I had no idea how much stuff I have collected over the years until we decided to move to a new city. We figured that the best way to move was to hire a mover and let them do all of the work. That was our idea until we got a few estimates for the cost of a moving company. The price we were quoted was way beyond our budget. We decided to look at other alternatives. One alternative was to get rid of all of our stuff, but that was quickly nixed by my husband. We decided to look into methods of moving and storing stuff that would let us do all of the work.

The method that intrigued us the most was the idea of using some type of pods. We had seen these boxes in the driveways of people that were renovating their homes in the neighborhood and had heard that they can be used to move from one place to another. We decided that this may be the best option for us and decided to see what Pods.com had to offer us.

The idea of Pods.com offered us many things that we were looking for.

• Dropping off the container at our home – We did not have to go pick up the Pods or go get a truck to haul the storage container to our house. It was delivered and placed in our driveway.
• Freedom to pack when we could – If we had rented a truck to move our stuff, we would have had to pack up the truck and move our stuff to our new home in a timely fashion. With the Pods we were able to pack at a slower pace and it did not interfere with the other things we had to do while preparing to move.
• Ease of pick up – All we had to do to get the Pods picked up was make a phone call and they came and got it.
• Ability to store the Pod – If we wanted to we could have stored the things in the storage unit at the company’s facility until we were ready to move. That allowed us to control our move a lot better. The Pods can be stored at either end of the move which is very appealing when moving long distances.
• No rush – The only limits that we had about how long the Pods could be on our property were the rules of the community we were living in and the one that we were moving to.
• Cost – The cost of the Pods was much less than the cost of using a moving company and their storage facilities.
• Security – We knew where our stuff was and they offer a secure storage facility if needed.

Once we saw that the Pods.com would fit our needs, we took the next step. We were able to get a quote on the cost of the Pods without any obligation to use them. That was when we found out more things about the Pods storage containers.

There are only two size choices of the Pods. We could choose a 7 foot container or a 16 foot container. According to the company, the 7X7X8 container is good for one room and the 16X8X8 container would hold 3 to 4 rooms. We knew that we would need at least 2 Pods if not more and were not sure how this would work.

We got the quote for moving 2 Pods from our old home to our new home. The quote included all of the taxes and applicable delivery charges. We were also provided with information about the cost of packing supplies and the cost of storage of the Pods when they were not in transit. There were no hidden costs, although if we did get everything they offered, the total price would be much higher than we anticipated.

We sat down and weighed our options and decided that it was time to give Pods.com a try. Now that we have used them, it is time to let others know how well they met their expectations. Before I say what they did and did not do, it is important to note that we knew this was not the perfect solution to our moving. If money was not an obstacle we would have paid whatever we needed to have someone else do the work of packing up all of our stuff and hauling off to our new destination. Then they could unpack it and decorate our new home for us. That may be ideal, but it was not going to happen within our budget. It was much better for us to deal with what did happen.

The first thing that worked in our favor was the ability to pack at our own pace. We both had jobs and it would have been hard to pack all of our house up in a day or two. We had the first pod delivered. Since we had a 3 bedroom house with 3 other rooms and two bathrooms plus an attic and a shed, we figured that this would not hold all of our belongings. We were right, but by getting only one of them delivered we did not take up our entire driveway. While the pod was there, we were able to use our driveway and our garage.

The pod was easy to order and the agent we talked to helped us through the process. Payment was easy. It was done by credit card. The storage unit was delivered and was in good shape. It was relatively clean on the inside and we felt fine putting our things in it. The delivery came on time and we started to fill up the pod that night.

We made our first mistake by not listening to the agent that told us we could put a lock on the storage container to secure our things. Fortunately nothing was taken in the two days it took us to put a lock on the door. There were some people that were looking at the pod that we did not trust, so the lock is a necessity.

We did not have a deadline to have the pod picked up and that was a good thing. There were some days when we could not do much packing and there were a few days where we were able to get some help and pack up a lot. When we filled up the first pod it only took one phone call to have it picked up. The company stored it at their facility and a second pod was delivered.

The estimates of how much the pods can hold were fairly accurate. We were able to fit everything into 2 pods. It was basically 7 rooms of stuff. One of the benefits of packing ourselves is we were able to get rid of some of the things that we did not need. We stored those things and had a garage sale before we moved to make some money to offset the cost of the pods.

One of the best things about the pods from Pods.com is that they sit at ground level. We did not have to constantly walk up and down a ramp as we loaded the pods. We filled up the second pod and had it picked up. We arranged for it to be delivered to our new home in a week and a half. The pods were delivered one at a time so we could get the stuff out easier. They were delivered in good shape. The only damage was the result of poor packing on our part.

The final price of the pods was pretty much what we expected. We did pay a little extra for the storage while we loaded and unloaded, but it was reasonable.

In the end, the benefits of the pods outweighed the negatives. I am not sure how much I enjoyed doing all of the work myself. To me that is the biggest downside of Pods. However, the fact that I saved money doing this without a lot of stress more than made up for the hard work that is required with this moving option.