Do you have any suggestions for affordable movers or other tips to make our move easy?

The way I moved to the Midwest from Reno was to buy a panel truck, load it, and when it was unloaded, I sold it.
I paid $2,000 for it, sold it for five hundred. Could have made more, but my landlady was riding my a$$ about having a truck in the driveway. Anyhow, $800 for gas, which was much higher then, my total move cost was $2,300. That was well under what I was quoted to rent truck of the same size, and this way I didn’t have a deadline to turn it in.

My biggest tip, is banana boxes. Most grocery stores will give you a bunch for free. You can go to multiple stores, and get dozens.
Why are banana boxes so special? They’re very tough, and can hold a lot. They usually have paper, or plastic linings that can either be discarded, or used to help wrap or cushion fragile stuff.
They have great, big handles, so they’re easy to carry.
The tops are kind of open, so you don’t need to label them, you can see what’s in them.
And. They’re all the same size, so they’re super easy to stack, or store. They’re tough enough to stack really high.

When you are done with them, you can return them to almost any grocery store.

Seems trivial, but they make a huge difference between using dozens of different sizes, and types of boxes. And wow are they easier to carry. If you have a dolly, you can move stacks of them.

I wrap out of season clothes around fragile items when I box them. Takes up less space. T shirts are perfect for this.

Banana boxes often have juice from leaky bananas on them. They are very strong but they are not my first choice. I prefer apple boxes. Tell the grocery store ahead of time that you want a bunch of them with lids, and to please save all the cushion liners. Those liners are amazing for cushioning the bottom of a box or using between breakables.

Once I wrapped a 2000 year old antique vase in a heavy layer of newsprint and then wrapped it again with those cushions from the apple boxes. Are use lots of tape also. Then I placed it in a big box with more cushioning, just in case. I don’t think that verse would’ve broken even if we had dropped the box on concrete!

If you will be storing any of your things after the move, be sure to use storage tape rather than packing tape. There’s a huge difference in quality, but the price difference isn’t a dealbreaker.

Liquor store boxes can be great for packing glasses. Be sure to get the separators that came with the box.

One of the most expensive parts about moving is buying packing paper. Somethings simply will not travel well in anything else, and it’s very difficult to purchase packing paper of a size large enough to actually make it useful. The kind U-Haul sells is really small-and expensive! If you do your work ahead of time you may be able to find large sheets of packing paper for a better price. Bubblewrap is even more expensive, but sometimes you can find it used (and free) in not too bad of shape.

I worked for a natural food store for a while and I was astonished at all the lovely packing material that they received and had to throw away. (The stuff I saw was heavy paper with a crinkle pattern punched in it in to make it soft and thick at the same time.) You might be able to find packing material for free if you ask around.

Sometimes people think they can save money using used packing paper. If it doesn’t have many wrinkles in it, and you use more than you think you need, you may turn out all right, but you take a chance of having broken stuff.

Many places such as U-Haul offer a booklet on how to safely pack different items. Get one and study it.

Since cost is very important, I want to mention to be very careful of which moving company you use if you end up using one. The sister of a friend was moving to Florida from WV and found a moving company on the Internet that was cheap. They loaded up her stuff, and stole everything. They left the empty truck on the side of a road. So if you have to, go with a reputable company.
I wish I was out there to help you!

My older brothers moved to the west coast of Canada and stated it was far cheaper to sell everything big ( furniture) and bring as little as possible to the new place.
They both refurnished there apartments with almost new furniture when purchased at a 2nd hand store once they got to where they were headed. They got fantastic deals on furniture that was worth way more and in good shape too! ( Antiques).
I saw a documentary on moving van companies and how some rip you off by changing the millage and or the weight. They got busted on a TV program ( Marketplace) that video taped everything and placed a tracker in one of there boxes.( discovered that the driver was sitting on the side of the road an hour later as the truck broke down and in another case it sat in a parking lot for a couple of days! ( and they charged the poor single mother $1500 more than required or necessary. Crooks are out there so check with others who have used there services ( check online) or with the better business bureau. That’s why my brothers sold everything to avoid the hassles and over charges.

@chyna You could help pack dishes! :)

@Inspired_2write Getting rid of things and selling items is a great idea. We are downsizing. We won’t need appliances so we’re selling what we have. These items are usually the heaviest so that will help tremendously. We’re ditching our old couch as well. The largest items will be our beds, tv and dining room table.

No! Don’t ditch a couch!!!!

You haven’t seen it. It was second hand when we bought it. It’s nasty. Trust me! :)

Ok so what about renting a Uhaul and Jon driving and you following in the car. The unloading will be hard if you don’t know anyone there.

@chyna That’s looking like the cheapest option so far. I have a quote of $400 for the Uhaul. We’ll need storage for a month and the return location in Madison has that. We can unload and drop off the truck at the same place. Storage will run about $150 for a month.