OT: moving advice

[ras5051]

So i've been working remote since March 18th, so just about 3 months now. If everything ever gets back to normal and I have to go into our manufacturing plant to work, I just worked it out with my boss that I'll be able to work remote 2 days a week and come in 3 days.

We were thinking of moving since i'll only be commuting 3 days a week now.

When I moved for my current gig, it was covered by relo through work, so I don't have too much experience/knowledge of how much movers are going to cost... I don't have to deal with a home sale/purchase, since I am currently renting and will rent in the new location.

I live with my girlfriend in a 3 bedroom apartment so we have a decent amount of stuff to move. Looking for people's thoughts/experiences on if it's worth it to pay the extra money for movers or go the uhaul route. I got a quick quote online for movers saying it would be in the $1,200-$2,100 range for a move of about 124 miles... no one's called me yet, so i don't know if that's really the price range that i'd end up paying.

It looks like a u-haul would be in the $250 price range. Would probably have to hire a couple people to help pack and unload since no family lives nearby.. I'm guessing that would maybe cost $200 for the pack and another $200 for the unload.. So just guessing that the price would maybe be half of what I'd be paying for movers.. Does that seem reasonable?

Pro's of movers - they are insured if something breaks
Con's of just hiring a couple random people through facebook to help load/unload - they aren't insured if they break something

I'm thinking that if I can find movers in the lower end of that range around $1,200... I think that's where I might be leaning.

 

[psuro]

You have friends in the area? Pizza and beer go a long way.

If you can do it yourself -do it. Save the money.

 

[ClarkstonMark]

You have friends in the area? Pizza and beer go a long way.

If you can do it yourself -do it. Save the money.

sounds like OP is lazy AF (like me), so he is better off hiring a mover.
I mean even with the uhaul he is talking about paying people to pack and unload lol

 

[anon_xdc8rmuek44eq]

So i've been working remote since March 18th, so just about 3 months now. If everything ever gets back to normal and I have to go into our manufacturing plant to work, I just worked it out with my boss that I'll be able to work remote 2 days a week and come in 3 days.

We were thinking of moving since i'll only be commuting 3 days a week now.

When I moved for my current gig, it was covered by relo through work, so I don't have too much experience/knowledge of how much movers are going to cost... I don't have to deal with a home sale/purchase, since I am currently renting and will rent in the new location.

I live with my girlfriend in a 3 bedroom apartment so we have a decent amount of stuff to move. Looking for people's thoughts/experiences on if it's worth it to pay the extra money for movers or go the uhaul route. I got a quick quote online for movers saying it would be in the $1,200-$2,100 range for a move of about 124 miles... no one's called me yet, so i don't know if that's really the price range that i'd end up paying.

It looks like a u-haul would be in the $250 price range. Would probably have to hire a couple people to help pack and unload since no family lives nearby.. I'm guessing that would maybe cost $200 for the pack and another $200 for the unload.. So just guessing that the price would maybe be half of what I'd be paying for movers.. Does that seem reasonable?

Pro's of movers - they are insured if something breaks
Con's of just hiring a couple random people through facebook to help load/unload - they aren't insured if they break something

I'm thinking that if I can find movers in the lower end of that range around $1,200... I think that's where I might be leaning.

We moved in April; maybe 25 miles from where we lived at the time. We had one of the better moving companies in the area come out and give a quote (we had a 4 BD home, and have four in our family). We lived there for about 10 years (having kids within the last five). The quote was about $6,000.00. We certainly weren't in any position to move this stuff ourselves so we've been budgeting for this. We were told if we boxed up and packed some items prior to the move, it would save us some money. So, we bought packing boxes and filled about 55 or so (I think that was about 1/3 of all boxes). When the move happened, even with us doing 1/3 of the boxes, the cost was *more* than the $6,000.00 quoted. Ultimately, we felt it was worth it since it was during the virus and we had small kids and it was one less thing to worry about. I do regret not shopping around a bit so do that if you can - the guy who did our quote walked our entire property and looked at everything and put it into a computer. So, I would be sure to have them actually see your home and what's in it before trusting a quote. Good luck!

