The American Express blue cash card is one of the best credit cards to use for your moving expenses because of it’s cash back program and it’s services that can make the details of moving easier.

The cashback you earn on the money you spend for moving expenses won’t be spectacular but it will help you move more quickly into the highest cash rewards tier.  Moving expenses can definitely add up: buying boxes and shipping materials, renting moving trucks, hiring movers, cleaning out or repairing your new or old home, paying for gas, paying deposits, etc.  Of course there are things you can do to reduce your moving costs but it’s still an expensive life event.

Earn Rewards Faster

Blue Cash from American Express earns 5% cashback on gas, drugstore, and grocery purchases after you’ve reached the second tier of spending.  Putting all of your moving expenses on the blue cash card will help you reach that 5% cash back level more quickly.  Of course this same concept could apply to any big ticket expenses in your life.  For example, when we finished off our basement we put almost all the expenses on our blue cash card so we reached the level of 5% rewards really quickly that year.

Save Money on Moving Expenses

American Express occassionally teams up with other companies to offer you a discount if you pay with one of their credit cards.  For example, if you use your Blue Cash card to rent a truck from Budget through their website for the next two months, they’ll give you 15% off the cost of the rental.

Dispute Charges

When you move to a new place you’ll be spending money at new businesses and with new service providers.  You can use reviews and referrals to help figure out which ones you can trust to hire or buy from during and after the move but you still might end up having a bad experience with a business.  One of the families I know that moved recently had some issues with their moving company and is still working to dispute charges that were put on thier credit card bill.

If you’re billed by such a merchant for something you don’t feel you owe, American Express makes it easy to raise a red flag. Of course most credit cards have the ability to dispute charges but American Express makes it easy to initiate.  Your online records have a button where you can open an inquiry and their interactive services team will walk you through the steps necessary.

Online Statement Record Keeping

If you need to keep track of all moving expenses for budgeting reaons or if you need to submit a portion of the costs to your employer for reimbursement then the online statement that Amex provides is very helpful.

Unlike other cards that simply list the charge amount, a brief merchant description, and the date; American Express provides all the detail you need when submitting expense reports

Here is an example of the detail for one of the charges I made recently on a business trip to Chicago.  This is an expense my company will reimburse me for but I couldn’t find the reciept anywhere once I returned home.  The good news is that my online credit card statement provided more than enough information for me to submit it on my expense report.

Save Time & Money Moving

Moving can be a tedious and expensive process so we all look for ways to cut the cost and stress of the event. The American Express Blue Cash card can help with cash back rewards, discounts on moving, disputing charges, and managing your expense reciepts. Of course not all businesses accept American Express cards so it’s helpful to carry a cash back visa card and some extra cash when moving as well.

People enjoy being comfortable, and moving takes us out of our comfort zone. We leave behind old friends, a familiar school district, the restaurants we love, and the advisors we trust. It can take years to to find and build relationships with quality professionals like our doctor, accountant, contractor, financial planner, and attorney.

It’s stressful and a bit scary moving to a new city and not knowing who to turn to for help. Simply calling a random professional in the phone book can potentially turn out to be a disaster. So, what should you do? We’ll take a look at a few things you can try to help find someone that you can trust.  Getting a good referral, checking with the local chamber of commerce, and taking a test run with potential candidates are strategies that can actually be combined to help you be sure you’re picking the right advisor.

Ask for a Referral

The best way to find a professional that you can trust is from a personal referral. At your new job, ask a co-worker that seems to have their stuff together who they use for their attorney, financial planner, or CPA. You can also ask a neighbor that you’ve begun a friendship with, members of a new church, or contacts in any community organizations you join. If you are a fan of Dave Ramsey, he has a nice network of “endorsed local providers”, which is a network of professionals all around the country that he trusts will take care of you.

If you aren’t moving too far away from your old town, you can also ask your former professional. Many attorneys, doctors, and CPA’s have friends and colleagues around the state. It never hurts to ask them if they know anyone in the new city you are moving to. If they are losing your business, they are usually happy to refer you to someone they trust will take care of you.

