Moving House

Recently my family needed to move from one part of New Jersey to another. Relatively simply process, right? How much could it cost?
As it turns out, it cost A LOT. There is apparently no such thing as a cheap moving truck rental. The moving service that we spoke to gave us an estimate of approximately $8,000, but "possibly more, depending." We spoke to some family and friends who had experience moving, and realized that "possibly more" could mean a good $5,000 more. So we decided to do it ourselves.
The first step was finding a moving truck rental company. At this juncture comparison shopping is crucial. I used an online moving truck directory, http://movingtruckrental.net, got a few quotes and compared them. I will say that it was annoying finding a quote, because they don't actually give you a quote online. They insist on calling you, pitching you, and negotiating.
We ended up going with Penske.
The second step was packing. Now, when you are packing you definitely want to bear in mind what you will immediately need when you arrive at your new home. Towels, blankets, sheets, a fresh change of clothing for the next day, etc. And you will want to pack accordingly. Small tip: When you start packing make sure that you have all of the packing materials necessary BEFORE you start. There is nothing more annoying than not having enough boxes or tape. Believe me.
One thing you might want to hire professionals for is heavy furniture moving, like, say, pianos. It's only a few hundred dollars as opposed to tens of thousands, so it's still worth it.
Loading up the truck was a bit of a hassle. We did not store the boxes in weight order, so they were a bit difficult to organize in the truck. Learn from our mistakes with that one.

And that was it. We moved all of our items, brought the truck into the next service station, and that was it.