Key Takeaways
- Long distance moves are generally priced on shipment weight and mileage, so what you keep can affect the cost.
- Settle the big pieces before long distance movers build the estimate, and point out anything that will be gone by moving day.
- Movers commonly refuse hazardous household products, and Hennepin County’s drop-off facility in Bloomington takes them.
- Load day is the real deadline, so book the city’s monthly pickup when you book the truck.
For long distance moves out of Bloomington, pricing is generally based on shipment weight and mileage rather than an hourly rate. The recliner you were lukewarm about stops being clutter. It becomes freight with a price attached, so the useful question before the truck shows up is what can leave the house some other way.
Sort the Heavy Pieces Before the Junk Drawer
Start with the heaviest pieces: furniture, appliances, a treadmill, the garage workbench and everything bolted to it. Deciding on those early usually does more for an estimate than weeding out kitchen gadgets. Spatulas are light. A dresser isn’t.
A workable test for each piece is whether you’d sooner replace it than ship it. Flat-pack furniture can also be worth reconsidering if it is inexpensive to replace or difficult to reassemble. Duplicates tend to be the easiest cuts, like a spare TV or the extra set of dishes from a merged household. Heavy and irreplaceable is a different category, and a grandparent’s rolltop desk can earn its freight.
The new floor plan settles a lot of arguments. Sketch where the big pieces will go, and anything without a clear spot becomes a candidate to stay behind. If the new place already has a washer and dryer, the old pair is weight you don’t need to pay for. Books and old paperwork deserve a look too, since boxes of them add up quickly.
Start With What the Truck Won’t Take
Movers commonly refuse hazardous household products, and each company keeps its own list, so ask your mover for its version in writing. In a typical Bloomington garage or basement, that means leftover paint and stain, solvents, pesticides, pool chemicals, aerosols, motor oil and the gas can for the mower. None of it belongs in the garbage cart, either.
Hennepin County runs a drop-off facility for household hazardous waste on West 96th Street in Bloomington, and it accepts many of those materials. It’s open Tuesday through Saturday, so a Sunday garage purge usually ends with a loaded trunk and a wait until Tuesday.
The same facility handles old electronics and appliances. TVs, computer monitors, laptops and large appliances carry per-item fees, while many smaller electronics such as phones, printers and audio equipment are accepted at no charge. For the printer that stopped talking to your laptop two years ago, that’s the obvious exit. Furniture isn’t accepted there, which is where the city comes in.
Furniture Can Go to a New Home Instead
Households on City of Bloomington garbage and recycling service can book a monthly bulky item pickup for furniture, mattresses, large appliances, bicycles and tools. There’s no extra charge at pickup, since the cost is built into a fee on the utility bill, and usable furniture may end up at Bridging, which helps furnish homes for people in need.
The catches are condition and eligibility. Furniture has to be free of rips and stains, and reclining or powered pieces aren’t accepted, so that recliner needs another plan. The program is available to properties receiving City garbage service, including eligible single-family homes, duplexes and some townhomes. Apartment residents should check with building management for their available options.
Pickups happen during the opening full week of each month and have to be booked at least two business days ahead. Miss that and the next chance is roughly a month away.
Line the Clear-Out Up With the Truck
Long distance moves usually get booked weeks ahead, and that’s where the calendar math gets tight. Daymakers Moving & Storage, for one, suggests booking its long distance movers in Bloomington four to six weeks out, giving you time to work a monthly city pickup into the schedule.
Its process starts with a walkthrough, in person or by live video, used to build a weight-based estimate, then a written plan covering packing scope, load day, the transit window and the delivery date. If the estimate comes from a walkthrough, point out which items will be gone before moving day so the inventory reflects what is going on the truck.
That makes load day the real deadline for the clear-out. So the order that tends to work is booking the mover, then locking in the pickup week, then fitting the county run around it. Packing comes after, when there’s less to pack, and if a crew is doing it, keep the donation pile clearly marked or out of the house.
Pack for the Days Between Load and Delivery
On a long distance move, delivery can land days after load day, so whatever you need in between has to travel with you. That usually means documents, valuables, chargers and a few days of clothes, plus anything small and hard to replace. Keep the estimate and anything else the mover puts in writing in the same bag, along with a basic tool kit, since beds and tables often come apart for the trip.
The kitchen is its own call. Depending on the mover’s restrictions, opened food may land on a no-load list, which is as good an excuse as any to cook through the cupboard before the truck comes.
A Lighter Truck Starts in the Garage
None of this has to eat a weekend. It takes two dates on the calendar, the pickup week and a run to West 96th Street, both set before the tape gun comes out.
The less you send with the truck, the less you have to pack, move and unpack.