OK, so you think you can save yourself some money by handling your own relocation. Nothing could be further from the truth, and I speak from experience. Recently, I moved house, and it was only a few streets away. “What’s the point in employing someone to do this for me?” I thought.
Little did I know this was one of the biggest mistakes anyone can make, packing up a home is hard work, and it takes time, making sure you label boxes correctly, and pack your items so they’re safe isn’t the easiest thing in the world to do.
I spent an inordinate amount of money on boxes, tape and packing materials, but I got there in the end. Everything was packed and the moving day loomed. I didn’t think I would need to hire a removal company, I thought I would just hire a van instead, fill it with all my stuff, and drive it to the new place. (Incidentally, there were two elderly cats to contend with as well).
Lifting heavy loads
I wasn’t on my own; I had the help of my husband, and his parents, so we all “mucked” in. The first thing I realised was lifting boxes full of books or other heavy items were harder than I thought. Loading them on to the van was even more difficult. This took the best part of a day to do, and remember, I was only moving a few streets away.
Eventually we managed to get all our belongings to the new house, guess what? Yes, then realised I had to unload the van, and start unpacking. We ended up working long after the sun had gone down, and to be honest, unpacking my items was the last thing on my mind. The whole move (including unpacking everything) took well in excess of 4 days!
Oh, and I forgot to tell you the van was too small to handle everything at once so we had to make more than two or three trips! We also had no idea how to load the van properly so some of our items were damaged. Imagine undertaking a job like this when you’re moving to another town that’s at least 30 minutes away, or even further?
Avoid spending too much
The issues that can arise will make your move way more difficult than it should be, and it can end up costing you money. For instance, we paid for fuel that we hadn’t anticipated, and ended up spending money on replacing items that had been damaged. Not only that, everyone was at breaking point by the time we finished.
Given the experience described above, my advice is, NEVER undertake relocations on your own. There are professionals out there who do this for a living for a reason. They know how to efficiently pack your items so they’re properly protected, they have specially equipped vehicles so you don’t end up with boxes falling over, and they know how to get the job done quickly.
Don’t think you’ll be saving yourself any money, moving is stressful enough without going through the problems I did (by the way, the cats are fine).
