Move It or Lose It

By Scott Boone

Image courtesy of Scott's Discount Movers

When it comes to moving, everyone is interested in finding a few shortcuts.  I mean, they either want to discover a method to make the packing process easier, or they’re desperately searching for a way to save a few bucks.  Well, what if I could show you several ways to accomplish both these tasks without having to sacrifice quality in the process.  Would that make your day?

      1.      Saving Money – Where most people take weeks to investigate and interrogate local movers to try to save money, I have a better idea.  While you definitely need to vet any moving company you’re considering, instead of striving to hire the lowest bidder (which isn’t always the best bet), I have a better alternative.  When it comes to giving you a fair and accurate quote, a reputable mover will first assess the amount of furnishings and belongings you’re looking to move.  That being said, if you want to generate a lower quote with most any mover, this can easily be accomplished by reducing the volume of stuff you seek to move.

      2.      The Big Sort – Let’s be honest.  If you’ve lived in your home for more than a year, there are items that haven’t seen the light of day in quite some time.  Tucked away in the garage or squirreled away in closets and crawl spaces, are objects that seldom if ever get used.  Just by the simple process of subtraction, if you gather all this household flotsam and jetsam together in one place, they would probably fill the better part of a room. 

     

Image courtesy of flickr

3.      The Hit List  – By parking your car in the driveway or clearing out an office or guest room, you can store and sort all these unwanted items so you can decide if they should be sold, donated or given away to friends, family and neighbors.  The best way to accomplish this is to establish what I call a hit list, where you decide what can be sold, donated or given away. 

      4.      The Garage Sale – Another reason to herd your unwanted belongings into the garage is so you can drag the bulk of them onto the driveway to stage a garage sale.  As they say, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.  You’d be surprised at how much money you can make in a weekend by holding a garage sale.  Perhaps enough to pay for your move.  The trick to generating the maximum amount of cash-flow during a garage sale is to promote it online and plant a few signs at the nearest major crossroads pointing the way to your home.  Make sure you’re ready to start selling no later than 8 or 9 a.m. and be prepared to keep the sale going until mid-afternoon or until the crowd dwindles down to nothing.

Another secret to the garage or yard sale is to price items appropriately.  A good idea is to take 50% off the retail price for most items and be prepared to haggle.  While many people think that books are hard to sell, when I held a yard sale for my parents a couple years ago, they made close to $500 just for their books, which they couldn’t take to their new location since it was much smaller than their house.

      5.      Friends & Family – Once the garage sale is over and done with, you’ll still have a sizable amount of unwanted belongings remaining.  Unless you want to try your luck with another sale the following weekend, an alternative solution is to contact your family, friends and neighbors to let them pick through the remains.  You’ll be surprised at how quickly the slag heap disappears.

Image courtesy of picpedia

      6.      Charity –While you can usually give away many of the items you can’t sell, consider donating much or all of what is left to charity.  Many charities have their own trucks and crew that is willing to clear away most or all of what remains in your home before or after the movers have done their thing.  Better still, they’ll provide you with a receipt you can use to get a tax deduction at the end of the year. (After we moved my folks from a 3-bedroom house into a 1-bedroom condo, there was still quite a bit of furniture and other odds & ends remaining.  The first charity I called sent over a truck and a crew to clear the place out the next day.  Mission accomplished.)

      7.      The Curb – While you might be lucky enough to clear the place out by employing the above-mentioned tactics, whatever remains is likely going to wind up at the curb.  In this day and age when we’re all trying to go green, most folks try to keep from adding to environmental degradation.  This means they want to minimize the amount they contribute to the local landfill.  If that’s the case, rest assured that even your curbside offerings will be picked through by scavengers who are only too happy to turn your trash into their treasures. 

If you really want to maximize the benefits and minimize the waste produced by clearing the unwanted items from your home, keep in mind the process is going to take at least a month to accomplish from beginning to end.  If you wait until the last minute, you could get stuck holding the bag, in which case it could be your neighborhood association that tells you to move it or lose it.

With over 5,000 moves, Scott's Discount Movers has handled moves of all sizes, including local and cross country. If you are looking to move your home or office, you can depend on Scott's Discount Movers to provide a stress-free relocation.