 

[bkmtnittany1]

Don't ask me...moving or painting, never happen. I would give you $$$ to NOT have to do either one of those things...

 

[LionDeNittany]

So i've been working remote since March 18th, so just about 3 months now. If everything ever gets back to normal and I have to go into our manufacturing plant to work, I just worked it out with my boss that I'll be able to work remote 2 days a week and come in 3 days.

We were thinking of moving since i'll only be commuting 3 days a week now.

When I moved for my current gig, it was covered by relo through work, so I don't have too much experience/knowledge of how much movers are going to cost... I don't have to deal with a home sale/purchase, since I am currently renting and will rent in the new location.

I live with my girlfriend in a 3 bedroom apartment so we have a decent amount of stuff to move. Looking for people's thoughts/experiences on if it's worth it to pay the extra money for movers or go the uhaul route. I got a quick quote online for movers saying it would be in the $1,200-$2,100 range for a move of about 124 miles... no one's called me yet, so i don't know if that's really the price range that i'd end up paying.

It looks like a u-haul would be in the $250 price range. Would probably have to hire a couple people to help pack and unload since no family lives nearby.. I'm guessing that would maybe cost $200 for the pack and another $200 for the unload.. So just guessing that the price would maybe be half of what I'd be paying for movers.. Does that seem reasonable?

Pro's of movers - they are insured if something breaks
Con's of just hiring a couple random people through facebook to help load/unload - they aren't insured if they break something

I'm thinking that if I can find movers in the lower end of that range around $1,200... I think that's where I might be leaning.

Times have been tough on the BWI board lately. I'd offer the work out to some of us. Here are some suggested combinations of people:

PSU Dave & m.knox

PSURo & MtNittany

If you want crazy then:

WeR0206 and Ten Thousand Marbles.

I'm sure there are other pairs you could get together in a jiffy to help you.

LdN

 

[interrobang]

We moved cross country last year out of a 3300 sq ft house and the cost was just over $9000.

 

[Langmuir]

There are some shady moving companies out there. For me it was actually not so much the company but the crew. It was a couple of decades ago so I don't remember the name of the company, not one of the big national ones.

One guy in the crew kept on insisting that I pay him in cash before they would unload the truck. I had previously made arrangements with the company to pay by credit card. I called the company office and they asked to speak to the crew leader, who was not the guy insisting that I pay with cash. Eventually they got everything unloaded without incident but the whole time I felt like they were trying to run some sort of scam. They were a lot cheaper than most other movers...you get what you pay for.

 

[spydersabich]

We are moving my daughter from Danville to Philadelphia this weekend. Thankfully she was able to sell some of the more awkward pieces of furniture (sofa, desks, etc) to the new externship student moving into her old apartment. We figured that a 15 foot u-haul truck along with 3 cars would be able to handle all her stuff. We reserved a truck for 9:00 am on Sat in Shamokin Dam and arranged for people to help at noon on Sat at Danville and at noon on Sunday in Phil. I was going to stay at her old apartment Sat. and drive down Sun.( I'm 63 and have no desire to drive 3 hours to Danville, load a truck, drive 2 and 1/2 hours to Phil, unload a truck and drive 3 hour home. Today I get a text message from u-haul thanking me for choosing u-haul and stating that my truck will ready at 4:30 pm on Sat. My ex called u-haul to complain and was informed that u-haul only reserves specific dates that the truck is available and not times. My ex can be a bit "assertive" when things do not go her way and so the u-haul guy immediately got to work finding us another truck. He called back 15 minutes later stating there was a truck in Shamokin. The ex called the new place and was assured the truck was available at the hour we wanted. God help them if it's not.

