D.C. Area Nesties
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Tell me about your moving company or PODS experience
We're going to be moving locally (still staying within MoCo) and are trying to decide if we should do it ourselves with a U-Haul, go for PODS or something similar, hire movers, or some combination of those.
If you've moved recently: how did you do it? who did you use (would you use them again)? and if you're willing to share, what was the cost?
I'm thinking of hiring movers for the large/bulky items and furniture but move the rest ourselves using a U-Haul trailer attached to our SUV. I'm hoping that would save some money but not wear us out.
Any and all advice appreciated 
Re: Tell me about your moving company or PODS experience
We recently moved and I totally underestimated the amount of work involved in packing, unpacking, cleaning, and getting settled into our new place. So, hiring movers was definitely money well spent.
We used a company called Smooth Movers. They charge a $70 fee for each move plus $70 per hour for 2 movers or $90 per hour for 3 movers. That includes the truck, moving blankets, tie down straps, etc. There are no surcharges for stairs, mileage, or other hidden fees. They will rent you wardrobe or other boxes if you need them.
I actually had to use them twice because we didn't move all of our furniture the first time since we were putting the house on the market and wanted to stage it. The first move which included much of our furniture and boxes was about $400 because it took 4 hours total. The two guys worked unbelievably fast. I think the second move took 3 hours. This was for a 3 BR, 2 BA house.
The owner Art was great to work with and always emailed or called me back within a few hours when I had questions. The guys that he sent worked really fast and did a good job protecting our furniture. I also recommended them to a friend and she was also very happy with them.
http://www.smooth-movers.com/ ETA: Many moving companies will give you flat rate estimates for moves. In my experience, those prices are always much higher than if you pay an hourly rate. You can save money by paying hourly if you are well-organized and packed when they arrive. I printed labels with the room that each box should go in on it and stuck it to the top of the box so that they knew exactly where to take the boxes in the new house. I was 6 months pregnant so I couldn't do any lifting and I wanted all of the boxes to be placed in the correct room so that all I had to do was unpack it.When we moved in February from Alexandria (2 bedroom first floor apartment) to Arlington (3 bedroom SFH) we used My Truck Buddy. I highly highly recommend them! Here is the website:http://mytruckbuddy.com/
We used the movers for all the furniture and whatever we could get packed in boxes beforehand (we moved clothing and electronics ourselves). All boxes were labeled which helped a ton. Once at the new house, I directed them and told them which boxes and what furniture should go where. The guys were so nice and efficient (there were four of them). My online request was responded to in about 24 hours and was quoted to be 4-6 hours. However they did our move in 3.5 hours which cost us $497.50. This included disassembling two beds and our dining room table, packing the truck, driving from Alexandria to Arlington, unpacking the truck, and reassembling the furniture.
I'm not sure where you are moving, but make sure you check the HOA rules for where you are moving to.
I am on our HOA board, and PODS are prohibited in our association.
Just some food for thought...
We just moved mid June from Alexandria to Lorton. 2 bed condo to a 2 bedroom condo. We used My Truck Buddy (see link below). With help from friends we moved about 13 carloads over ourselves (boxes and computers and misc). The big furniture and remaining 30 boxes/items were moved by the My truck buddy. They have an hourly rate of $125 for 3 guys, and a $75 truck fee. Total for 4.25 hours was $606.25. Happy moving!
http://community.thenest.com/cs/ks/forums/53976800/ShowThread.aspx#53976800
"They say with time it gets better. Not true. With time you only get used to it."
Thanks everyone - I really appreciate the recommendations!
jess - there is no HOA where we're moving and our current HOA is ok with short term PODS - thanks though!