Moving is Wildly Expensive. These 8 Tips Will Help.

Moving is terrible. We can help. Make it less painful with our ultimate guide for moving.

Moving is more than a pain, it’s a part-time job—one you have to pay for. From packing and moving to unpacking and restocking, the whole process can disturb your life and your budget for a full year or more. And somehow, you’re never quite ready for moving day.

Use this guide to help you think through the various costs involved and to create a financial plan, which will hopefully save you time, stress, and money. If you want to outline the timeline of your move, consult our moving checklist.

Moving requires a shockingly large outlay of resources in both time and money. Spending money saves you time, and vice versa. If you have a moving schedule and budget in place before you pull out your Sharpie marker, you’ll save on both.

Be realistic about costs. People usually have between 7 to 9 pounds of stuff per square foot, according to Tiffany Crozier, chief client officer and president of Corporate Relocation International. “A household is going to average somewhere between 18,000 to 20,000 pounds,” she said. That’s roughly the size of a 2,200- to 2,600-square-foot property. If you hire movers, the cost could range from a few thousand dollars for a local move to more than $10,000 for moving cross-country.

Create a spreadsheet. A spreadsheet is crucial to help you see the scope of your project at a glance. You can use it to compare quotes from vendors, list all the packing and organizing incidentals, and create a full inventory of the contents of your home. What you think you can afford might be different once you have a hard conversation with Excel or Google Sheets. (You can also use whatever spreadsheet or budgeting app you prefer.)

Keep room in your budget for surprises. With so many details, you’re bound to have more than you expected coming your way. If your new place falls through or gets delayed, you may need to secure short-term storage, which means moving all of your stuff into storage then moving it again to your new place. A thousand unexpected challenges could end up costing you much more than you planned.

The moment you decide to move, everything in your home becomes a lot more expensive. When you bought that framed picture, mug, or lamp, you most likely weren’t thinking about the cost to move it. That’s why one of the most important first steps is to declutter, according to professional organizer Andrew Mellen. Your eyes should fall coldly on each item you own; it’s about to burden you for box space, lifting power, moving time, weight, and mental clutter.

“Everything that you don’t have to move saves you money and saves you time, saves you stress,” Mellen said. He added that people often run out of time, stress-toss everything into boxes, and end up moving items that they throw away upon unpacking.

Save money, spend time: Need help paring down but don’t want to lay out cash? One free option is to bring over some “dispassionate friends who are not going to enable you,” as Mellen described them. “They’re going to hold your feet to the fire and say, ‘What are you doing? Are you done with this? He broke your heart. Why do you still have this sweater?’”

Save time, spend money: The next level is to hire someone from a service like Taskrabbit, which costs about $15 to $40 per hour. People can help you put like with like (such as all your sweaters in one box) to better judge what you don’t need. Professional organizers, depending on experience, cost around $40 to $150 an hour.

Do we have some magic calculation to tell you whether it’s worth it to pack that thrice-lit Cardamom Nut Muffin Yankee Candle? Sadly, no. “There’s the tangible value, there’s the intangible value, and there’s your time—so those are three factors to weigh in the process,” said Mellen.

For each item, consider the cost to replace it, the relative cost of moving it (couch versus candle), and how much you make per hour. Within that, you should come up with a general idea of if you should toss it, sell it, or move it.

Some items you can sell, and others might cost you money to get rid of. Give yourself time to post houseplants, easily replaceable kitchen goods, and bulky items on Facebook Marketplace, OfferUp, or Craigslist, then perhaps Freecycle.org. If you’re purging old clothes, try to donate or resell them. Also, budget to pay someone to haul away things that are both heavy on weight and sentimental value, such as grandma’s couch. Some nonprofits will pick up items at no cost to you.

Consider using Move for Hunger, a national organization that takes unused food and donates it to food banks.

Once you know what you’re keeping, it’s time to add an inventory to your spreadsheet. When moving crews create this inventory, they can calculate the cost of the move, which they do by time for local moves and weight for long distances. Some movers will give you a quote based on the number of rooms in your home, while others estimate by poundage. You can estimate the weight of your stuff by using Crozier’s guidance: Each square foot of your home contains roughly 7 to 9 pounds of stuff.

Michael DeGoey, general manager of Clark Moving & Storage, said most long-distance moves with full service for the average house in New York cost between $10,000 to $14,000. He pulled two examples:

But even if you’re just getting help from friends, an inventory helps you get a grip on the scope of your move: the size of the truck and how many six-packs you’ll need. You could even use an app like Encircle, which is designed for home inventory and can be used for moving.

How you decide to move will likely make the biggest difference in your budget. Hiring movers can cost thousands of dollars but ease your stress, while a DIY approach could save you money but frazzle your nerves. Your life stage may also impact the choice you make. Older people might need more help than a young couple. Working parents of young children might have less time than retirees.

“It really just depends on the situation, the person, their finances, and what they’re able to do. Some people just don’t have the time,” said DeGoey. “As with anything, you have to weigh what’s going to make the most sense for you.”

DIY. Doing it all yourself requires lots of time and gas money. Even with a vehicle and favors from friends, you have to consider the cost of a truck rental, if needed, plus mileage and gas. You may also want to rent some equipment that makes the move easier, such as a dolly and a ramp (if you can’t borrow or rent a handcart, we recommend this one). Trucks with ramps tend to be more expensive than those without, but they’re also less expensive than back surgery.

