Costs to Consider When Moving Across the Country with Kids and a Dog

There are a couple of scenarios when it comes to moving across the country with a family, both of which will require strict consideration to a budget. Let’s look at the biggest expense involved first – the matter of moving your things.

Hiring Movers

Hopefully, a cross-country move will be the result of an enticing job offer or a transfer where your employer pays for the move, and you save tons of money on the relocation of your household. For those that have the resources, a moving company is an ideal method of transporting belongings to a new home. When hiring movers, you can either fly or take the family on a long road trip to the new home where you’ll be reunited with the shipment of household goods. In this situation, you’ll still have to allocate the funds carefully and not let impulse or frustration cause you to overspend your moving allowance. To reduce the cost of professional movers, Cheap Movers Phoenix suggests doing as much of the packing as you can yourself. Movers charge additionally for packing/unpacking and other services. Doing as much as you can ahead of time will cut down on the final bill.

Moving Company Alternatives

Those who don’t have the luxury of the assistance of a moving company are left with either loading storage pods that can be picked up and delivered to your new home, or leasing a rental truck and driving long hours in a large vehicle in addition to transporting the members of your family. In this case, the cost of the truck rental, tow package for the family car, gasoline, insurance, and mileage will be the key factors. You’ll also have to consider the cost of buying a lot of boxes and packing materials, as well as paying people to help you load and unload (that is unless you have friends and family that are willing to help for free, which in this day and age is a real rarity). This will be the biggest chunk of change in moving the family, but wait — there’s more to it, and it can become ridiculously expensive without careful planning and budgeting.

Additional Traveling Costs

Some of those additional costs include food and lodging for the family while traveling, entertainment for the kids to compensate for the long trip, an emergency fund for car repairs or out-of-network medical coverage in case of illness or injury. And speaking of medical needs, be sure to purchase extra prescriptions in advance to tide family members over while the doctor and pharmacy care are transferred from one home to the next. Lastly, if you’re moving with the family dog, you’re going to need to be sure to get a check-up from the vet before departure to update all vaccinations and obtain health certificates for airline travel if you’re flying. Whether traveling on the road or in the air, dogs are much safer and comfortable in a good, strong crate explicitly designed for and according to airline requirements or car travel. Trust me – you won’t want to leave this for the last minute either.

Moving across country is not cheap! Planning and maintaining a budget is crucial if you don’t want to be left with big surprises.

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