On my second go-around, my partner was much more precise about space requirements, which turned out to both save us time, money, and lots of hassle. When relocating, we were told by the relocation company that we were getting one standard, 22 foot moving truck. Anything that did not fit in the moving truck, would need to be left behind at the time of the move. This left a huge worry in knowing that if we did not calculate our items properly, we would most likely need to just leave stuff behind.
Fortunately, there are work-arounds and solutions to never get into this situation. We actually did not take their 22 foot moving truck and instead, opted for a much better solution where space is flexible (explained below). Although we didn’t have the luxury of a mover, we did it much more cost-effectively and in piece-mail.
In looking around our home, we had doubts about “ball-parking” the space required to move everything we wanted to take. We had one mover FaceTime us and have us take pictures of each item that was being moved. Their calculation of household goods couldn’t have been more far off and more expensive!
We decided to create our own calculation of household goods, by measuring a standard boxes used – small, medium, large, and furniture items. We created an excel spreadsheet of cubic feet of each item. We then factored in a variance of space using sometimes 10-15%, since in a moving truck, you will definitely NOT be able to use every available cubic foot. In addition, the moving blankets and other items take up space in the truck that you don’t figure. Our excel spreadsheet of our household goods inventory showed that we were slightly above that 22 cubic feet.
The other issue is that you need to factor items that are odd shapes. Items like exercise equipment and even chairs, don’t fit nicely in each other and need to take extra space in your moving container. We also factored items that can’t have other items stacked on top of them. This can also create wasted space and limit your total usage of your moving truck.
In both of our cross-country moves, U-Pack was the best solution. You only pay for what you actually use and if you need more space, you can order a second container. The key here is to not go into your move blindly and to have an idea of the space you need for your move.