In about 12 hours the movers will be here to take away all of our crap. Just about everything is boxed except for a bit of annoying clutter. I am out of boxes and have turned to suitcases at this point.

Since this is the first "real" move I have made, I thought I would share a bit about what I have learned in the past few weeks about making big moves and hiring movers. I have found it is much more complicated than the moves involving your friends, a few cars or maybe a truck if you're lucky, and some pizza, beer, and sore backs at the end of the day.

I can tell you what not to do first based on my one other experience with movers. If you liked my recent Craigslist story I posted, you'll appreciate this one. I was about 21, pretty clueless about moving, and was desperate to get out of a toxic roommate situation that I had found on, you guessed it, Craigslist. So, where do I go to look for a mover? Yup, Craigslist. I talked to some guy who said he had his own truck and could do my small move in a couple of hours for really cheap. The day of the job he called to say he was "in an accident returning a rental truck" and could not come. What was that about owning his own truck? I later found out he had done the same thing to many other people and they all posted their experiences on Craigslist whenever he put up his ad. Soon he was out of business on Craigslist at least.

The moral of the story is do your research before you book a mover. People who get screwed most by movers are those who pick an random mover online without checking them out. It turns out there are some really sketchy moving companies out there. They can run the range from incompetent (see above) to criminal (ie holding your crap hostage on a truck or in storage until you pay them lots of money to get it released). If California is on your moving itinerary, check out the CPUC Moving site. These guys regulate movers so you can check if the company you are considering has complaints filed against it, and if it is properly insured. Check and see if your state has something similar. If not, your local Better Business Bureau is another place you can inquire about the customer satisfaction with a particular company. MovingScam is another great site for checking companies out. They also have a SuperList of movers in the message board section that runs down most companies in each area by state and what feedback has been left about them on the site.

Pick a few companies and ask them to come out and do an in-person estimate. This is really important. I found some companies did not want to do this and relied on emailed inventory lists or your summary of your stuff on the phone. You want an estimate so that you have some idea of what ti will cost you, and so that on the day of the move they can't tell you "you have way more stuff than we thought, so it is going to cost you tons more money." Get several estimates and compare before you book a company. We found the prices varied drastically. And seeing how the company functions in person for the estimate can give you a gut feeling about hiring them. The company that called to re-schedule our estimate to later and later in the day and sent a creepy dude did not get our business.

In California moving companies are supposed to give you a "not to exceed" price with the estimate. No matter what happens, this will be the most you will pay. All of the companies that came out gave us this price. Be wary if such a thing is typical in your area and they refuse to do it. Read up about the insurance they offer to cover your stuff and be sure you understand what it covers before you buy.

We have done all of this and picked a company with a very good reputation that gave us a good price. We'll see how it all unfolds tomorrow. I may be without Internet access for a few days, but I'll do my best to report back with an update.