Maybe it would be better if you did not sell right away, BUT, start downsizing as if you were going to. What I mean, is go room by room and ask yourself do I really want to take this with me? You may have to do this several times. Moving from CA to ND over a period of a couple of years, I know now I really did not need to bring as much as I did. You also might start a list, listing the pros and cons of renting the space--cost, moving twice, damage in storage, or moving, what won't I need for awhile, do I really need it. If you don't want a garage sale etc, are there people who use the stuff--extra dishes, furniture etc. Some fire departments have a place to store things for donations to help out those who have lost everything. Just a few ideas.
Marie

Marie, we've been doing that for about a year and a half. The issue isn't storing things to sell the house, but storing them after the house is (hopefully) sold.That's why I'm trying to get an idea of how it squares with the cost of a simple move.

I don't know how there can be an accurate formula to use. Too many varables.

Pal, you probably are going to have to call around to get costs. And every step will cost you. And they all differ by your locations, and what you are looking for. Complete packing and moving to storage? (or will you be doing the packing.). Size of storage you need? Moving from storage to what location, in approx distance.

My husband rents a basic storage unit here in Florida for his race car. one car garage size, no climate control...$225.00 a month.

ML

We live in Oklahoma. A rental one car garage size storage room with no climate control and one outdoor parking spot cost us around $150/month three years ago.

Call around. Assuming you will be doing the packing, the cost of the move will be 1.) movers to storage, 2.) storage for x months and 3.) movers to house. As mentioned above, distance is important. Across town may not cost you gas and mileage, but moving any further than that probably will. 4.) Gas and mileage will be a fourth cost. 5.)There may be other variables depending upon the price of gas at that time, number of people used to move you, size of truck, and possibly tonnage of items moved.

I'd call around and get prices. I don't see how they'd "take you for a sucker." You're shopping around, so lay out your scenario and see what the cost would be. There's more than one option for you, so they're not going to bump the price up just because you don't know what it "should" cost. If they do, you'll just go to their competition.

We sold our house and had to rent for a year and half until my husband retired. We hired a big moving firm to move some of our furniture to the rental (townhouse), the rest went into a climate-controlled storage facility. We moved 8 miles from our house. When we contracted with the movers, we told them we planned to move to Florida in the year and half and they gave us the name of a storage place in Florida which they had connections with. They offered a discount if we used this facility.

The move to Florida was the most expensive. They gave us a discount on the 8-mile move as long as we signed a contract to use them for the final, long-distance move to Florida. We did.

We spent a year looking for a house in Florida, and have been renting a condo during this time. All our furniture is still in storage a year later. We finally found a house and will be moving in the next week. We have started to move things out from storage ourself with help from friends and family. We will hire movers to move the heavy furniture.

For us, the biggest cost has been storing our things for the past year in Florida.

When you call movers for prices, see if they offer a discount toward storage and your final move if you agree to use them for both moves.

Jane

See if PODS are available in your area.
We put the bulk of our stuff in a POD while we were on the market, then as they did not service our destination had it brought back prior to loading our truck for the interstate move.
If they service both your old and new areas you can pack it up, have it stored, then delivered right to your new door when the time comes.
I had a great POD experience.

We loved our POD experience, too. We had one month from the time we sold and closed one house and bought and closed the next. The POD was easy to load, unload, etc. It was stored in a temperature-controlled facility which was good in hot and humid Florida in August. I would certainly do it again.

We've been looking into ABF - yes, the freight line - because they have so many options for moving and storage, you pack,, they pack, trucks, partial loads, pods...... Maybe there's an option or combination of options that will work for you.

Here is a link that might be useful: ABF Moving/Storage

I also recommend PODS, or Mobile Attic, or whatever they may be called in your area. I haven't used one myself, but know friends who have used one for moving, and other friends who used one for on-site storage during a major remodel. Both had very good experiences.

To me, the big benefit is skipping one entire unload/reload, and the costs and potential damage/loss involved with that.

We have our home under contract and set to close soon and are moving quite a few items into another garage/shop (unheated) a few miles away and rented a heated/cooled/security camera secure storage of 10'x15' @ $100.00 per month for our china and antique items.