 

[AWS1022]

So i've been working remote since March 18th, so just about 3 months now. If everything ever gets back to normal and I have to go into our manufacturing plant to work, I just worked it out with my boss that I'll be able to work remote 2 days a week and come in 3 days.

We were thinking of moving since i'll only be commuting 3 days a week now.

When I moved for my current gig, it was covered by relo through work, so I don't have too much experience/knowledge of how much movers are going to cost... I don't have to deal with a home sale/purchase, since I am currently renting and will rent in the new location.

I live with my girlfriend in a 3 bedroom apartment so we have a decent amount of stuff to move. Looking for people's thoughts/experiences on if it's worth it to pay the extra money for movers or go the uhaul route. I got a quick quote online for movers saying it would be in the $1,200-$2,100 range for a move of about 124 miles... no one's called me yet, so i don't know if that's really the price range that i'd end up paying.

It looks like a u-haul would be in the $250 price range. Would probably have to hire a couple people to help pack and unload since no family lives nearby.. I'm guessing that would maybe cost $200 for the pack and another $200 for the unload.. So just guessing that the price would maybe be half of what I'd be paying for movers.. Does that seem reasonable?

Pro's of movers - they are insured if something breaks
Con's of just hiring a couple random people through facebook to help load/unload - they aren't insured if they break something

I'm thinking that if I can find movers in the lower end of that range around $1,200... I think that's where I might be leaning.

The price for the UHaul has a mileage limit, so keep that in mind and you have to fill the tank when you take it back, so add another $50 or so. I have a lot of experience with UHauls recently...my advice, pay the movers. UHauls suck.

 

[ILLINOISLION]

We are moving my daughter from Danville to Philadelphia this weekend. Thankfully she was able to sell some of the more awkward pieces of furniture (sofa, desks, etc) to the new externship student moving into her old apartment. We figured that a 15 foot u-haul truck along with 3 cars would be able to handle all her stuff. We reserved a truck for 9:00 am on Sat in Shamokin Dam and arranged for people to help at noon on Sat at Danville and at noon on Sunday in Phil. I was going to stay at her old apartment Sat. and drive down Sun.( I'm 63 and have no desire to drive 3 hours to Danville, load a truck, drive 2 and 1/2 hours to Phil, unload a truck and drive 3 hour home. Today I get a text message from u-haul thanking me for choosing u-haul and stating that my truck will ready at 4:30 pm on Sat. My ex called u-haul to complain and was informed that u-haul only reserves specific dates that the truck is available and not times. My ex can be a bit "assertive" when things do not go her way and so the u-haul guy immediately got to work finding us another truck. He called back 15 minutes later stating there was a truck in Shamokin. The ex called the new place and was assured the truck was available at the hour we wanted. God help them if it's not.

Sounds like my -ex. I knew she got remarried and re-divorced, didn’t know you were victim #2.

Seriously, I always used to tell contractors, vendors, etc. that they had two choices: they could work with me.....or they could deal with my wife. None ever made the wrong choice more than once!

 

[91Joe95]

So i've been working remote since March 18th, so just about 3 months now. If everything ever gets back to normal and I have to go into our manufacturing plant to work, I just worked it out with my boss that I'll be able to work remote 2 days a week and come in 3 days.

We were thinking of moving since i'll only be commuting 3 days a week now.

When I moved for my current gig, it was covered by relo through work, so I don't have too much experience/knowledge of how much movers are going to cost... I don't have to deal with a home sale/purchase, since I am currently renting and will rent in the new location.

I live with my girlfriend in a 3 bedroom apartment so we have a decent amount of stuff to move. Looking for people's thoughts/experiences on if it's worth it to pay the extra money for movers or go the uhaul route. I got a quick quote online for movers saying it would be in the $1,200-$2,100 range for a move of about 124 miles... no one's called me yet, so i don't know if that's really the price range that i'd end up paying.

It looks like a u-haul would be in the $250 price range. Would probably have to hire a couple people to help pack and unload since no family lives nearby.. I'm guessing that would maybe cost $200 for the pack and another $200 for the unload.. So just guessing that the price would maybe be half of what I'd be paying for movers.. Does that seem reasonable?

