process took about 10 minutes over the phone, they confirm you via email/text, and send you updates throughout the entire process.

When moving, it’s hard to calculate exactly how much square footage or linear space your life will fit into, and like you read above I grossly miscalculated what my needs were at the beginning of this journey. U-Pack allows you to give them a guesstimate of how much linear space you would like to take up in their trailer, and if you need to use more…you just use more!! They do calculate the extra space in your final bill, but it definitely took the stress out of making sure we had enough space come moving day.

U-Pack specializes in long distance moves allowing them to offer some seriously competitive prices.

Here’s how it works;

• U-Pack will drop off your moving trailer on your scheduled day

• You have three days to load it up (you will need to have moving straps to secure your belongings)

• Day three arrives and U-Pack will come pick up the trailer

• 5-7 days later your trailer arrives at your new destination.

A few more details you may want to remember when considering U-Pack:

U-Pack will take any unused space in the trailer and fill it with commercial goods from stores like Walmart or Amazon. This helps keep their cost reasonable and make the most out of every trip.

You will always be the sole residential move in your trailer, so no worrying about delivery mix ups.

Once your trailer arrives you have an additional three days to unpack.

If you are going with The Drop & Deliver have these things ready to make it as easy as possible:

• Moving straps to secure your items

• Moving blankets to wrap anything that may need extra cushion (I used old couch pillows as a buffer between heavy items)

• A hand truck

• Work gloves (your hands will love you for it)

• Moving straps—more than you think

Once our home was packed up in the trailer, and driving off into the sunset it was a sigh of relief knowing that this aspect of the move was being taken care of.

*Pro-tip: If you are leaving your mattress behind and ordering a new one OR putting your mattress inside of the moving trailer; be sure to order an air mattress in advance so you have somewhere suitable for a few nights of sleep until yours arrives. We used the Englander Air Mattress and it did the job!!

Now all we had to do was pack ourselves, our chickens, and our bearded dragon. Check out part three to learn how to safely move your animals' long distance (we’ll be covering dogs and cats as well!

Planet Homestead