Our eldest daughter will graduate from UT in a few weeks, and will be attending grad school in southern California in the Fall. She has already accumulated some furniture that she's very attached to, but it almost looks like moving costs would be nearly as much as (if not more than) just replacing everything.
What's the least expensive way to move a one-bedroom apartment's worth of stuff cross-country? She'll be there 4-5 years.
I was told to tell you check the Greyhound Bus line but she will have to pick it up there.
Look into rail. When I did Ride the Rockies last summer, two guys in my group shipped their bikes from San Francisco to Denver by train.
Like with the bus, you have to arrange pick-up. They don't do door-to-door.
Will she be taking a vehicle with her, and if so, what kind? (My suggestion depends on the answer).
BTW... congrats on her going to grad school!
Buy 2nd hand furniture on the west coast.
Dadblastit Daco! That's twice you've beat me to it!
That would be my suggestion. If she's taking a vehicle, load it up w/ the basic necessities (pots, pans, microwave, kitchen utensils, bowls, plates, bathroom stuff, etc.). Get an inflatable mattress. Then buy used stuff once she gets there. Hey, she's going to be a poor, starving, grad student, so she won't need much!
Have you looked into PODS or something similar? I work with someone who has used them twice to move his daughters from here to San Francisco and Tucson with good results.
PODS was the first thing she checked (it would be convenient to have the storage option, moving out of her Knoxville apartment in July then to Cali in August or early September), but the cost was still more than $1,500.
She's pretty much settled on just leaving her furniture behind, and building a new collection once she gets there. We'll still have to ship some books and such, but it looks like grad school is going to be a starting-over experience for her.
(04-05-2010 12:30 PM)Netmom Wrote: [ -> ]PODS was the first thing she checked (it would be convenient to have the storage option, moving out of her Knoxville apartment in July then to Cali in August or early September), but the cost was still more than $1,500.
She's pretty much settled on just leaving her furniture behind, and building a new collection once she gets there. We'll still have to ship some books and such, but it looks like grad school is going to be a starting-over experience for her.
A few options immediately sprang into my mind:
- rent a trailer and tow the stuff there;
- buy a trailer, tow the stuff there -- and sell the trailer on the other end; or
- use this as one of those life lessons in cost vs. benefit.
Hope it works out for her.
"but it looks like grad school is going to be a starting-over experience for her. "
Too bad. When my lovely and talented wife and I moved from K-town to grad school, we just rented a U-Haul and drove our stuff there.