Moving costs add up quickly, but most people overspend in areas that are easy to control with a little planning. These 15 tips come from the Smart Penny Moving® crew, based on years of moves across Cambridge, North Reading, Framingham, Woburn, and Greater Boston. Follow them and you’ll save real money without sacrificing the quality of your move.
Start planning your move 6-8 weeks in advance. Create a list of priorities, important tasks, and mark them on your calendar to stay organized. Prepare your family for the moving process.
Every item you don’t move is money you don’t spend. Go room by room before booking and donate, sell, or discard anything you won’t use at the new address. Long-distance moves especially, pricing reflects volume, so less stuff means a more accurate and lower quote.
Odd-shaped boxes waste space in the truck and take longer to load safely. Standard box sizes stack cleanly, load faster, and protect your belongings better. Order from us, we deliver to your door in Greater Boston and our boxes are built for moving, not just storage.
Loose items take significantly longer to load than boxed ones. Every unboxed lamp, loose pile of clothes, or unwrapped kitchen item adds time, and time is money on an hourly move. Pack everything that can be packed before the crew arrives.
Start with rooms and items you use least, seasonal clothing, books, decorative items, spare linens. Packing in stages over several weeks is far less overwhelming than trying to do everything in the final days before the move.
Fill boxes completely, half-empty boxes collapse under weight and waste truck space. Use clothing, towels, and linens to cushion fragile items instead of buying extra bubble wrap. Heavy items go in small boxes, light items in large ones.
Write the destination room and a brief contents description on at least two sides of every box. This saves significant time during unloading, items go directly to the right room instead of being moved twice. Include “FRAGILE” and “THIS SIDE UP” on anything that needs it.
Having children or pets underfoot on moving day slows the crew down and creates safety risks. Arrange care for them for the day, even a few hours makes a meaningful difference to how efficiently the job runs.
Dresser drawers, filing cabinets, and nightstands should be emptied before the crew arrives. Full drawers make furniture significantly heavier and harder to move safely, and they can shift or fall open during transit. Pack the contents in boxes, it takes minutes and prevents damage.
Bed frames, shelving units, desks with detachable legs, and wardrobes with removable rails should be broken down before moving day if possible. Our crew handles disassembly and reassembly, but doing it in advance speeds up the loading process and keeps your hourly cost down.
Make sure there’s a clear path from your entrance to where the truck will park. Remove cars, bikes, bins, and any obstacles. A crew that can park close and move without navigating around obstacles works noticeably faster.
Make sure hallways, staircases, and doorways are clear before the crew arrives. Remove rugs that could slip, take down any wall art in the path of large furniture, and prop doors open that would otherwise need to be managed while carrying items through.
Keep passports, birth certificates, medical records, insurance documents, and financial paperwork with you, not on the truck. Pack them in a bag that stays in your car. These are irreplaceable and shouldn’t go through the moving process with everything else.
Jewelry, small electronics, cash, and sentimental items of high value should travel with you, not on the truck. Let the crew know in advance about any specialty items like artwork, antiques, or instruments, we’ll handle them with appropriate care and materials.
If anything changes before moving day, access issues, parking restrictions, additional items, or a change in timing, tell us as soon as you know. Last-minute surprises cost everyone time. A quick call or message in advance keeps the job on schedule and on budget.
The moves that go over budget are almost always the ones that weren’t planned. These steps cost nothing to follow, they just require a little time in advance. When you’re ready to book, get a quote from Smart Penny Moving®, real pricing based on your actual move, no hidden fees. Call 800-611-2201 or fill out the form on our homepage.
Full household and apartment moves across Cambridge, North Reading, Framingham, and Woburn.
Flat-rate pricing, properly packed for the long haul, fully insured for interstate moves.
Office and business relocations with minimal downtime. Fully insured.
Patient, careful, and communicative, every item handled with the attention it deserves.
Full or partial packing for every move. All materials provided.
On-site in Woburn, climate-controlled, 24-hour surveillance, starting at $89/month.
Dorm rooms, off-campus apartments, and semester storage across Greater Boston.
Your request has been received and a move specialist is reviewing your information. We’ll contact you shortly regarding your move details and availability.
For the most accurate quote, we recommend recording a quick video walkthrough of the items you’ll be moving using the link below — you can submit it anytime convenient for you: 📱 Self-Recording Inventory
We look forward to helping with your move.
