Moving costs to budget for

Moving costs to budget for

Many people are surprised to discover just how expensive moving can be, even if all you are doing is moving across town.

The biggest part of your home moving expense is how you move.  By that I mean, do you hire a professional moving company and have them do all of the work, even packing your boxes? Or do you do as much as you can on your own, utilizing a mover for only the big, heavy pieces of furniture and your kitchen appliances. 

Unless you are the adventurous type, if you're moving to another province or across the country you may find that it is necessary to hire a professional moving company and have them move everything for you.  It's a good idea for you to personally pack as much as possible, and just use the movers for load, travel and unload.

The second largest part of your moving expense is how you and your family get to your new home.  Do you drive and make a mini-vacation out of your move, or do you instead decide to fly so that you can get to your new home as quickly as possible?

Moving a pet will also add to the share of your family moving costs, because many airlines will charge a premium to fly your pet, and many hotels will charge a pet fee for every night that your pet is with you in your room.

Surprisingly, the costs for boxes and packing material can really add up.  To help keep this expense down it is a good idea to try to forecast how many boxes and how much packing material you will need, and then try to buy it in bulk.  Doing this will help keep your moving costs down and also speed up your packing time since you will not have to run to the store every time you run short of boxes or packing stuff.

Utility deposits and fees to turn on the water, electric and gas in your new home can also add up.  You will get your deposit returned at some point, but having to pay and start-up multiple utilities at the same time can also run more than expected.