- It took us one full weekend and four weeknights to pack our 600-square-foot apartment. This was by far the most painful part of the process.
- Full-service movers quoted us $700-$900 dollars to pack the truck in SF, drive it to Berkeley and unload it. That price included the truck, but required us to pack ourselves. We didn't want to spend that much.
- Last time we moved, we hired two people via TaskRabbit for $80 to help us unload the truck. We planned to do the same thing again, except this time TaskRabbit quoted $65-$100 per person per hour. More than actual moving companies, no thanks.
- We knew we couldn't move all our furniture down three flights of stairs. We tried a number of different sites/companies and finally found movers for $31/hr on Thumbtack. They were great, they didn't damage our stuff and they were even good at figuring out how to fit everything in the truck. They arrived at 9 a.m. and by noon we were on our way to Berkeley.
- We considered hiring them to help us unload in Berkeley, but we're glad we decided against it. Unloading from the curb to our front door was a million times easier. Even with just the two of us, we had the whole truck unloaded by 4:30 p.m. (with a break for lunch from Chipotle).
- We made the smart decision to pay an extra $40 for a one-way UHaul rental. This meant we didn't have to drive back to San Francisco at the end of the day.
- We had plenty of extra room in our 15-foot UHaul, but definitely would not have wanted to try to squeeze everything in a 10-foot UHaul.
- We moved on a Tuesday, which worked out wonderfully and which I would definitely do again. Ben was able to work an extra day the week before and take Tuesday off. We moved into our new place the first day it was available, which saved us from double-paying rent (waiting until Saturday would have cost ~$250). And if you've ever tried to cross the Bay Bridge at noon on a Saturday, you know it's not a pleasant experience. On Tuesday, we zoomed across, even in a UHaul. And we had the whole preceding weekend to get most of our packing done.
- We had saved most of our boxes from the last time we moved. We rescued a few more from the recycling bin at Good Eggs and asked a local grocer for boxes that were going to be thrown out. This meant we only bought about five total boxes.
Moving costs:
- Movers: $160
- Truck: $190
- Supplies: $46
- Total: $396
So overall, moving wasn't as bad as it could have been, but we're glad we waited until we found a place we love.
- Steph
