7 Ways to Save Money When Moving
How to Save Money When Moving – 7 Ideas
This is on how to save money when moving, broken up into 7 ideas to try. Since I am moving soon (and stressing out big time!), but always trying to save money, this has recently come up a lot for myself.
Hint: it is easier than you think. And can save you tons of stress. So here are 7 ways to save money when moving.
1. Plan
This one is REALLY so important. Plan out where you want to move and the budget. Determine what is practical both for your commuting and your ideal lifestyle.
Then plan what all you need to do for the actual move. Do you need a truck? Do you need help moving? New furniture? Storage units? Are there anythings that you want to sell and/or donate or get rid of? Also, changes in address, rent or homeowners insurance, etc.
2. Take Steps to Prepare
With a solid plan in place, this can become WAY easier. If you are still planning on finding a place, that will need to be done first. Apartments.com, Hotpads and Apartmentlist.com are both nice resources for rent. If you are looking for a home, then check out https://www.redfin.com.
So you found a home – more steps to prepare!
Save money when moving by taking steps ahead of time. Go ahead and change your address with the USPS. If you want to go ahead and do so, you can here: https://address-change-portal.com.
Not only do you get one step out of the way, BUT you get some pretty great coupons as well!
Also, decide if you want a moving company or where you will obtain boxes from. Hint: for boxes, grocery stores and liquor stores can both be great bets to obtain some VERY handy moving boxes for free.
Finally, do not forget about your own travel. If you need to fly, try out some discount sites such as kayak.com, which is one of my favorites since you can set price alerts!
3. Look into Selling Items You No Longer Want
As I have mentioned in prior posts on spring cleaning, there are many options for selling items you no longer need or want. Not only do you save money in moving time and costs, but you can make some money as well instead of just tossing them!
And, there are many other apps to sell on as well, which I highly suggest you check out on the App Store or Google Play.
4. Use Sales
This is one aspect where planning can really help.
Once you decide (1) what you want to get rid of; (2) what you want to sell; and (3) EXACTLY where you will be living, then you can figure out what new furniture you may need.
While the apps and websites listed above can be great for selling items, they can also be fantastic at finding items as well – and sometimes for free! For example, if someone does not want to move a couch, then you may snatch one up at a fantastic price. So check those out for some potential GREAT deals.
Also, by planning ahead and paying attention to sales (especially around the holidays), you can grab items you need for your new place at a high discount. And one great way to start on this is by doing your change of address with USPS (as mentioned above), since they send you quite a few free coupons!
Related Reading…
[P.S. for holiday sale related posts see these: how to save money with summer deals and easily save – more cash back sales and summer deals. These are not always limited to summer!]
Use Loyalty Programs
Another idea is to join some list serves for the companies you most want to shop at. They will send you some great deals. And so you can use that as a way to buy what you need during a fantastic sale or via a special deal for loyalty customers.
Now while not quite a sale, a good thing to consider is mystery shopping or secret shops.
See my post on secret shops for a few to try out.
These are great for finding jobs that will reimburse for various items such as houseware items! Plus, even if there is no reimbursements, you can learn about deals and sales while getting paid.
Similar to Sales are Discount Sites
Do not forget about Groupon and LivingSocial which are both fantastic to find discounts at important moving details such as maid/cleaning services, moving companies, flights, truck rentals, furniture sites, and much more.
[P.S. – check out my post on easily save money with Google Chrome Browser extensions as LivingSocial is one that has an EBates extension running at the moment. Also consider joining Ibotta which frequently has these two sites as options to earn cash back with.]
5. Do Not Forget About the Gig Economy
You can save some money by using the apps I write about in my blog. See my master list of ways to make money for a few ideas. Look for those platforms like TaskRabbit and Handy.com.
Need to borrow someone’s car? Check out Maven. Bonus: if you no longer need your car, this may be great for when you are perhaps in the process of selling it; since it can be a way to make money off of the car you own during that time as an alternative to ride-sharing.
Uber and Lyft can also be nice options for getting around. And if you use the larger car options, they can be good for transporting items to close locations.
6. Social Media Can be Your Best Friend
Not only can you find some fantastic ideas on the best services by looking for location specific social media threads, but you may also run into ideas for great deals that are more local and perhaps a bit harder to find via a simple search engine query. So head on over to your friends on social media and also start following some reddit groups (or subreddits) for the area you are moving to. Both of these can be great!
PLUS you may be able to help out a future neighbor or a friend of yours during your move.
7. Make a Budget
One important thing to stick to when moving is a budget. With planning and budget tools (including apps and websites), you can start saving money. So, then you do not run into financial stress during an otherwise expensive process.
Check out my save money with organizational tools post for some ideas.
Related posts to Save Money When Moving
Some other posts to check out are:
- How to to Save Money with Apps and Online Tools
- Save with apps through cash back on things you buy anyways
- Fun Ways to Save Money Easily
- Master List of Posts on Saving Money and Time
- How to Save Money in 5 Easy Steps [With free Printable Infographic!]
- Save Money with Receipts – Get Cash Back with These Apps
Mood
White Houses – Vanessa Carlton
via iTunes
Final Thoughts
P.S. do not forget to check out my master list of referral codes for some ways to earn some money via referral bonuses. If I am missing an app or website for which you want a referral or refer-a-friend code for, let me know via my contact page. And I will do my best to help!
Also, there are many referral options with setting up new services such as cable and wireless. If you need a referral option for this, let me know.