Whether you’re looking for local movers, exploring moving services in Austin, or planning a long-distance move, these tips will help you save money and make moving into your new home much easier. From gathering multiple quotes, packing efficiently to save time, taking apart furniture before your movers arrive, to picking a move date during the slow season. Here are the top 10 tips from the best movers in Austin on how to save you money on your upcoming move.
1. Get Multiple Quotes From Local Movers
Start by reaching out to several local movers in your area to get quotes. Notice how I said “in your area”, this is very important to your quote and I’ll explain why. If the companies you’re gathering quotes from are outside of a predetermined range, sometimes 50 miles or 100 miles, they will charge you a much larger travel fee. This travel fee is supposed to cover the truck expenses such as things like the gas, truck maintenance, and other truck related expenses.
If you are calling from a metropolitan area or a large city center, you may think that you are making a smart move, pun intended, by calling a moving company that is located outside of that city center. You may think that this is a sure way to get in touch with a moving company that will provide you with a cheaper quote. Afterall, if they are located outside of the city, they should be much cheaper, right? This is not alway the case, there is usually that sweet spot to look for when choosing who to gather moving quotes from.
Moving companies in the center of your city may be paying for an expensive office downtown and will have to cover some high overhead, they will do this by charging you a little extra on the hourly rate or truck or travel fee. Companies that are far away may end up charging a hefty truck or travel fee just to come out to your city, but these companies may have such low overhead that they are still worth a call making them a good back-up.
The companies located on the outskirts of the town you live in, with great reviews of course, that are located within 25 to 50 miles of your home are the companies you should be calling to gather multiple quotes from. Compare the services included in each estimate to ensure you’re getting the best value. Keep in mind that the cheapest option isn’t always the best option, especially in moving. Don’t target to check to see if the moving company offers full-service packing and unpacking, or are there additional fees for those services?
2. Cut Your Moving Services In Austin In Half
Timing your move correctly can make a night and day difference in terms of cost, the key is to schedule your move during the moving industries off-season for the most inexpensive deal. Now that you know to schedule a move during a moving company's slow time, it’s important to be able to identify when that slow time is. Most moving companies consider their moving season from May 15th to September 15th, give or take a few weeks depending on the city you are in. In addition to that window mentioned, weekends as well as the end of the month can be significantly more expensive to move.
If possible, schedule your move during a weekday or in the middle of the month when moving companies are less busy. Let’s be realistic here, your lease ends when your lease ends and sometimes there is nothing you can do about that. A tip to help with the logistics of your moving is to ask for an extension at your current residence, or ask your local movers to store your items on the truck for a day, in order to bridge the gap.
Let’s take a scenario I was in myself just a few years ago. I was supposed to be out of my apartment at the end of the month on the 30th, but my new lease couldn’t let me move in on the 30th and wanted me to wait until the 2nd of the following month. This meant I would have to move into a storage facility and then pay for another move out of storage and into my new place a few days later. This means I’d have to pay for two moves AND pay for at least one entire month at a storage facility that also makes you buy a lock and pay the one time administrative fee on top of the one month of storage.
All I had to cut my move down from two moves into one was to ask my apartment if they could extend my current lease by a few days, which they were happy to do for me. Another option, would have been to ask my moving company if they could just store my items in their truck for a few days. Movers in Austin will often charge a nightly truck storage fee that will come out to much less than what another move and a storage fee would’ve been. If you have this logistical problem, knowing these two tricks can cut your moving expenses in half!
3. Declutter Before You Move
Before you start packing, take some time to declutter your home. Do you still have that chipped plant pot that you haven’t used in years, that box of broken records, or that extra couch that sits awkwardly in your apartment which is old and probably not going to look good at your new place? Maybe it’s time to consider getting rid of some of these items.
The more items you have, the more you’ll pay for moving services. That is just a plain fact that you can’t get around, time is money and many moving services in Austin charge by the hour. If you want to save big money, not to mention space, on your upcoming move, consider donating or selling items you no longer need. This not only reduces the cubic volume of your move which will help to ensure everything fits inside the truck, but can also help to earn you extra cash or tax deductions.