Pro's of movers - they are insured if something breaks
Con's of just hiring a couple random people through facebook to help load/unload - they aren't insured if they break something

I'm thinking that if I can find movers in the lower end of that range around $1,200... I think that's where I might be leaning.

Throw everything out, buy new stuff.

 

[danvillenit]

The only time I used a moving company 25 years ago I felt totally ripped off. Way more than quote for mileage and time they didn’t lay out ahead of time

 

[cment]

There are some shady moving companies out there. For me it was actually not so much the company but the crew. It was a couple of decades ago so I don't remember the name of the company, not one of the big national ones.

One guy in the crew kept on insisting that I pay him in cash before they would unload the truck. I had previously made arrangements with the company to pay by credit card. I called the company office and they asked to speak to the crew leader, who was not the guy insisting that I pay with cash. Eventually they got everything unloaded without incident but the whole time I felt like they were trying to run some sort of scam. They were a lot cheaper than most other movers...you get what you pay for.

You ain’t kidding. I still get restitution checks for about $2 every so often from the mover that literally stole my whole 1 bedroom apartment with the exception of my cloths n some nick-nacks. Same mover literally stole whole truckloads of peoples stuff. They had a warehouse up at Frankford Arsenal filled with peoples stuff.

 

[PS4814]

I can tell by your word usage that you're a naturally lazy and otherwise useless Millennial.

Has the thought/concept of you and girlfriend physically self-packing, loading, transporting, unloading, unpacking and re-displaying your accumulated belongings occurred to you?

I suspect not. To do so would represent physical labor or sweat equity.

You're on your own Milli.

Yea, moving companies never existed before the year 2000

Don’t know why you’re upset about someone spending money and supporting the economy, you must be some sort of anti-capitalism Bernie Bro.

To respond to the OP, I’d avoid using u-haul as I’ve not heard good things from those who have used them in the past - not only damage but also issues with delays when the hired muscle doesn’t show. If you’ve got time get several quotes, hit up sites like angies list, or go on your local subreddit and ask on there for recommendations. My personal opinion is that maybe the first post college move is fair to have friends help with beer and pizza, but 2nd move it’s time to hire the pros and then have your friends over for a get together after you’re all set up.

As far as packing that’s on you and the gf, hit google and search for boxes / tape / bubble wrap.

 

[cment]

I say do it yourself. If you and the girl are still talking after the move, she may be the right one. Cheaper all around.

 

[PSU_Chicago]

I have relocated 5 times for work and moved a couple blocks away when I lived in NYC. Some good posts in this thread.

National Name Brand moving services are good. Our experience was they took care of our possessions. Everything arrived at the new location typically in good condition. Where items were damaged they addressed it. I generally used United Van Lines.

The one local mover we used (Brooklyn Heights) was awful. We purchased insurance. They broke some of our furniture and did not cover our damages. Not $0.01 worth. They also held our TV hostage and demanded more $$ for the move. We had the NYPD police at our apartment that night. It was quite a scene.

All my big moves were cross country type moves, all costs covered by my employer. Moving with due care is a pretty big effort and expense. I have helped friends (when I was younger) do U Haul moves. Everyone has their own pocketbook, life situation with kids, etc. Do what is best for you. There is no right or wrong way.

 

[bison13]

Moved 2 summers ago, around 40 miles, 1700 sq ft home plus shed, 3 vehicles. Rented a POD, filled it up with all furniture and lots of boxes. Took all other stuff in vehicles. Found lots of things to donate

Best part was you set up drop off and delivery windows so you can take a few days to pack.

 

[BorisSutherland]

The price was over $9000 for someone to move, and we had arguments? Many factors are considered and usually companies try to show it clearly on papers. Well, for us https://wemoving.net/united-states/ do so all the time. Everything is visible. We just do our best to pack nicely and safely. For the rest guys do everything perfectly. It was nice to see they have special equipment. Two times we worked together, never nothing was damaged or delayed. If my wife did not argue with me about our stuff it means only one thing - everything went perfect.

