Changing addresses

The hardest part of moving into a new place is getting everything you own out of one dwelling and into another. The manual labor is taxing, but the challenge of finding a vehicle for transportation, getting all your stuff to fit in it and trying to make the least number of trips is more exhausting. It’s a damn brainteaser, but there are ways to make moving a lot easier on you and your mental state.

Take advantage of your friends
Find some strong friends to help carry furniture. This will decrease—by hours or perhaps even days—the time it would take you alone to move all your crap. Unless your friends owe you some giant favors, it’s going to take a little bribery—and that’s just the way it is. Try offering food and beverages before cash.

Then, take advantage of their things
Ask around for moving equipment. Chances are your dad, neighbor or girlfriend—someone unsuspecting—will have a dolly or some kind of moving cart that you can borrow. This will keep your body from hurting quite so much the next day. You can purchase a dolly for around $50, but it wouldn’t be a worthy expense unless you move heavy objects often.

Lastly, and most importantly …
You’ll need a vehicle. Your little Corolla will work if you don’t mind strapping your bed to the roof and making 10 different trips, but the idea here is to keep your stress level low. As always, ask around first. If you’re lucky you’ll find a merciful soul with a truck you can borrow, but if you can’t, U-Haul has several affordable options for vehicle rentals.

For $19.95 a day (plus 69 cents per mile) you can rent a 10-foot-long truck with an interior space of 393 cubic feet. This is recommended for moving the contents of a single apartment, though it depends on how much stuff you own. If you aren’t traveling more than a few miles, this is a good option for making up to three or four trips. If the distance between your old place and new one is great, or you have eight couches to transport, it would be financially viable to rent a larger truck and make fewer trips. For a daily rental cost of $29.95 (plus 69 cents per mile), you can rent a truck either 14 or 17 feet long. These vehicles have a total of 669 and 849 cubic feet of space, respectively. Think about how much stuff you could fit in there.

U-Haul is generally the cheapest truck rental company, and subsequently the most popular. Make sure to reserve your truck at least a few days in advance. U-Haul truck reservations can be made online at www.uhaul.com or over the phone.

The closest U-Haul location to PSU is:

U-Haul
1315 N.E. Sandy Blvd
(503-232-1655)
$19.95 to $29.95 plus 69 cents per mile

If you, for some reason, have a personal qualm with U-Haul, Penske and Budget also rent trucks for comparable prices.

Penske Portland
1325 N.W. 14th Ave.
503-226-7971
$29.95 plus 79 cents per mile

Budget Truck Rental
2033 S.W. 4th Ave.
503-222-5421
$28.99 plus 69 cents per mile

Happy moving!