How to Move Cross Country for law school? Forum

[Zazelmaf]

I moved from San Francisco, CA to MA by Greyhound bus with 2 dufflebags each for the wife and I. Was one hell of a trip, and cheap! Gave away most of the stuff we didn't need (a studio apartment full) and kept the interesting stuff with the in-laws (World of Warcraft Collector's editions, Magic: the Gathering cards, Vespa scooter, etc.)

We spent the first semester sleeping on a blow up twin air mattress in an empty 2 bedroom apartment, which was fun.

I am kind of an expert in moving around though. I could move from here to Taiwan on a nickle.

[Flips88]

kept the interesting stuff with the in-laws (World of Warcraft Collector's editions, Magic: the Gathering cards, Vespa scooter, etc.)

I lol'd

[quixotical]

I moved from San Francisco, CA to MA by Greyhound bus with 2 dufflebags each for the wife and I. Was one hell of a trip, and cheap! Gave away most of the stuff we didn't need (a studio apartment full) and kept the interesting stuff with the in-laws (World of Warcraft Collector's editions, Magic: the Gathering cards, Vespa scooter, etc.)

We spent the first semester sleeping on a blow up twin air mattress in an empty 2 bedroom apartment, which was fun.

I am kind of an expert in moving around though. I could move from here to Taiwan on a nickle.

By using the blow-up twin air mattress as a raft?

[Chants]

20% off budget truck rental Sun-Thurs. Use promo code OQ345

[fingersxd]

Why is there no ikea where I'm moving? This is a tragedy.

[rinkrat19]

Why is there no ikea where I'm moving? This is a tragedy.

Why is there 10% sales tax where I'm moving? Bigger tragedy!

Buy Ikea stuff at home (no sales tax) and pay to move it? Or move minimal stuff (TV, dishes, etc) and buy Ikea stuff in Chicago at 10% sales tax?

[fingersxd]

Why is there no ikea where I'm moving? This is a tragedy.

Why is there 10% sales tax where I'm moving? Bigger tragedy!

Buy Ikea stuff at home (no sales tax) and pay to move it? Or move minimal stuff (TV, dishes, etc) and buy Ikea stuff in Chicago at 10% sales tax?

Buy it in Chicago. Odds are about 99.9% that it'll cost you WAY more to move the stuff than the 10% in sales tax you would pay.

[rinkrat19]

Why is there no ikea where I'm moving? This is a tragedy.

Why is there 10% sales tax where I'm moving? Bigger tragedy!

Buy Ikea stuff at home (no sales tax) and pay to move it? Or move minimal stuff (TV, dishes, etc) and buy Ikea stuff in Chicago at 10% sales tax?

Buy it in Chicago. Odds are about 99.9% that it'll cost you WAY more to move the stuff than the 10% in sales tax you would pay.

That's what I'm leaning towards, but there's also the $300 or $400 in local Ikea delivery to count. (I won't have a car).

[fanmingrui]

Tag.

[descartesb4thehorse]

Why is there no ikea where I'm moving? This is a tragedy.

Why is there 10% sales tax where I'm moving? Bigger tragedy!

Buy Ikea stuff at home (no sales tax) and pay to move it? Or move minimal stuff (TV, dishes, etc) and buy Ikea stuff in Chicago at 10% sales tax?

Buy it in Chicago. Odds are about 99.9% that it'll cost you WAY more to move the stuff than the 10% in sales tax you would pay.

That's what I'm leaning towards, but there's also the $300 or $400 in local Ikea delivery to count. (I won't have a car).

Buy it there. Don't do delivery. Learn zipcar. Love it. It is your new Chicago friend.

[fingersxd]

Buy it there. Don't do delivery. Learn zipcar. Love it. It is your new Chicago friend.

This is TCR.
That said, Chicago w/out a car could be interesting. I know people that have done it, but in my (somewhat) limited experience with the city, it could be a bit tough.

Zip car is pretty fantastic though.

[descartesb4thehorse]

Buy it there. Don't do delivery. Learn zipcar. Love it. It is your new Chicago friend.

This is TCR.
That said, Chicago w/out a car could be interesting. I know people that have done it, but in my (somewhat) limited experience with the city, it could be a bit tough.

Zip car is pretty fantastic though.

I did Chicago UG without a car. Northwestern/other downtown schools will be easy/almost necessary without a car. You don't want to tack on to your already astronomical downtown rent with a $300 car parking fee and use it maybe thrice a month. Depends on which parts of the city you want to be spending your free time in. If you want to visit your family on Western and 95th every week, a car would be necessary. If you're just going to hit the popular Chicago neighborhoods for a pub crawl, it's safer and easier just to take public transport.

