Five Tips for a Move That Won’t Break the Bank

1. Reduce

This is a good time to sort through all your things. Are you really sure you need to bring everything with you to your new home? Ask yourself this for each piece of furniture and every item. Fewer boxes and less furniture means you could rent a smaller truck and save a bit in your budget.

2. Recycle

You can donate furniture or sell it on sites like Kijiji or Facebook’s Marketplace. That way, you could buy new items.

Before donating a piece of furniture, ask yourself if you can give it new life and a different style with a coat of paint or new handles. There are lots of tutorials on YouTube to help you repurpose a piece of furniture, click here.

3. Recover 

One expense you can probably avoid during a move is buying new cardboard boxes, which will allow you to save money and reduce your budget. Businesses have a huge number of solid cardboard boxes of various sizes that you can pick up. Just ask your local merchants (restaurants, grocery stores, SAQ).

The same goes for the Publisac, which could become your best friend, since flyers and newspapers are very handy for wrapping dishes and other fragile items. Start by saving them if you haven’t already done so.

4. Claim your moving expenses

If you’re moving at least 40km closer to a new place of work or school, some of the expenses, such as the ones below, can be claimed in your tax return:

• Moving costs if you used movers;
• Truck or trailer rental;
• Storage costs;
• Living expenses (accommodations and meals) for you and your family when you travel to the new residence;
• Cost of selling your old home or cancelling the lease;
• Cost to maintain your old home if it has not been sold and is vacant.

For more information, go to the Canada Revenue Agency or Revenu Québec sites.

5. Watch out for extras!

You should be aware that your bill could be increased because of over-sized boxes, the number of flights of stairs to go up and down or the distance between the parking lot and your new home. Avoid surprises, specify all this information to your mover at the time of the estimate so that all costs are taken into account.

If you rent a truck and need to pay for insurance, contact your credit card company beforehand, some of them cover this expense. It is best to check with your banking institution to avoid paying unnecessarily!

Have a good move, we hope these tips will help.