Moving Expenses: Expect the Unexpected
The past week has been rather hectic for our household. We just got back from our honeymoon and now we’re moving into a new house on the other side of town, and our wedding reception is only 3 weeks away. I think I might be going just a little bit insane.
One thing about moving is that there are always predictable costs that begin to add up rather quickly. You can always anticipate the money for beer and pizza to reward the friends who have helped you schlep your stuff. Then there’s the rental fee for the moving truck and the money to return it with a full tank of gas. You may have been able to scrounge up boxes by borrowing them from friends and hitting up your neighborhood liquor stores. But eventually, you’re going to have to cave in and buy some boxes, plus endless rolls of packing tape. And if you’re a renter, don’t forget that you’re going to need cleaning supplies to make sure that your old residence is clean enough to get your security deposit returned. Good grief, this move is getting expensive!
You should always expect the unexpected, though. So far, I have had to replace a can opener, an office chair, dish soap, and a garbage can. I’m sure I’ll find other things that managed to get lost in transit. Things inevitably get lost or broken during a move. But how do you lose a whole chair?
In the process of unpacking and realizing that I can’t find things, I started to wonder: how much money should you budget towards the unexpected when you’re calculating the cost of a move? And if you’re deducting your moving expenses on your taxes, what counts as a legitimate moving expense as far as the IRS is concerned? Will Uncle Sam pick up my beer tab?
What’s been your experience with moving? How much money do you think you spend on odds and ends? And is there really any way to avoid getting nickled and dimed in the processed?
The last few times I moved, or when I helped my partner move, we didn’t hit too many unexpected costs. There were some things we had hoped to give away on Craigslist and ended up having to pay for trash to take, but considering what they were (dilapidated upholstered furniture) even that wasn’t totally unexpected. Serena, it’s too bad that you’re on the other side of the country from us, because we still have one office chair to get rid of!
I’ve always ended up making a lot of extra trips back and forth between old place, new place, hardware store, housewares store, etc in the process of packing, moving and settling in, and the extra gas for all those trips is one expense that’s easy to overlook.
S, yes, the cost of gas adds up quickly. Thankfully I drive a Civic and we only used one tank of gas last week with all of the trips back and forth.
I found the dish soap this afternoon when I discovered a mystery box. (We ended up with several of those this time.) I guess I could have held out on purchasing a new bottle, but I needed to do dishes yesterday. We’ll see if the missing can opener turns up. I’m not holding out for the old office chair.
Serena: From what I understand, you can only deduct moving expenses if your relocation was due to your job:
Also, if your moving expenses were reimbursed by your employer, then you cannot deduct them.