Comments on: New Home Expenses: What We Spent, What We Saved

By: Monthly Net Worth Update - February 2010

Monthly Net Worth Update - February 2010 — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 02:48:34 +0000

[...] spent some money this month paying for movers and getting the house ready. We bought some painting supplies and our friends were generous enough [...]

By: Delayed Friday Round-Up

Delayed Friday Round-Up — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 18:23:08 +0000

[...] Elle presents Spending and Saving on Moving Into a New Home [...]

By: Elle

Elle — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 13:04:18 +0000

@Abigail: Thanks for sharing your long distance move and tips. We felt hiring movers was the right choice for this move. We just didn’t have the time to handle the big furniture move and everything. You got some deals with your furniture.

By: Abigail

Abigail — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 23:24:42 +0000

A tad more extreme than your example: We moved 1,500 miles. Ugh. The main way we saved money was by voluntarily getting rid of things. A lot of things. We lived in a one-bedroom apartment but had stuff everywhere. And the cheapest option we could get was still $1,100 so we went with it. Despite it being a 6′x7′x8′ cube.

So we pared WAY down. Sold off, donated, etc. It’s amazing how many possessions stop being treasured when you’re looking at these kind of restrictions. Honestly, if our mattress weren’t so expensive to replace (memory foam), I would have just sold everything and shipped whatever we couldn’t carry. But between the mattress and couch, it made sense to go ahead and pack stuff.

We also saved by driving down rather than flying. It wasn’t fun, except right before we got to Phoenix, when we took a detour to the Painted Desert. But we found cheap hotels (think under $50 a night) and bombed out the driving in about 4 days. Between it and gas, we still paid the equivalent of maybe one airline ticket.

We also hired movers. I was all for doing it ourselves, but my husband put his foot down. Early September in Phoenix (low 100s), with a chronic-fatigue wife who is heat intolerant… He knew he’d end up carting most of the stuff himself. So I gritted my teeth and paid $400 (3-hour minimum) for what took the guys about 30-45 minutes to unload. And it was SO worth it.

Otherwise, we saved by going and getting furnishings (since we had left so many behind) at thrift stores and off Craigslist. We got a water cooler & jug for $55. (Halfway through the second month, we’d already made our money back by not having a water service.) We got 2 floor lamps and 3 regular ones for $30 from some guy going out of town. (Phoenix apartments don’t have many overhead lights.) And, having bought one nice cherry wood (looking) end table at a thrift store, we just scouted several more until we found some other items that more or less matched: a coffee table and side table. I think, at most, we paid $50 for all three.

By: LeanLifeCoach

LeanLifeCoach — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 03:55:40 +0000

Congrats on the new house!

We’ve been relocated three times in the last decade. In our case the movers are covered but when it comes to getting the house ready we do it all ourselves. I picked up a used commercial paint sprayer. It takes a little more prep to tape and such but once that is done you can knock out the entire house in less than a couple days. It was the best $150 I’ve ever spent.