Moving from Melbourne to Brisbane and the costs households overlook

Detailed summary

An interstate move can offer a fresh start, but getting there involves more than a removal truck. read now...

An interstate move can offer a fresh start, but getting there involves more than a removal truck.

Planning for furniture, vehicle transport and the gap between homes helps households understand what the move will actually cost.

To move from Melbourne to Brisbane on a budget, reduce your load, compare itemised removal quotes and calculate the full cost of driving versus transporting your car. Coordinate delivery windows with key collection and allow for storage, temporary accommodation and transport if arrivals are delayed.

A lower rent or a new job can make moving from Melbourne to Brisbane an appealing decision. Before making that commitment, however, a household needs to know how much money it will take to leave one home and become settled in another.

The removal quote is one part of that calculation. There may also be cleaning, packing materials, travel, temporary accommodation and several days without a car. For someone waiting on a returned bond or their first pay in a new role, the timing of those payments matters.

The most useful starting questions are, how will the furniture, the car and the people moving reach the new address and what happens if they arrive on different days.

An interstate moving budget should cover the period from packing the old home to being able to live and work normally in the new one.

That means allowing for meals while the kitchen is packed, somewhere to sleep if the keys are not yet available and transport if the car is still in transit. Check whether either property will require a booking for lift access or a particular loading time.

Refundable payments need their own place in the budget. A bond is different from a moving expense, but it still ties up cash. Avoid building a plan that depends on the old bond being returned before the new one is due.

Opening of the article, excerpted from Independent Australia. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.