Maybe I Should Become a Monk?: The Reality of Moving Without a Car

Whenever I move, I always consider the benefits of being a monk and the lack of personal items. I am someone who likes books, trinkets, and unique home decor, and when it comes time to move, I am always amazed at the amount of shit I have accumulated. Everything would be easier if all my earthly possessions could fit in a suitcase or two and maybe a backpack, but that is not the case for me. I have a lot of shit, but what I lack is a car. So how do I move?

In June of this year, I decided to end my lease and move in with a roommate in an apartment across the city to save money as I knew I would be attending graduate school later that year. But how do you move when 1) you don't have a lot of money, and 2) you don't own a car and haven't driven a car in nearly a decade? This is what I had to figure out as I prepared my move. I didn't really have enough things to justify the price for a large moving truck service, but I also don't feel comfortable operating a U-Haul myself (and I really didn't feel like moving all of my heavy items myself down three flights of stairs). I was lucky that I had a few weeks between when I could move into my new place and when I had to move out of my old place, so I was able to gradually move instead of doing it all in one day. So between working at my full-time job I did a combination of taking small trips on the bus, taking larger trips in a taxi, getting my new roommate who had a car to help grab some things, and paying drivers on Lugg to carry and haul my things to my new place.

My new roommate, although we had just met, was kind enough to help me move some of my items into the new place, but with their weird work schedule and them going on a trip right when I was moving in made this difficult to coordinate. When I was able to move in, I had them grab the basics of what I needed to stay there for a week or so (i.e. bedding, clothing, toiletries, my cats, and my cats' things). I slept on the floor on some extra bedding I had for a few days, commuting into work and adjusting to my new schedule and allowing my cats to adjust to the new place. After work every day, I would go to my old place, grab what I could, and either take 2 buses across the city to my new place or call a taxi if I wanted to carry some heavier items. I opted for a taxi since it was a longer trip and the taxis are generally cheaper these days than Uber or Lyft. Then, on a day off from work, I hired 2 movers on Lugg (kind of like Uber but for moving) to move my furniture and any other heavy items. They were paid by the minute for loading/unloading and a base fare for the distance. Once they were finished loading my things at my old place, I called a taxi and met them at my new place where they unloaded and left. I would then use this service again to bring some things to Goodwill. Then, I finished with more trips via bus or taxi, and then completed the final haul with my roommate and their car.

Total cost: $460.32

• Bus fare: $0 (I get an unlimited transit card deducted from my paycheck)
• Taxi fare: $120.45 (3 one-way trips with a $10 tip on 1 trip)
• Roommate car: $0
• Lugg: $291.16 (moving my furniture and heavy items w/ $40 tip), $48.71 (bring items to Goodwill)

Was this necessarily cheaper? No. It probably would've been cheaper if I didn't take as many taxis or if my move coordinated better with my roommate's schedule. But with full-service movers in Seattle, I was being quoted around $120 per hour for 2 movers and a moving truck, with many of them having a 2 hour minimum during peak moving seasons. This did not include the mileage that is the distance for them to leave their garage, get to my old apartment, drive to my new apartment, and then drive back to their garage, which my old apartment is about 8 miles from my new apartment. Would hiring a full-service mover saved a bit of my sanity? Maybe. But this was the reality of my move with limited access to a car and not a lot of money saved up. I also think that doing it this way made me take less things I didn't want from my old place to my new place. I sold a lot of items on Facebook Marketplace, which I think helped fund about 75% of this move, and I also donated a good chunk of my items. Now, at my new place, I was able to move in without a lot of things I no longer wanted and I was able to unpack a lot quicker and move into the space.