Hybrid approach. “If you’re just asking a mover to transport goods, it’s going to be a lot cheaper,” Crozier said. “Obviously, if you’re just packing Pods and having those transported, that’s even cheaper.” Pods and similar companies will deliver a container, typically from 8 to 16 feet long, that you load yourself. When you’re ready to move the container, drivers pick it up on a truck and deposit it at your new location.

For people who are moving within a city, personal finance expert Erin Lowry recommends that you try to overlap your living accommodations for a month, if your budget allows. Though it seems expensive, you can move slowly by taking boxes or even suitcases full of items by public transit or car. Movers will only need to handle big items like couches and beds. That makes the cost of the move significantly cheaper, because you don’t need as much time or as large of a truck.

Moving company. First, ask your friends and family who they’ve used. Make sure the movers are licensed and insured by checking with the US Department of Transportation, where you can also find complaints filed against them. Consider checking the Better Business Bureau as well. Be sure to ask them about the liability they provide, and consider if you need to purchase additional insurance.

“Unfortunately, there’s people out there that try to what we call ‘buy the moves,’ where they lowball an estimate to you. Or they give you an estimate that’s not a guaranteed ‘not to exceed,’ and they lowball the weight,” Crozier said. “You think you’re gonna pay one thing, and you get to the other end, and the bill is thousands of dollars more. And they won’t deliver unless you pay them.” This is why it’s also smart to get quotes from several companies and compare. If a quote seems too low, you should be skeptical.

You can actually save money by timing your move.

“If you’re moving in February, it’s going to be a lot less expensive than if you’re moving in the middle of summer, because that’s our peak time,” said DeGoey. “It’s at a premium—like roses on Valentine’s Day.”

If you can’t adjust the timing of your move, try moving in the middle of the month or midweek. “Middle of the week, in the morning, is usually a cheaper rate than weekends or later in the day,” said Lowry. “And if you have a flexible enough schedule where you can do that, it can save you easily a couple hundred bucks.”

Don’t forget to plan (and budget for) how you’ll move yourself, especially on a long-distance move.

“Sometimes people don’t think about that, surprisingly,” said DeGoey. “They’re moving to California— that’s 2,000 miles. They’re like, ‘Oh, it’s gonna take like six days. Like, where do I stay? What do I do?’”

Booking a flight earlier usually saves you money, so make the choice to fly or drive as quickly as you can. If you fly and you own a car, you’ll have to sell it or get it shipped. If you choose to drive, start mapping out your route early and looking for accommodations. Consider driving fewer hours in a day to enjoy the trip and see roadside attractions like the world’s largest hand-painted Czech egg.

Regardless of whether you’re hiring movers or doing it yourself, planning ahead for the packing supplies you need can save you on the total cost of the move. For instance, if you are paying movers, packing everything in uniform boxes will help them load a truck more swiftly. Packing your lightest items (like comforters and pillows) in large boxes, and your heavier items (say, books) in smaller boxes will also make the move faster. Wirecutter recommends cost-effective packing supplies and shares tips that you can use for your move.

Again, doing things ahead of time saves you money. For example, if you can look on Freecycle for boxes, you’re much more likely to find them over the course of a couple months than if you need them within a week. Lowry said too many people spend on packing supplies instead of simply asking.

“Sometimes people just feel awkward crowdsourcing for items. So whether it’s asking people for boxes or local businesses for boxes or for hand-me-downs or even just advice. You’re moving—people get it,” she said. “Especially if you kind of come from the angle of ‘I really want to reduce my waste in this process,’ there’s nothing to feel embarrassed about.”

Just when you think you’re done, the cost of setting up your new place pops up.

You have to budget for setup fees for new bills. Getting a new license and car registered in a different state, activation fees for internet, reconnection fees for utilities—they add up. (You can find a list of these expenses in Wirecutter’s moving checklist.)

You may need to buy boxes of Ziploc bags, bottles of hand soap, a new Cardamom Nut Muffin candle. For everything you give away and know you’re going to have to buy again, consider writing it on your handy-dandy spreadsheet (have you started it yet?) along with the estimated cost of replacement. It will serve as a running tab plus a useful shopping list later.

Don’t forget that your move needs its own emergency fund. If you don’t end up needing it, you can have a little more fun replacing grandma’s couch.

I spoke with a range of experts to understand the true cost of moving. Professional organizer Andrew Mellen shared wisdom amassed from more than a quarter century of decluttering. Michael DeGoey, general manager of Clark Moving & Storage—an agent of Mayflower—in Rochester, New York, offered tips on saving from helping people move for four decades. Erin Lowry, the author of three books on personal finance, shared her wisdom on keeping material costs low. Tiffany Crozier, the president and CCO of Corporate Relocation International, with nearly 27 years in the industry, shared tips on how to avoid getting scammed by a mover.

This article was edited by Christine Cyr Clisset and Annemarie Conte.

Tiffany Crozier, chief client officer and president of Corporate Relocation International, Zoom interview, February 3, 2023

Michael DeGoey, general manager of Clark Moving & Storage, phone interview, January 23, 2023

Andrew Mellen, professional organizer, Zoom interview, January 31, 2023

Erin Lowry, personal finance expert, phone interview, January 27, 2023

Paulette Perhach

Paulette Perhach has written about money for The New York Times, Vox, and Slate. She recently realized just how much more moving actually costs when she packed her RAV4 and drove from Seattle to her new home base of Gainesville, Florida.

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