 

[TheBigUglies]

Never use U-Haul, always use Penske. Never had issues with trucks not available when need them. I move myself because I don't trust other people with my stuff. Then again, the last time I moved was 20 years ago when I was younger and stronger, I guess it depends on your situation and finances. If you have the drive to coordinate everything then doing it yourself will save some money, if you don't want to be hassled then just hire a reputable moving company.

 

[Woodpecker]

You might not want to wait this long but you can do what I did: have 3 sons and 30 years later use them as moving muscle.

Never use U-Haul, always use Penske

Roger Penske: Lehigh Class of '59

 

[Carl Spackler]

Amazing this thread pops up just as we face a similar situation. Neighbor calls us last week and wants to talk about buying our home. We are surprised, never expected this type of call. We met last Sat. and came to a price. They want to finish the basement and we did have a small amount of water once or twice in 17 years so we will see. I'd already contracted to place a sump pump to insure the water issue but suspect they will hit me with a big number on this.

We are a bit shocked, prices are up and interest rates are down. The neighbor is a realtor so they have all the inside info but they REALLY want our home. We are installing brazilian cherry flooring in living, dining and foyers now and they want to pick the stain. i offered them the lawn maintenance equipment and ancillary items, they were big time excited but came back with a low ball offer on them. I'm starting to become a bit leary of it all and my wife is too.

Yet, I think we are committed mentally to selling. My wife retires in two years so this will be a transition to the move back to PA near family. With no realtor fees we feel we are saving a great deal of cash up front. Rent for several years will be typical depending on the level of home we rent. The windfall goes into savings and will make our retirement more secure as it is in a preservation trust. Fortunately we were making double principle payments on a 15 year load and payoff is only two and a half years away making our take away number substantial, at least to us it is.

After all these preliminaries, we will have to move our home to a rental, possibly only four or five miles away. I don't know what prices will be or who to talk to for a fair deal. Any national companies you gentlemen have dealt with where the post move price remained the same as the quote? We always moved ourselves or had corporate moves but we are not young and I have a medical limit on what I can lift. It seems we will be dependent on some sort of movers for sure. Any tips are welcome from this fount of knowledge.

 

[jferretti]

Movers will give you a quote based upon a walk-through but when they show up and start packing they will almost always use their supplies (box tape, boxes, bubble wrap) and you will be charged a premium for the supplies and extra money due to "the estimate" being conservative. I would expect a 20% up charge off of the quote.

As for movers, check the BBB and ask for personal references of people in your area (where you can verify the reference is real). Do a Google search for the company name to check on any litigation and/or warnings. Then pray you hired a reputable company.

We moved 600 miles recently and had the movers deliver to a storage facility since we could not physically be there upon delivery. Suffice to say we were relieved when we arrived and opened up the storage unit to find our stuff there. But we did our homework.

Our move was $4K and we had very little furniture going with us.

 

[Carl Spackler]

Movers will give you a quote based upon a walk-through but when they show up and start packing they will almost always use their supplies (box tape, boxes, bubble wrap) and you will be charged a premium for the supplies and extra money due to "the estimate" being conservative. I would expect a 20% up charge off of the quote.

As for movers, check the BBB and ask for personal references of people in your area (where you can verify the reference is real). Do a Google search for the company name to check on any litigation and/or warnings. Then pray you hired a reputable company.

We moved 600 miles recently and had the movers deliver to a storage facility since we could not physically be there upon delivery. Suffice to say we were relieved when we arrived and opened up the storage unit to find our stuff there. But we did our homework.

Our move was $4K and we had very little furniture going with us.

Thank you for the first hand information and advice.

 

[BW Lion]

Throw everything out, buy new stuff.

That is so true.