Hyde Park is more or less personal preference. *edited because this isn't a thread about cars and/or Chicago*

[southernsnapp]

Any recommendations on companies to use to ship a car cross-country?

Viking Auto Transport gave me a quote that's about half of every other company I looked at. I haven't used it yet, so I can't speak on service.

[zonto]

One ReloCube for my wife and I will be over $2,900 to move from Utah to Boston. PODS are about $1,000 more. Moving quotes for someone that loads our pre-packed stuff onto a semi is usually over $2,500 and they give us a two-week delivery window to drop off our stuff.

I just booked a 12 ft Penske truck Saturday for $1260 (25% off $1573 regular price). The guy on the phone almost price matched our 20% off Budget quote that I got using their coupon code. He also threw in a hand truck and a dozen furniture pads. We also will save on gas/airfare for driving ourselves across the country since we aren't having a company ship our stuff. We also have the flexibility of using the truck for a couple days before we have to drop it off to pick up a couch and dressers from Craiglist or furniture sales out there.

Total cost with the truck, gas, and three motels stays along the way should be less than $2,500 for a 2500 mile move. For anyone reading this in the future, I would wholeheartedly recommend Penske over Budget or Uhaul. Uhaul's trucks have horrible reliability, and they and Budget don't actually *guarantee* that a truck will be there for you on the day you reserve it for. Penske guarantees their bookings, and their trucks have an average age of 28 months. That reliability was important to me moving across the country.

[swilson215]

Just booked my ReloCube for a move from California to Dallas. $919 for 5 days to pack it and a 4 day transit time with door-to-door service (not terminal-to-terminal, which is a little bit lower price). They give a $50 discount for students and an additional $50 for military personnel (SOs or family). Not too bad...definitely less than renting a truck (in my case) or flying and buying all new stuff back there.

[Gideon Strumpet]

For anyone reading this in the future, I would wholeheartedly recommend Penske over Budget or Uhaul. Uhaul's trucks have horrible reliability, and they and Budget don't actually *guarantee* that a truck will be there for you on the day you reserve it for.

Never rent from UHaul. Ever. For any reason. Never. Never Ever. Ever. They will fuck you every single time.

[Peace of Mind]

I'm moving from so cal to philly... buying new furniture when i get there from ikea and craigslist and shipping all my clothes and personal items through Amtrak... it will cost .67/lb. and the max you can ship is 500 lbs... which ends up being $335 at the most. i've found some really good deals on craigslist so it won't be too much... i will be spending the most on my mattress though because that's the one thing i reallllly care about, other than that i could care less about how "nice" the furniture is.

good luck with your move!

[JJDancer]

Just booked with http://www.franksautotransport.com/ to ship my car cross country. They quoted me less $ than most and claim to have their own trucks. I can't comment on the service since I haven't had my car picked up yet but just in case anyone is wondering....

[Whiskeyjack]

Anyone have any advice on how to get a 40 inch television from Arizona to Washington DC? I'll be living in a furnished on campus apartment so the television, my desktop computer, and my monitor are really the only large things I need to move across the country. Everything else, books, pots and pans, minor items of import, I just plan on Fed Exing.

I have the option of just loading everything into a Suburban and driving it out, but I'd really like to avoid this. Gas for the round trip would come out to around $1200. There must be a cheaper/easier way to get a few fragile items shipped across the country, right?

[zonto]

You could try Greyhound or uShip. Also could just use a coupon code to rent an economy car and drive them yourself.

[gens1tb]

Good call on using Penske. Everything about it less expensive

[camwon]

Sell your crap and refurnish with craigslist. My apt cost me under 200, mattress/tv/couch included

[Peace of Mind]

Sell your crap and refurnish with craigslist. My apt cost me under 200, mattress/tv/couch included

+1 and ikea

[czelede]

I'm U-Hauling (sort of, using Penske) about 700 miles to Philadelphia and am honestly a little worried given that I'm from the land of flat, flat roads. Is I-76 safe for a truck newbie to navigate in a 12" truck, or should I seek alternative routes?

[duckmoney]

I rented a UHaul trailer and rigged it on to my SUV, since I needed a car anyway. The trailer cost $450 with insurance, so it was way cheaper than renting a truck, especially since I needed my car with me anyway. Trailer was so heavy I needed AWD, so I only got about 14 miles per gallon on the 900 mile trip. Do the math.

Still the best option for me I'm pretty sure.