Dilemma: Saving Money on Moving Costs or Pay For Convenience?
August 2, 2006 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Random, Spending and Saving
My wife and I recently moved, and we were in the process of remodeling a condo that we bought about two months ago. All of our extra cash was being poured into this condo to remodel it, so we had to bootstrap the costs of moving from one place to another. Actually, we would have paid for a U-Haul truck, but we live in a college town and everyone moves at the SAME time, so it was impossible to reserve a truck.ÂÂ
My wife and I ended up moving all of our stuff over a two day period and finished at about 2am with extreme fatigue, frustration, and inconvenience. We spent about 3 or 4 times the amount of time as if we would have had it professionally moved. However, we also saved about $200 – $300. The thing is that I really think it is worth it to pay for someone to move for you. I hear that it is much cheaper if you pack everything yourself and the movers just transport it for you. However, I also know that the movers will not claim any responsibility for lost or damaged property if you pack it yourself. Anyhow, the older I get, the more that I realize that saving money isn’t always the best way to go. You may save money, but you will pay for it in lost time, stress, and overall inconvenience. I am not the first person to pay extra just for the convenience of a good or service, but in this case, moving is the pits!
I’m actually coming up on making the exact same decision of how much to spend on moving from my current apartment to my new one. My girlfriend and I are moving in and we need to move both of our stuff into the new place. As you mentioned, how much is my time/convenience worth?
I think what we’re going to end up doing is splitting the difference somewhere between moving ourselves and hiring people. We’re going to rent a big U-haul and gather as many friends as we possibly can, then feed them all and have tons of cold drinks on hand as “payment.” It’ll still be a lot of work for us, but not as much as moving on our own, and not as expensive as hiring pro movers.
I hate moving so much that it is well worth it for me to consider the $300 an investment in my own sanity. But yea, it’s incredibly expensive to have movers pack for you, so I’d probably just stick with packing the boxes myself and having professionals move them. =) And professional movers should cover lost property.. you would need to have a running box count or something though.