Think about it like this, for each item you sell or donate there are potentially three monetary advantages. The first being the actual sale of the item. Go to facebook marketplace or craigslist and post the item for sale, sell the item and collect the cash. The second advantage would be a tax deduction you can receive by donating some items to the Goodwill before you ever even move! This is not tax advice, but you can certainly benefit from getting the receipt from a Goodwill donation after donating your old furniture. It’s a good thing to do for society and this tax break could end up paying for a good portion of your move when it’s time to pay your taxes. Don’t believe me? Check out the IRS website page on making charitable contribution deductions to brush up on your tax knowledge.
4. Cutting Costs on Packing
Packing your own belongings can save you a lot of money, however, our team is happy to get you a quote for packing materials. It’s only fair that I make sure you are aware that packing services can often double the cost of your move. Since most movers in Austin use an hourly rate to charge for your move, this hourly rate would apply to the packing portion of your move as well. Packing often takes just as long as the move itself and depending on the items you own, it could take even longer. That doesn’t even take into consideration adding the packing materials needed such as wardrobe boxes, TV boxes, regular boxes, packing paper, tape and bubble wrap to the bill. Now that you’ve been fairly warned, let’s take a deep dive into ways you can pack efficiently for yourself so you can cut your move cost in half.
You’ll first need to weigh the cost versus the benefit of taking a few days off of work before your move to start packing. If you could make more money, and save those valuable sick days, by not taking off work compared to what it would cost to hire movers to pack for you, hire the movers to pack for you! Save yourself the time, stress and the money, bite the bullet and hire your movers to perform a full and professional pack for you. If you can pack little by little on the weekends leading up to your move, this would be the best route for you to get your packing done while saving the most money on your move.
Don’t forget to use sturdy boxes and packing materials, but don’t waste money on expensive supplies for this one time move. I would reuse moving boxes only if they are still in solid shape and the corners are not crumpled up. Use common sense when it comes to reusing packing materials, if the bubble wrap from your last move has all the bubbles popped then you will likely need new bubble wrap. Wrap plates and dishware with one or two sheets of packing paper, cover every inch of the plate and stack them so no part of the dish is touching the other.
Pack a box 75% full with your items and leave the remaining 25% of the box for crumpled up packing paper to serve as a cushion for when your local movers stack the boxes in the truck. You can often find free boxes at local stores, craigslist or on Facebook marketplace. Wrap fragile items in clothing or towels to save on bubble wrap and remember, only use packing peanuts if you want a mess of crushed styrofoam to clean up at the end of your move!
5. Prep Your Belongings
Properly protecting your items can prevent damage and additional costs. This is something the professionals at Sarver Movers can do for you, however, you will save yourself lots of time if you have pad wrapped your furniture items before your movers arrive. This article is about saving money on your move, so I definitely have to mention pad wrapping items to save time. I will say this is something that I highly recommend leaving to the professionals, but I will mention a few things you can do to prepare your large furniture items so the movers you hire can pad wrap them professionally much faster.
Make sure you take out and remove all contents inside of your furnitures’ drawers. With completely empty drawers, your movers will not have to come ask you to empty out drawers and pack the contents inside boxes. This can delay your move in a few ways, they will need to move more boxes than originally expected and will have to wait to move that item while you pack this additional box. You could also make sure your furniture has furniture pads under the feet of all of your furniture items so that your flooring is nice and protected on the front and back end of your move.
Mark each box with the corresponding room name and number so your movers can quickly identify which box they will need to move their items into. For example, you could write “Kitchen 1” for the first Kitchen box that you pack. This will help keep track of the number of boxes and allow the movers to only move the boxes once. On many disorganized moves, they will move all of the boxes inside the house, then have to open each box one by one and come get you to ask which room these boxes go into. On a local move, time is money and the clock is always ticking on an hourly rated move. For more packing tips, check out our article on "The Ultimate Guide To Packing and Preparing For Your Move".
6. Break Down Furniture
Before your local movers arrive, break down and disassemble any large furniture pieces if possible. You will need the right tools for the job in order to do this preparation work. Any company providing moving services in Austin should provide their movers with a toolbag on their moving trucks.
Providing these tools and being ready for anything is a huge difference between hiring the movers that cost $150 and hour versus trying to save money and hiring the movers that only cost $130 an hour. The cheaper movers may be missing tools in their tool bags or not have a tool bag at all. This will definitely cost you more than the $20 an hour you thought you were saving by choosing the movers with the lower hourly rate. Without the proper tools, you will either have to move these items later on your own by hiring another moving company or you will have to go get a uhaul truck and do it yourself. There is almost no point in hiring the cheap movers now as you ended up paying more and you had to hire another moving company all together.
