Today, I’m going to talk about our move to Colorado. It kind of popped up out of nowhere but now we are right in the middle of it all. I can’t believe how quickly everything is moving along and I am extremely excited.
Out of all of the moves we’ve done, this one is definitely the largest. We’ve moved a few times now, but they have all been fairly cheap and short distance moves.
However, after collecting, hoarding, and buying things over the last 5 years, we have many more items to move this time around. Even if we were just moving across town it would be difficult with all of our stuff.
Moving to Colorado will be our longest move as well as our most expensive. I’ve heard of people spending over $10,000 moving, and that is something we didn’t want to come anywhere close to.
Below are some updates for our move to Colorado, including our moving expenses and what’s left on our moving checklist.
Related:
Moving supply costs.
Moving supplies weren’t as expensive as I thought they would be. I highly recommend you shop around, as I found widely varying prices for moving supplies.
For instance, many moving companies charge around $5 per box, whereas places like Home Depot and Lowes charge between $1 to $1.50 per box. There are also moving box sets that usually end up being a better deal, such as with this one.
We also bought bubble wrap and lots and lots of tape. Our total cost for moving supplies was around $100.
We could have completely skipped any costs for moving supplies if we would have looked around though. You can often find free moving supplies on Craigslist, at stores, and so on. We would have gone this route but I will be honest and say I was a little lazy since the move sprung on us very quickly.
The cost of moving to Colorado.
Up until last week, we were set on renting a moving truck and trying to figure out a way for everything to work out. However, things just weren’t going to happen that way.
Our main problem is that we have two cars and a moving truck to bring to the new house, yet there are only two of us. And this is why we didn’t think a company such as UHaul or Budget would work for this specific trip.
Yes, we could tow one of the cars behind a moving truck, but we need a fairly large moving truck for all of our things. Towing a car behind it on such a long move (over 1,000 miles) and through steep mountains just seems like too much for us.
Then, Wes’s dad the other day said the company he works for uses UPack to move their employees, so I decided to look them up.
After debating for some time, we made the decision to use UPack for our moving to Colorado needs.
UPack was the easiest and cheapest option for us. UPack is a company that moves your stuff for you. They drop off a moving trailer at your home, you load it up, they pick it up a few days later, then they drop it off at the location you are moving to. They handle all of the actual moving, which is exactly why we chose them. We can make the whole 15 hour trip with only stopping one night, but I know if we drove a moving truck ourselves then it would require much more planning, more stops, and possibly even paying for car shipping because we would have to find a way to bring our second car to the new house.
Going the UPack route is pretty similar in pricing to renting a moving truck as well, and much cheaper than hiring a full-service moving company. I priced out several rental moving truck companies and once I priced everything out, it was very comparable to the pricing that UPack gave me. This is because once you factor in the extra lodging, the higher gas costs because we would have to drive a moving truck, insurance costs, and more, renting a moving truck quickly added up.
A UHaul moving truck rental would have been around $2,500 including the rental truck, insurance, gas, etc. Then, we would have had to still pay for extra lodging and somehow still transporting our second car to Fruita as well. I’m assuming that would have made our moving cost somewhere between $3,000 to $3,500 for the extras. The UPack expense from St. Louis to Fruita is $3,000, so it was an easy choice for us since it meant much less work on our end and a much safer way to move.
My Moving Checklist.
Moving to Colorado hasn’t been as stressful as I originally thought. While there are many things we have already completed on our moving checklist, everything seems to be going smoothly even with all of the tasks that are left. If you need a thorough moving checklist, UPack has one that I found very helpful.
What’s left on our moving checklist:
- Arrange for the drop off of the moving trailer at the new house (and pickup a few days after). This is one of the more important things on our moving checklist because I need my stuff, of course!
- Turn the internet off at our Missouri house. We’ve already cut cable.
- Confirm with moving truck unloaders about what time they should be at the new house. Since it’s only me and Wes (and I am extremely weak), we need someone to help us bring all of our heavy furniture into the house.
- Wait for Charter internet at the new house. Yes, this is getting installed within the first hour of moving into our new house. After spending all of that time actually moving to Colorado, I will need internet quickly set up so that I can continue working. I just can’t go without it!
