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I recently moved from Texas to Washington. I thought I was savvy about moving companies because I had used a national line once before. I did everything right. I got quotes from five different companies, filled out inventory lists, checked their licensing, etc. The national companies were too expensive, but the smaller companies were comparable in price. After sending e-mails back and forth to the various representatives, my husband and I chose a company with a middle-of-the-road quote.

At the same time, I checked to see how much it would cost if we rented a truck, loaded it ourselves and drove it. Since we were moving from Texas to Washington, we really didn't want to drive a truck through the mountains in January. If he drove the truck, I would have to drive our car and I had never driven on ice or snow. Besides, the estimates from the moving companies were within a couple hundred dollars of the quote for the rental truck. So why wouldn't we go with a moving company and let them do all the work? This is where I made my mistake.

1. No matter how well you fill out an inventory list, the final weight will always increase. The reason is that when you provide an inventory, you usually do so prior to packing. Invariably, you fail to include or greatly underestimate the number of boxes of stuff that you will end up packing at the last minute. You know, the stuff you hoped to sell at a garage sale that never sold and you hate to just give it away. In my case, it was about another 700 pounds. What had started out costing $2,000 ended up costing $4,000. This meant that we could have done it cheaper had we rented a truck and loaded it ourselves, though I'm still not sure I would have opted to do the driving in the mountains and snow.

2. If you are doing the packing yourself (which I would suggest, because it's costly if the moving company does it for you), you could get boxes free from grocery stores and liquor stores; but, if you're planning to store much of your stuff after it arrives at your new home, then buy some clear plastic bins. Boxes tend to break down or rip, and they're never the right size. You can purchase clear plastic bins at WalMart, Target, etc. for less than $5 each. If the lids don't lock, tape them down; but first, insert a sheet of paper against the inside of the bin listing what is in each box.

3. Get a binding estimate. Even though the state guarantees that a moving company cannot exceed a non-binding estimate by anymore than 10% of the total quote,

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