There are a few furniture items I would not recommend you disassemble such as dressers with mirrors. This can be a two person job to move your dresser away from the wall so you can even reach the screws behind the mirror that attach it to the dresser. I would also not recommend you take apart any piece of furniture that is very heavy and requires more than two people as this poses a safety concern. In general breaking down most bed frames, platform beds and other items will make it easier to transport the items and could potentially lower the overall cost of your move. So don’t forget to remove the legs from your tables, take apart bed frames, and disassemble large shelving units. It will save time and reduce the complexity of loading and unloading the moving truck.
7. Be Strategic with Your Moving Plan
If you spend just 30 minutes coming up with a plan to help your movers, it could save you lots of time and money on your move. Try to reserve a parking space out front of where your movers will need to park and as soon as the movers arrive you can drive off so they can utilize this space. Ask your apartment complex if you can reserve a freight elevator or block off a regular elevator for your move. Try to get a time window that is reserved for when the movers are actually moving furniture and not when they are packing your items. I highly recommend coordinating with the moving company on this instead of trying to time this right on your own.
As mentioned previously, planning your move during the off-season (typically winter months or weekdays in the middle of the month) can result in lower rates from moving companies. This is especially relevant for long-distance movers, as costs can vary significantly based on the time of year.
Find ways to prop open doors and do not worry about the cost of your AC, the little bump in your electric bill is nothing compared to your movers having to stop and open the door each and every time they enter the house. Keep the pets all in one room and the children out of the way on the day of your move. This is crucial for safety and for not slowing down the team as they try to navigate your home on moving day.
8. Consider a DIY Move
Let’s be honest, you want the most inexpensive move? Do it yourself! If you are willing and able, you can rent out a Uhaul or even borrow someone's truck or van to perform your very own moving job. If you’re up for it, a DIY move can be the most cost-effective option. Renting a truck and handling the move yourself can save you money, especially if you only have a small amount of belongings. This is recommended for most studio apartments and college kids. Just be sure to factor in the cost of truck rental, fuel, and any additional supplies you might need. Having said that, think of your lower back and the well being of your furniture before you commit to this option. When it’s all said and done, moving is a pain
and you should leave it to the pros.
9. Communicate Clearly with Your Movers
Make sure to provide accurate information to your movers about what needs to be moved and any special requirements. I cannot stress this enough as communication is key to a successful move. Whenever we have customers who are not present at the move, things typically are left at the starting location. We always want to have the customer there for their move as it usually turns into a “he said, she said" situation. We have an inventory list to go off of that we collected during your voice recorded phone call when you first inquired about a moving quote. You can always add to this list, but if you are not there at the move and the list says 10 boxes and there are 12 there, well which 10 boxes should be moved? Maybe 10 of those boxes are for the new place and 2 are to be donated, unless they are labeled, how would we know which ones?
Being present at your own move can clear up 90 percent of the problems that we run into on moves so please be there on moving day! It may take longer than you expected, but if you were there to see there was traffic, other movers at your storage unit using all of the elevators or inclement weather, you’d be more understanding as to why the move took as long as it did. When you first call in make sure you are upfront about all of the items we will be moving for you. Being upfront can help avoid surprises and additional charges on moving day. Doesn’t it suck to hire your movers, then they hit you with the bill at the end and it costs way more than what you were quoted? I know the feeling!
This is usually due to a discrepancy in what you told your movers they would move versus what they actually had to move when they showed up. Make sure you are at your home when you call for a quote on moving services in Austin, whether you need local movers or long-distance movers, you should not rely on your memory as you list off all the items you need help with.
10. Take Advantage of Discounts
Many moving companies offer discounts or promotions. Check if you qualify for any specials or savings. Some companies, like Sarver Movers, offer discounts for military personnel, seniors, or first-time customers. It never hurts to ask and see if you can lower your costs further!
By implementing these tips, you can keep your moving expenses under control and ensure a smoother transition to your new home. Whether you're working with local movers or long-distance movers, a little preparation and smart planning can go a long way in saving you money. For more personalized advice or to get a quote, contact Sarver Movers, your trusted moving experts in Austin, TX.