At a minimum, people moving should first rent a 20 cu yd roll off dumpster ($400-$500) and fill it with all of the crap they haven’t used in the last year. I’m continually amazed at people’s sentimental attachment to their “stuff” which is mostly crap. Some even rent out additional storage space for their “accumulations”.

Purge and go forth

 

[Uh Clem]

My daughter asked me to help with her move to Philly out of Brooklyn in March after shutdown started. My 70-year-old body started aching while we were still on the phone. Then she told me that my job would consist of driving the U-Haul up and back, watching two guys in Brooklyn load the truck and offer them opinions on the job they were doing, and to watch the two guys in Philly unload the truck.

She had a one bedroom apartment and they were able to load up in three hours and the second crew unloaded in one. I never asked her what she spent on labor or where she found them, but I know that no cash other than a tip changed hands, and both were paid through a third party. Once the loading or unloading was complete, she gave the labor crew a six digit code which they used to get paid from the intermediary with whom she had made the arrangements.

 

[PSU2UNC]

If you are flush with cash, pay the movers.

If you are poor, buy your friends pizza and beer to help you out for an hour or two.

If you are somewhere in between and are relatively young/healthy, do it yourself. Otherwise, it's worth it to pay the movers.

Honestly, I find the boxing up of stuff in prep for the move to be more painful than the actually schlepping on boxes and furniture.

 

[Mr. Potter]

So i've been working remote since March 18th, so just about 3 months now. If everything ever gets back to normal and I have to go into our manufacturing plant to work, I just worked it out with my boss that I'll be able to work remote 2 days a week and come in 3 days.

We were thinking of moving since i'll only be commuting 3 days a week now.

When I moved for my current gig, it was covered by relo through work, so I don't have too much experience/knowledge of how much movers are going to cost... I don't have to deal with a home sale/purchase, since I am currently renting and will rent in the new location.

I live with my girlfriend in a 3 bedroom apartment so we have a decent amount of stuff to move. Looking for people's thoughts/experiences on if it's worth it to pay the extra money for movers or go the uhaul route. I got a quick quote online for movers saying it would be in the $1,200-$2,100 range for a move of about 124 miles... no one's called me yet, so i don't know if that's really the price range that i'd end up paying.

It looks like a u-haul would be in the $250 price range. Would probably have to hire a couple people to help pack and unload since no family lives nearby.. I'm guessing that would maybe cost $200 for the pack and another $200 for the unload.. So just guessing that the price would maybe be half of what I'd be paying for movers.. Does that seem reasonable?

Pro's of movers - they are insured if something breaks
Con's of just hiring a couple random people through facebook to help load/unload - they aren't insured if they break something

I'm thinking that if I can find movers in the lower end of that range around $1,200... I think that's where I might be leaning.

Don't do it. Just moved, even with movers doing the heavy lifting its always chaos. Granted I'm in my 40's and I do love the new house. Assisted living, if that's an option.

MOVING Sucks, unless you sell everything and I buy new and have delivered right to the spot you want it.

 

[ras5051]

We ended up getting a uhaul and parents came down to help us move. Definitely not fun, but most quotes we got were probably in the 3-4K range. Cant remember the total cost on the uhaul, but it was probably around like $300. Saved quite a bit of money.. but made for an extremely not fun weekend!

 

[SammyFLS]

You are right on the part of the prices. Sometimes hiring a moving company to do the job will cost you some good money in my case, that didn't happen. I found an outstanding deal for a very professional service (their platform, loparemovals.com ). Last summer, I changed my residence in Switzerland and had to move an entire penthouse full of furniture and other things, and they did a great job. It's the actual price that amazed me. I should not talk more. All I can say is that you should check their platform and call them yourself for more pieces of information.

