“Go West, Young Walker Cleavelands”
April 7, 2008
Some of you may have caught this already through Facebook, but Sarah and I are moving to Berkeley, CA (or somewhere in the East Bay). Sarah has accepted the offer from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley to do a PhD in Christian Spirituality. It is probably the best program in the country for Sarah - and we’re excited about living in the Bay area for a few years. I’m still unsure of what I’ll be doing, and am actively looking for jobs.
As I do sometimes on this blog, I am seeking out some advice for those of you who may have made a cross-country move before. I moved from Chehalis, WA to Princeton, NJ about four years ago, but that involved packing my car full of my belongings and driving east. Pretty simple (and there are times when Sarah laughs at my longing to still be able to do that…). But that doesn’t really work anymore.
So, I’m wondering if anyone has advice or a recommendation for how to do a move like this, as inexpensively as possible. It’s a little tricky because there is a chance that we may need to move out there before we have an apartment. We might be able to get out to Berkeley for a weekend in May to hopefully find a place to live, but we might just need to find a place once we get out there in June.
I just got off the phone with a representative from PODS and he quoted me $4,297.49. I laughed at him. Anyway, that gives you a sense of our budget. Anyone have any good ideas? Also, thanks for the comments re: U-Haul, but I already know about how bad they are, and would only choose Penske if we had to go that route again.
Posted in 
Adam Walker Cleaveland: I am a 28 year old 
April 7th, 2008 at 11:34 am
take your time to get out there. that’s probably the best advice i can give. my wife and i moved to california from the midwest a few years ago, and then back to the midwest from california shortly after that and we rushed ourselves. it wasn’t a fun time. so, take your time as best you can and utilize the hospitality of others to make it possible.
we have uhaul’d it both times, and that was not a fun experience… i would recommend selling a lot of things and starting over. my wife and i are moving to san francisco this summer to plant a church by at&t ballpark and we’ve been slowly parring down our belongings so that a pod rental will be equal to that of a uhaul. then we’ll be able to just drive it with a few things in the car and make it a great cross-country trip.
April 7th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Check out U-Pack - that is what I used when I moved from SoCal to Chicago. It was by far the cheapest around, and it went very smoothly.
But you are going to either have to pay a good amount, or get rid of your stuff and re-buy it out there. It is freakin’ expensive to move across the country.
And yea… I would do anything possible to avoid driving a u-haul. But even that is probably more expensive anyway, especially when including gas costs.
April 7th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Let me second or third the advice to avoid Uhaul. I have heard too many horror stories about their trucks. I’ve used Penske trucks three times for longish moves and never had a problem. Each time, the truck was virtually new (~10K miles on the odometer); sometimes you pay a bit more for Penske but last thing you want is the truck to leak in a rain storm or to have the truck give up halfway through your trip, both of which happened to people I know who used Uhaul.
April 7th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
Moving all the way cross country like that is very, very expensive. At some point, depending on what you have, it almost makes sense - especially since you guys are really just starting to build a life together - to just sell as much of the big stuff as you can and start over with new stuff.
April 7th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
I suppose the whole “sell everything and start fresh” would be a bit more appealing if I knew I was going to have a job (a.k.a. an income)…
April 7th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
http://www.upack.com/
April 7th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
When I moved from Olympia, WA to Chapel Hill, NC, I packed the bulk of my stuff (all the important/immediate need sort of things) in my car. I sent about ten boxes and four pieces of furniture through a company that specialized in small moves. (They fill a semi with many people’s stuff.) The advantage to this was the price: about $1,000. The disadvantage was the fact that my stuff took FOREVER to arrive. By saying “forever we’re talking three months — enough time for me to need the winter clothes I hadn’t brought along in the car in August. I complained, but they didn’t give me any money back. All that said, though, my stuff was very well-cared for, and I was impressed by both the extra wrapping they did and the fastidiousness of the deliverymen. I wouldn’t recommend the company I went with (Mini Moves) because of the delay, but you might look for a similar outfit.
I also did something that seems crazy, but actually proved VERY cost-effective: I sent all my books through the USPS’s media mail rates. It cost but a fraction of what the movers wanted, and my 13 boxes were already waiting in the Chapel Hill post office when I pulled into town. I can’t recall exact figures, but I still have some of the boxes with barcoded stickers that claim a cost of between $10-13 per box. I boxes as heavy as I could carry, and I think the smallest one was about the size of a liquor store box. I spent well under $200 for 13 boxes. You’d of course want to price this at today’s rates yourself, but it definitely was one of the best ideas I had when I moved in summer 2004.
April 7th, 2008 at 8:46 pm
Consider finding a rental car company that will give you unlimited mileage. then you can rent a van or suv from them, and a tow along trailer. it may be cheaper than other routes. unfortunately, there is usually no “cheap” way to do this. get family and friends to help. possibly set up a donation button to collect funds.
April 7th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
We used http://storeinasong.com for a recent move and were very happy with them. Not sure what the cross country deal would be but the service was very good.