Check Angies List

Angies List is a service where members share their experiences with local professionals and rate them on a variety of factors such as overall experience, price, quality, responsiveness, and timeliness.  The site has been around since the mid 1990’s so it should have a considerable amount of reviews built up by now.  It started off focusing on contractors and service companies but lately has added health care providers as well. Give Angies List a try to hear what other consumers are saying about the professional you’re considering.

Check With Your Local Chamber of Commerce

If you have a decent local chamber of commerce, they should be able to point you to the professionals in your new town that are well-established with a good reputation. Many trusted professionals join their local chamber of commerce as a way to network with other professionals and gain leads on potential clients.

Take a Test Run

Once you have a short list of potential candidates the best way to find out if they’re as good as their reputation is to give them a test run.  Treat the first consultation or visit as an interview. Grill the professional you meet with and make sure they have the professional skills you’re looking for and the ethical values that you look for in a person.

Keep your old professional

This won’t work for a doctor or dentist, but many professionals such as a CPA, attorney, or financial planner can help you with all of your business from a different location. Teleconferencing and videoconferencing allow you to continue working with some types of advisors remotely, so don’t feel like you have to dump your professional just because you are moving.

Consider a combination of these approaches to help you find a professional in your new area, and you should come out with a winner. Remember, you are the customer, and they are there to meet your needs. Don’t be afraid to ask any relevant questions, and make sure they are up front with you about their fees from the beginning.

When you’re caught up in the mayhem of a big move, the thought of setting up a new utility account or closing out a cable bill may be one of the last things on your mind. It seems there are always additional expenses when closing out old accounts and opening up new ones, and many of us blindly pay the fees tacked on to new bills. My wife incurred quite a few extra fees during our move, and the current utility company was a bunch of jerks, and they wouldn’t work with us. Here are a few tips to easily transfer your life from one city to another without incurring many expenses.

Request a mail transfer online.

If you’re local post office is not convenient to get to, you can go onto USPS.com and make a request to transfer your mail from one address to another for only a $1.00. It’s really convenient and very cheap. It’s free to transfer your mail if you fill out the paper form, but I find that the $1.00 is worth the convenience. You want to make sure your transfer your mail right away so you don’t miss any bills and end up owing late fees.

Avoid putting down a deposit on a new utilities account.

Our new utilities company in Orlando slapped a $165.00 deposit fee onto our first bill. We had never paid a deposit on our utilities in the past, so I called them up and asked if they would accept letters of reference from our old utilities company. They refused, so I was stuck putting down the deposit.

However, some companies will accept a letter of reference from your past utility company showing that you have a history of paying on time. If at all possible try to avoid putting down deposits with utilties companies, it’s easy to forget about collecting this money years down the road when you’re in the middle of a big move.

Avoid Paying Service Initiation Fees.

Again, our utilities company tried to slap us a service initiation fee, but we got this waived after a long conversation about how they didn’t do anything to warrant charging this fee. Bright House, which has been a GREAT cable company for us so far, did not charge any set-up fees when they came out to set up our cable. Many companies will try to slip these fees in on your first bill, but call up their customer service line and try to get them waived.

Find a new bank with a no fee checking account.

We use Bank of America largely for the fact that we can move anywhere in the southeast and have a BOA branch next to us. We aren’t the biggest fans of Bank of America for a variety of reasons, but the convenience and the free checking account keeps us there. If you need to move away from your local bank that doesn’t have a branch in your new city, you can check out the local credit unions in your new city. They typically have no-fee, no-nonsense banking principles.

With the squeeze of the economy, finding ways to save money has become more important than ever. Moving can be a big expense, and the last thing you want happening is to get slapped with big fees from your new utility or cable company. If you have more ideas for saving, comment below.

Recently, my wife and I made a long distance move from Jacksonville, Florida to Orlando, Florida. We were no strangers to moving, it was our third time making a move in four years. Hopefully, it will be our last move for a while!

