Budgeting For Moving

Calculating Costs with Steiners
Furniture Checklist

Most estimates of moving costs are based on the amount your household goods weigh. How are ordinary people supposed to know how much their furniture weighs? Well, sometimes a receptionist will be helpful and mention the common industry rule of thumb that says an average room runs between 1,000 and 1,500 pounds.

With this information, you can count your rooms. Don't include halls and bathrooms, include kitchens and laundry as one room if appliances are going, and decide what to count as far as basement and garage are concerned. This makes an average two-bedroom home come to a five-room count: bedroom, bed-room, living room, kitchen, dining room. That's between 5,000 and 8,000 pounds, depending on how much heavy furniture and how many books you have. With this ballpark weight figure, you can gather price differentials between moving companies and move-it-yourself alternatives.

The room count approximation, however, doesn't help with trying to decide whether the sofa set or the washer/dryer is worth moving. Look over the "Steiners Furniture Checklist" in Appendix B. We've developed it from a combination of the Pentagon's standard list and furniture mail order catalog weights. It will give you a guide to how much average pieces of furniture weigh and what size truck the do-it-yourself move will take, based on the company's vehicle size guide.

We recommend you go through your house room by room with the "Steiners Furniture Checklist", and note each piece. Don't forget to go through the attic, the basement, and other hiding places.

Even if you already know for certain that you're not taking the sofa, put it on the list anyway, and mark it for sale or donation. This way, you'll have a master plan of what you're doing with the entire house, a tool that will become invaluable as you progress through the decisions that have to be made.

Fill out the checklist carefully, then review it with the rest of the family. You may find the dilapidated family room chair is actually somebody's favorite reading nook and should be taken with you, no matter how much it costs.

Listing cubic footage and dimensions on the form also will help you think through how much space your furniture will take up in your new home.