And BTW God lives just across the bridge in SF ;-)
April 8th, 2008 at 12:58 am
We used http://www.movex.com/ when we moved from Princeton to Lake Tahoe. Berkeley would only be a few hundred more miles. I think we came in at just under 4K, but that was almost 3 years ago now.
Interested in co pastoring a Lutheran/Presbyterian ecumenical mission church in Tahoe/Truckee? The commute would suck though.
April 8th, 2008 at 1:02 am
Oh yeah, I forgot to say they put our car in the truck too! http://www.movex.com saved us from the drive, though we like to drive but wanted to get out west fast.
Also, I now have the Smitty song in my head…thanks
April 8th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
two thoughts:
i moved from tx to ca a few years back. my scenario was similar and the best thing for me was to move it all with me at the time and put it into a storage unit (the first month was a dollar and then it was something like $130) until I found a place.
also, garage sale = income
April 8th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
Adam,
All of these options sound doable. I would check with the denomination — they may have contracted moving help for clergy. That could be of help. Of course, if you can get a call before then your church might be willing to pay for it. I’m in a bit different place, but that’s the way I’ve done it.
April 8th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
Hey Adam,
We used U-pack. It was expensive ~$2500, and we did not move a lot of stuff. But, if you do get a job before them, it is not out of the question to ask them to help with the cost. Churches are willing to chip in or cover the whole cost. Otherwise, we shipped about 15 boxes at the post office, all of my books, book rate. This was pretty affordable. I think that shipping is the way to go, then you and Sarah can enjoy the trip. I second the poster who said take your time. Have fun. Invest in a fun experience. Believe me, I would pay top dollar to have a 2-4 week drive with Kristin that had no time pressure and included seeing friends along the way.
April 8th, 2008 at 10:16 pm
When I moved from San Diego to Kansas City I used “Door-to-Door” http://www.doortodoor.com it’s like the PODS thing, I don’t know if it’s any cheaper, but worth a look.
April 9th, 2008 at 8:11 am
Adam,
We just moved a whole houseful from NJ to MI - we estimated $7500 and it came in at $12,500. We ended up paying the difference ourselves. The truth of the matter is that 25% of the stuff should never have been moved! Moving, wether you do it yourself, pay someone else or something in between is expensive. We figured out afterward that it is about $0.50 per pound. Think about that when you go to packsomething - is it worth the freight? Because lots of stuff would have been cheaper to just sell or donate and buy new when we got here.
We just moved my Mom out here in a Penske self move. She had a one bedroom move. By the time it was all said and done it was a $3000 move - but we paid to have her packed. The truck and fuel alone was $2000.00.
I’d try to consolidate to a small truck, move and pack yourself and use a rental unit for the time you need it. Small move companies are really consolidators and they will take lots of time as well as your stuff will be packed and repacked off of trucks. I have not heard of anyone who did not get frustrated waiting for their stuff.
Good Luck!
Tim
April 10th, 2008 at 8:54 am
Adam,
The blog Unclutter recently posted about evaluating how much you need certain stuff before you move: link here.
April 18th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
I like the blog. I don’t know how much crap you have, but when I moved from Ohio to Seattle a few years ago, my wife and I bought a fullsize van, loaded it up and left the rest behind. (It helped that we didn’t really have any big furniture–no bed or couches, that is). We paid $2700 for the van and sold it a year later for $1900. Way cheaper than any rental service, it allowed us to get rid of some unneeded detritus, and we didn’t have to worry about finding a place to put our stuff until we found an apartment. (Granted, storing all of your earthly belongings in a van that could easily be broken into and stolen might not be the best idea, but, hey, I’m an optimist about human nature, and we didn’t have any problems.) We also were able to take our time across the country and see the sites, driving through several national parks with all of our belongings in tow. There’s something spiritually fulfilling about that sort of move…
Tim
April 19th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
hey man, good luck w/ the move
i live in Nor-Cal and the East Bay is just expensiveeee
anyways, i’d go w/ a penske and a fatty budget for those ridiculously expensive gas stops you’re going to face . . .
April 22nd, 2008 at 1:39 am
Congrats on the move! I am a M.A. student at the GTU and love it out here. If you guys do take a visit out here, e-mail me. I’d be happy to show you around the campus and such (read, all the best microbreweries within walking distance). Craigslist is where everything apartment/house is listed. Mass transit is great here so don’t limit yourself to just Berkeley. There are lots of good neighborhoods nearby. We live on a bus line in a nice, older neighborhood and get waaaaaay more bang for our buck.
Also, tell your wife, if she can, to register for Marian Ronan’s class on the Holocaust and Slavery this summer (it’s taught by my adviser … shameless plug … and perhaps the foremost scholar on the Holocaust… and it’s quite subversive, comparing American slavery to the Holocaust). Ironically, she taught a class on the Emerging/ent Church this semester. (Okay, so it was independent study.)
Okay, enough blabbering. Oh yeah, and the East Bay is the best place in the world. (This from a born and reared Alabamian).