Through our many moves, we’ve lived and learned about things to do and things not to do when moving our stuff from one place to another. Our philosophy for moving is to find the least expensive way to move our stuff in the most professional and less time consuming way possible. I know, this sounds like an unattainable task, but our last move came close to attaining these goals.

Here are five tips to reduce your moving expenses while still moving in a professional manner.

Check Craigslist For Moving Supplies

 If you want to move the right way, you need the right supplies. This means that you need sturdy moving boxes and good packing paper or bubble wrap. My wife was browsing through Craigslist one night, and she found a couple who was selling about 25 to 30 boxes with four wardrobe boxes. We went to go look at them, and we saw that they saved all of the packing paper to go with the boxes. So, for $20.00 we got 30 boxes and four garbage bags full of packing paper. Getting these boxes and paper really helped us pack our stuff properly and safely.

Drive Your Own Moving Truck

Using a full-service moving company is extremely expensive. Even if you want or need movers to help you load up and unload the truck, you can rent your own truck and hire movers to load up and unload. We used Budget Truck rentals, and I highly recommend them for finding the best deal. If you go online to forward your mail at USPS , you can download a 20% off coupon for a truck rental on a one-way move. Budget gave us two days to make the move and unlimited mileage. With longer moves, they will give you more days to complete the move. We only moved 150 miles away. Penske is another good truck rental company, but they tend to be a little more expensive. I would never recommend U-Haul for a long distance move. They’re trucks are old and not well maintained.

Only Drive the Truck from Point A to Point B

You’re paying for your own gas, and gas isn’t cheap right now. The Truck has a 30 to 35 gallon tank, and it only gets about 10 miles to the gallon. So, don’t do any extra riding in the truck or make any errands around town with it. It may sound like common sense, but you’ll find yourself using it to go to Home Depot and other places while you still have it. It’s not worth paying for all of the extra gas.

Recruit Help to Load and Unload

Unfortunately, we had to move on a Monday afternoon, and we could not find anyone to help us, so we used two professional movers to help us load up the truck. It was actually a blessing, because our stuff barely fit in the 16′ truck. Their expertise helped us load it up to fit everything. But, if you have friends or family in the area, getting them to help you load up and/or unload is a blessing, because it saves time and money. If you’re going to recruit help, make it a fun event. Order some food, and make it a moving party.

Move During the Week

Most people move on the weekend, so truck rental companies and moving companies will increase their rates for the weekend. Move during the week, and you’ll save on a truck rental and movers if you need help loading up or unloading the truck.

For any of you that have done a long distance move, you know that you can end up spending thousands of dollars just to move your stuff from one place to another. We like the balance saving money on moving with spending enough to get our stuff safely moved. Follow these tips and you’ll have your stuff moved safely while saving a ton of money.

We did our move for less than $600, and our budget was $750. Even though it was still a big chunk of change, nothing was damaged and we were still under budget. Do you have any tips to save money while moving? Share it with us in a comment below.

Packing up and moving to another part of town or to a new city can be an expensive experience if you don’t manage your moving costs.

Of course the average moving expenses will vary depending on factors like how far you’re moving, how much stuff you’re taking, and whether you hire a moving company or not; but you can certainly make decisions that make the whole process cheaper.

Obviously if you can have some of your relocation expenses reimbursed by your employer that can make a dent in the cost but if you’re moving for reasons other than your job then you’ll be faced with the full expense yourself.  Unfortunately in tough economic times some people are moving because they may have lost a job or even their home.  Keeping moving expenses low is even more important in these cases since money is already very tight.

We know several people that moved recently due to housing needs and Erik’s family moved due to career reasons.  Over the next few days we’ll take a look at their experiences and how they found ways to cut costs and manage their finances while moving, check out the articles on moving expenses below:

• 5 Tips For Reducing Your Moving Expenses
• Moving Expenses – Paying Bills On Time & Avoiding New Fees
• How to Find a Doctor, Accountant, or Plumber You Can Trust in a New City
• American Express Blue Cash Card Can Help You Move