It's New Years Day, 2019, and our U-Boxes have arrived! We'll move to Northern Arizona, buy some land, raise chickens and figure out how to live off grid. After looking hard at the cost of renting a truck vs. a box, we chose U-Box and here's why.Reason #1: More Time to PackWe need to take our time packing our stuff. Let's face it, Dan and I are not young so the days of packing an entire house into a truck in a day or two are over. We considered hiring a couple of guys to load, and that was part of our cost analysis. Bottom line - we want to load the boxes slowly and steadily over a few weeks and make sure it is done right. Reducing stress in our lives is important so we actively look for ways to reduce stress. Moving will be very stressful, but with more time to pack, we will reduce that stress considerably. Of course, we pay rent on the boxes while we are packing them but we think it is worth it.Reason #2: We Don't Have to Drive a Big LoadOf course, we will have to drive something, but with the UBox we don't have to drive a big, heavy truck. The U-Haul people will pick up the U-Boxes and ship them to Arizona when we tell them to. Nice!Reason #3: We Don't Know Where We'll End UpOur hope is to buy a house in Northern Arizona, but we will probably have to rent a place somewhere or stay in a hotel until the loan closes. I will be working virtually so we can be flexible about location. Dan is Navy retired so he can live anywhere. We may even stay in the Phoenix area for a while. It is very nice in the Valley of the Sun this time of year.Below is a cost breakdown. We are renting two boxes so if you would only need one, it would be different. Yes, the U-Boxes a bit more expensive vs. the U-Haul truck, but we think the advantages are worth it.Big truck delivers the 2 U-Boxes to our house in CA: $99Rental for first month: $0 (This was a special U-Haul was running. Usually $139/mo.)Optional Insurance for our Stuff: $12 each box, per month.Big truck picks up the U-Box in CA: $99Shipping to Northern AZ: $1036Rental for each month the boxes are stored: $139Delivery to our new home in AZ: $99So there they are, two U-Boxes sitting in our carport. If we work on packing every day, we'll get them packed with very little stress.And that is a very good thing.- Maxine Raymor -