 

[rutgersal]

Contact a reputable mover for an estimate. If you can afford to pay someone, do it. Just boxing stuff yourself will require a lot of effort. Purge as much stuff as you can, and donate to Salvation Army and Goodwill. You can also hire out a junk removal team if that is what you need. My mom downsized a few years ago, and she paid $3K to move 70 miles away. Also Paid 900 for a team to come in and get rid of 40 years worth of clatter. This was well worth it. Good Luck.

 

[psuaxe70]

So i've been working remote since March 18th, so just about 3 months now. If everything ever gets back to normal and I have to go into our manufacturing plant to work, I just worked it out with my boss that I'll be able to work remote 2 days a week and come in 3 days.

We were thinking of moving since i'll only be commuting 3 days a week now.

When I moved for my current gig, it was covered by relo through work, so I don't have too much experience/knowledge of how much movers are going to cost... I don't have to deal with a home sale/purchase, since I am currently renting and will rent in the new location.

I live with my girlfriend in a 3 bedroom apartment so we have a decent amount of stuff to move. Looking for people's thoughts/experiences on if it's worth it to pay the extra money for movers or go the uhaul route. I got a quick quote online for movers saying it would be in the $1,200-$2,100 range for a move of about 124 miles... no one's called me yet, so i don't know if that's really the price range that i'd end up paying.

It looks like a u-haul would be in the $250 price range. Would probably have to hire a couple people to help pack and unload since no family lives nearby.. I'm guessing that would maybe cost $200 for the pack and another $200 for the unload.. So just guessing that the price would maybe be half of what I'd be paying for movers.. Does that seem reasonable?

people through facebook to help load/unload - they aren't insured if they break something

I'm thinking that if I can find movers in the lower end of that range around $1,200... I think that's where I might be leaning.

So i've been working remote since March 18th, so just about 3 months now. If everything ever gets back to normal and I have to go into our manufacturing plant to work, I just worked it out with my boss that I'll be able to work remote 2 days a week and come in 3 days.

We were thinking of moving since i'll only be commuting 3 days a week now.

When I moved for my current gig, it was covered by relo through work, so I don't have too much experience/knowledge of how much movers are going to cost... I don't have to deal with a home sale/purchase, since I am currently renting and will rent in the new location.

I live with my girlfriend in a 3 bedroom apartment so we have a decent amount of stuff to move. Looking for people's thoughts/experiences on if it's worth it to pay the extra money for movers or go the uhaul route. I got a quick quote online for movers saying it would be in the $1,200-$2,100 range for a move of about 124 miles... no one's called me yet, so i don't know if that's really the price range that i'd end up paying.

It looks like a u-haul would be in the $250 price range. Would probably have to hire a couple people to help pack and unload since no family lives nearby.. I'm guessing that would maybe cost $200 for the pack and another $200 for the unload.. So just guessing that the price would maybe be half of what I'd be paying for movers.. Does that seem reasonable?

Pro's of movers - they are insured if something breaks
Con's of just hiring a couple random people through facebook to help load/unload - they aren't insured if they break something

I'm thinking that if I can find movers in the lower end of that range around $1,200... I think that's where I might be leaning.

Pro's of movers - they are insured if something breaks

The required insurance that movers provide is worthless. They will pay 60 cents per pound for broken items. If they break your $600 mantle clock that weighs 5 pounds they pay you $3. Either buy better insurance or move the most valuable things yourself. A cheap moving company moved one item for me, a lathe, didn’t tie it down and it fell over and destroyed the irreplaceable controls. $2000 loss entirely because of their negligence and I received $120.

 

[Whaaaaaaaany 2.0]

You're moving 124 miles and still have to go into work 3 days a week? how friggin far are you away from work now and how far away will you be after the move?

 

[gogolion]

My ex can be a bit "assertive" when things do not go her way and so the u-haul guy immediately got to work finding us another truck. He called back 15 minutes later stating there was a truck in Shamokin. The ex called the new place and was assured the truck was available at the hour we wanted. God help them if it's not.

Ha ha, I was married to someone like that too. Although it was embarrassing at times, it usually worked out well and we got what we wanted.