For the Stuff We Can Move - Best Vehicle?

when my girlfriend's daughter moved from DC to Las Vegas? She used PODS. It was about $2,700 for the cross country move - but she loved it.

I've used PODS when we had water damage and they were professional and ready to go.

YOU need to load the stuff. So keep that in mind.

We moved ourselves from New Mexico to Alaska once. We rented a large UHaul. We took our time packing everything into boxes. The day before moving all our friends came over and helped us load up the UHaul. The next morning we started driving. One of us drove the Uhaul and the other drove our car. We had walkie talkies to chat with each other. We made a fun trip out of it and stayed at campsites, hiked and biked along the way. It was a gorgeous drive.

A friend of mine had to move on a budget, and she used PODS as well. She got a bunch of friends to help her come and load up - she said it was like that old Tetris game of stacking items so nothing could slip around. If you have time, friends, and are willing to be organized, it lets you load up on your own schedule. You put the stuff you use the least in first (keeping essentials on hand). When you unload at the other end, it's in priority order as well (most needed things unload first). She put all her furniture in there too. I don't think she moved appliances so find out what the deal is with refrigerators and so forth! The only thing is, you have to be sure that they will pick up and deliver on the same day. Depending on their schedule, that might not happen. My friend was driving from NH to FL and taking several days to do that. But the service was good and the POD was secure.

For truck rental, you want to be sure you have a national network so you can get picked up and get a replacement vehicle if anything goes wrong. When you say "renting a truck from a rental place" as something different from UHaul and the like, I wonder if you are talking about a local company only. You really want to pick the truck up near home and drop it off at your new home, rather than repeat the trip.

We rented a moving truck - not U-Haul but some thing like that - I can't think of the name.
We moved 4 hrs away from our old house.
We packed up everything ourselves and just hired help to load and unload the truck on both ends.
Get plenty of moving blankets to cover your furniture to protect from bumps/scratches/etc, pack things so the load won't shift during transit.

I don't really know the distance from Fort Worth to San Antonio but for whatever move you do, you want to make sure that any truck you rent can be returned near your new home. I have always rented from U-haul. It is just easier and I have found their prices are just better. A friend moved 2 states away, the truck broke down and they got a new one out to them. Granted it took a couple of hours but they were not stranded. Plus, she was able to rent for a couple of days and return just a couple of miles from her new home.

When we moved from our town out to the country we used our van and pick up for everything. We just made numerous loads to the new house. We didn't put our house up for sale for a while so we had plenty of time too.

If you're speaking of refrigerator, washer, dryer, beds, etc...then you rent a smaller Uhaul truck for 24 hours and get all your friends to come help load it. Then treat them to pizza or something. Then you drive to your new place and hopefully a couple of those friends come with you to help unload it.

You move those things when you are ready to start living in the new place. Once you move the big furniture you don't live in the old place anymore. That's why you rent the Uhaul and move it all in one day. That way you load the truck that night, leave up one bed and let the kids go to a friends for that last night, then get up and go to the new place, unload, take the truck back and set everything up for that next night's sleep.

It is the easiest way to do it in my opinion of you don't have friends with pick ups that can help you move those last items.

You could also hire a company to do that for you and just go spend that night, or two, in a hotel. More fun to swim and relax instead of lifting and moving heavy stuff.

My co-worker met his girlfriend (or shall I say, reconnected after 37 years) on Facebook. He lives here in Miami, Florida and she lives in El Paso, Texas. After about a year of the long-distance thing, she has decided that she wants to move in with him here. She called PODS. The pod is basically like one of those metal shipping containers that they get off of the large cargo ships, and you get to fill it with whatever you want. You get a key, which locks the pod. You then call the company, they pick up the pod, and they deliver it to wherever you want. They leave it in the front or back yard and you get to empty it at your own pace. When it is empty, you call, they pick it up, and it's done.

I'm not sure how the pricing works, but I assume that the longer you take to empty it, the more they charge, since you're keeping the container from being used for other moves. Actually I think you have 30 days to unpack and empty it. I also am not sure how long it takes to arrive, I think in their case, it was about 5 business days, but then again, it is about a 30-hour drive, so it makes sense. I'm sure you'd get yours a lot sooner. Perhaps their website, or a phone call, could answer a lot of these questions. I assume perhaps they would also provide a couple of guys to assist if you pay extra, but maybe not. Maybe you'd have to find people on your own.

You can also just call a regular moving company, like Northern Van Lines, Two Men and a Truck, or FlatRate Moving Company and they will handle the move. This is a good way to go if you're unable to carry or break down furniture on your own. I move around often, but within my city. I don't do the U-Haul thing because I am alone and I cannot carry furniture out alone. I once did rent a U-Haul and found 3 men off the street to help me move but in the end, I paid more than I did this last time where I called a moving company. I cannot use PODS because I live in condos, and you cannot drop off a pod in front of a high-rise, unless you don't mind being fined by the HOA and the building manager calling to have it removed.

I bring in my own boxes from the grocery store or CVS and pack them, I wrap my clothing in sheets, put my shoes in garbage bags, and have the movers handle breaking down and carrying furniture. They also wrap my boxes with Saran Wrap to protect them, and I wrap my paintings with sheets or towels, same with the TVs. I just call one of the inexpensive suburban blue collar neighborhoods of Miami for a moving company, since their prices are lower than those in a more ritzy neighborhood or the downtown area. Perhaps you could also try that and get some quotes. Like I said, this was a cheaper option for me than renting a U-Haul and paying 3 guys, not to mention, the headache of having to return the U-Haul and find transportation back for the 3 guys and myself. Costly, as I mentioned.

Personally, I wouldn't care if I was moving down the street. Rent a moving truck, and do it all in one day. That's honestly what I would do.

When we bought our house, we had stored some of our things at my in-laws. So we had to do our move in two parts. We had to move out of the house we were living in, and we had to move the things in storage. We took one day for each move and just got the job done. We rented trucks from Uhaul, and it was absolutely worth it. Get the truck, load it with EVERYTHING, drive & unload, return the truck. Done!

I didn't research other companies. I had used Uhaul three times with no issues. Two of those moves were 100 to 150 miles. The other move was about 350 miles. All were one-way moves. Rent the truck in one city, and return it in the other.

We have rented Penske trucks and uhaul. They're very comparable.

I agree with others to see if a moving company would be a good option. Make sure they are licensed and insured and provide proof. I hire local movers when we install a simulator to help move in at the school campus. It has been a lifesaver for us and they are very reasonable. You could hire the college group moving company (can't think of the name right now, 3 men and a truck, or college hunks moving junk) at each end since you're in Fort Worth and San Antonio.

Best wishes in your new location. Hope it all goes very smoothly.

We moved from the city out to a more rural town within driving distance.

My husband and his brother rented a huge moving van. All they had to move that day was our furniture.

We had a storage facility in between our old and new homes. As I packed up the 'stuff' (seasonal stuff, toys, etc.) , my husband took it to our storage locker - he'd fill up our van once a week as I had a stack to go - and then after we'd moved, he would go get a load and let me unpack in in batches too.

Easiest move we ever did. The storage facility was inexpensive and just made it more manageable.

If I didn't have that, I would still rent a huge moving truck and do it all in one day, with someone's help.