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Joseph Zanca
Local Guide
Samuel, Walter, and Guiermo did a great job. Was very happy with how well they worked and how easy they made our move. Would highly recommend. Reasonable price for moving out of one house, storing overnight, and moving in the next day
Zac Broken Rope
We hired SmartPenny moving to help us move from our apartment in Brookline to a condo in Boston. Alberto was the absolute best, he was communicative, prompt, and took excellent care of all of our possessions. He was joined by Guillermo H, Melvin L, and Misael S who were truly all stars in moving our furniture both down stairs and then up roughly 60 steps to our new place. I couldn’t recommend them more strongly and will be sure to use them if we ever move again. Thank you!
Tom Jaques
Local Guide
Smart penny is fantastic. Friendly and fast, all you could ask for in a moving company. Our crew of Samuel, Guerrero, Walter, Eric were phenomenal. Couldn’t recommend enough!
Wyatt Mufson
Local Guide
Amazing experience with Samuel, Melvin, and Alex! They did a great job, they were very thorough and careful with our stuff. They were right on time and finished much faster than I expected. They also packed up our entire kitchen and did a great job unpacking it too. Very impressive work!
Leo Boudreau
Great group to work with. From Michael in the office and then the movers, great service every stage of the move. With all the snow, it was a challenge parking the truck and getting the furniture into the house. Samuel, Omar and Guillermo problem solved around each issue and got the job done. I would give Smart Penny Moving my highest recommendation. And I thought their prices were very reasonable.
Lucy M
MAJOR MAJOR thank you to Samuel and Irvin!!! Not only were they super quick and helpful, but they were also incredibly kind and a joy to work with. They were both so careful my belongings, which means a great deal to me, you can’t say that about many movers. I’ve moved at least 3 times in the past 5 or so years and have only ever used Smart Penny, and I’ll continue to do so! Thanks again!
Kenny Iannuzzi
This is my second time using Smart Penny Movers and I could not recommend them highly enough. They are very professional, very communicative and take great care of your things. Estuardo was the main mover and he was fantastic! They are also very up front with costs and very reasonable.
Urshila Sriram
Estuardo, Guillermo, and Alex were wonderful! They were lovely to work with and very efficient and professional. Completed our large 2-bedroom apartment move in ~3 hours, we couldn’t have done it without them. Would highly recommend to anyone looking for movers in the area!!
Susan Stephenson
Smart Penny Moving delivered! Communication with Michael and Alan all through the process was great. I’m sure I called out of regular business hours a few times to change or clarify things, but it didn’t seem to bother them. The pick up was done by 3 guys within 6 hours. It was stunning to watch the speed and care they took packing 20 years of life and a 2 BR house into one truck. Estuado wrapped everything well and took special care of the special items. The delivery the other end was just as careful with Juan in charge. I felt a bit lazy being the ‘director’ and not lifting boxes, but the mover suggested (tactfully) that would make the process go quicker. Had I known my move would have been this smooth, I think I’d have relaxed before they arrived. THANK YOU!
Alifa Watkins
Estuardo, Alex and Omar were the BEST movers I’ve ever had. They were patient, communicative, and went above and beyond to make sure everything was where we wanted it. Even when they didn’t even expect as big of a job as they walked in to, they were very graceful and were up to the task. 10/5!!!
Emeric Viani
Outstanding experience. Quick quote for a small job to move a couch across town, cheapest of five companies I contacted. Final price ended up being $100 less due to how much time the job took. Both movers were exceedingly kind, prompt, and efficient. I would gladly use them again in the future.
Leah Kosch
Alberto Alex Omar were fantastic. They moved our piano!! They were efficient, great with communication, and did a great job with our move. We’ve used Smart Penny twice now and would use them again.
Andrew Malison-Reardon
Samuel, Omar, and Guillermo were fantastic movers. They were efficient, polite, and thoughtful when handling our belongings. I highly recommend using them for your move.
Lucie feufeu
Estuardo was excellent, fast, and efficient. I was moved into my apartment quickly and everything was delivered safely without any damage. Would 100% recommend!
Kaila Wilson Birchall
Our movers were excellent! They showed up a little early. They were very efficient with moving everything both in and out. They were quick to arrive at our house. Everything was handled with care. They were also very friendly! Great price, the company is very professional! Online system to figure out pricing was excellent! Would highly recommend.
Charlotte Dobbs
We had a great move today with Samuel and his crew! They were so kind, helpful and strong! They took great care of our things and did a great job disassembling and reassembling some of our furniture. They really took care to make sure that we had an easy process of moving and getting settled in. We are so grateful!
