Because you are in Virginia... Unless you have some really precious and valuable furniture, you can save a lot of money by shipping most things yourself in boxes and putting the rest in your car(s) and getting on the Auto Train. It leaves from Lorton, VA and arrives in Orlando the next morning. Then it is an hour and 15 minute drive to The Villages. We just did this with my in-laws. They serve dinner and breakfast and you get a good night's sleep (we did the room and not the coach seats, not sure how easy it is to sleep in those) and nice views when it is still light out. It was fun. We put all of the large luggage pieces, breakable items, and even their flat screen TV in our cars.
For packing, we went to my in-laws house and went through every item. For the stuff they didn't want to keep (including all furniture that couldn't fit in their car) - we took it to goodwill, gave it away to friends and family, sold it online, or trashed it. We shipped all books through USPS media mail. We shipped everything else with FedEx Ground "Home Delivery" and specified evening delivery so that we could get it after we got off the train and drove to their new home. There were 60 boxes altogether which cost around $2,000 to ship. Two coach seats on the train is $200-500 depending on how far in advance you book. Or a room with bunk beds is $800 or more if you want a private bathroom (not necessary - the bathrooms are like airplane bathrooms anyway). A car is about $250 but can be packed to the gills. Shortly after we arrived in their house, the FedEx truck pulled up with the boxes.
There are lots of thrift stores in this area with good stuff for very reasonable prices. Or you could buy new, or get things shipped from IKEA in Orlando, etc.
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