- Notify companies of our move. There are still a few more places we need to inform, such as our car insurance company, our bank, and more.
- Run through the house one last time. Before we move, we need to run through the house and make sure nothing is left behind and we also need to make sure it’s perfectly clean too for the home sale.
- New driver’s license. We also need to license our cars.
- New health insurance. This is the last task on our moving checklist but also very important. Our current health insurance is only good at certain Missouri healthcare providers, so we definitely need this.
How much did your last move cost you? How did you try to save money? Are we crazy for moving to Colorado at the last moment? Is there anything I am missing from my moving checklist?
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Welcome to the Grand Valley a beautiful place to live. I was born and raised here, left for college and then my husband and I moved back here to start a family. We moved from South Dakota, it cost us around $3500 to rent a uhaul truck. Thank you for the tip of the moving company, hopefully we will not be moving anytime soon but good to know to pass along to friends. We just moved across town to a new home and that was a big enough move for us, a family of 6 has a lot of stuff. If you are needing a good realtor in town I have the best one, we have used her 3 times now. I hope that you have enjoyed it here so far, a lot of outdoor recreation stuff to do. But don’t let this weather fool you it is usually much warmer than this. Charter Internet isn’t the best but it is the cheapest and they are willing to fix problems pretty quickly. Welcome again to the beautiful Western Slope.
Is anyone aware of that U-Haul as are you box which is like you pack but winds up to be much cheaper in the long run someone should check that
Whether it’s a top floor in an apartment building or the basement of an old house, professional movers have the brain power to get everything safely out of your home and unto their truck.
Thanks for the insight. This will be very useful information when I move across country this coming month. Appreciate the share!
I love the idea of making a moving checklist. That’s a great way to stay focused on the important tasks and prioritize. Thanks so much for the ideas.
My wife and I are moving for the first time and we couldn’t be more excited. With it being our first time though, we are looking for some ways to make this as smooth and affordable as possible. This article helped, and I hope that we can find a good moving service to help us out.
I am actually from Colorado, but have been living in Texas, and desperately want to move home. I came across your article, and not only do I love everything you are adding, but I must also say, my dad lives in Fruita!! I hope you have been loving it there!
Do not move to Colorado. Way over rated. Too many people. The beautiful mountains are now over crowded. Please don’t move here, pollution, traffic and rude people.
You should move to chicago. Then you’ll know pollution, traffic, and rudeness. In fact, i cant wait to move to Colorado!!
I have heard good things about U-Pack. I am moving across the country to California from the Midwest in 5 weeks. I just accepted a job but there is no relocation expenses. But I have family that I will stay with. I had already put my 2 bdrm apt in storage. So after a couple of months after securing an apt I will send for my stuff. If you ever update this please tell us your experience with U-pack when it got to Colorado. Thanks
My experience was great! I’ve used UPack twice now.
Michelle, did you ever price out the pods to move? Just curious if those would be cheaper??
Thank you everyone for your hints.
I moved from Colorado in July 2017 to Florida. I hired a moving company, they were a rip off. They gave a very low estimate, and on the moving day. They tripled their price. After few months I decided to move back to Colorado. I can’t handle the weather and hurricane commotion every summer here. I love Colorado. I lived there 4 years. People are nice, Colorado springs is rated 5 in air quality.
Anyway. I should be leaving here end November. I’m shopping all options UPACK and PODS. Upack has driver and gas included in their quote. That’s 2000 miles move for 3600. All you have to do is add helpers cost and pads to protect your furniture. PODS on the other hand has one month free storage. In case you don’t have a place yet. But their quote was 5400$ for 2 16′ containers.
I hope this will help.
Bon Voyage!
If you are just moving clothing or non-breakable things, you can get a “big” box and ship using Amtrak. You need to drop off at Amtrak and also pick up at their station, but we paid $50 a box (large box) to ship from Denver Union Station to Baltimore MD. It was perfect for us as it freed up alot of room in the car for other things (breakable & electronics)
How do you adjust to the mountains when moving? I’m going to be moving from STL to Wyoming this summer and I know from my brother and his wife getting altitude sickness and I want to know if there are any tricks to prepare or prevent that? Thank you!!
I never got altitude sickness with the move, and regularly hike tall mountains.
I know that lots and lots of drinking water helps.