Moving house can be at once the most exciting and most stressful undertaking you can commit to. Uprooting your whole life and transporting it across the country or across the city is hard enough: it doesn’t need to be expensive on top of that. There are plenty of ways you can save money when moving, and today we’re going to take you through the most essential ways to save money on your move.
Stay organized
The most important thing to do when moving to help save money is to make sure you have a plan. Create a detailed checklist of everything that needs to get done. Spend a couple of weeks leading up to the move creating the checklist so you have time and don’t miss anything.
One of the biggest expenses you’ll incur when moving home is premium prices for getting things sorted out at the last minute. Any delays are likely to cost you money as well. On the run-up to moving day, make sure everything is packed and ready to go, and you aren’t leaving any surprises for yourself. Save yourself the drama.
Packing
Another way that being organized helps you save money is that it gives you plenty of time to source free packing and storage. Buying moving boxes is an unnecessary expense; we live in a world of cardboard boxes, and there’s always plenty available to find for free. Look to local supermarkets or any kind of large store; they’re likely to have lots of free cardboard boxes that they would otherwise just throw away.
Equally, if you have any friends or family who’ve recently moved, they might be able to help you out with the boxes they don’t need. Don’t forget about that freely available packing material, either: newspaper. Bubble wrap is expensive as well!
Even without enough boxes, be creative; think about your laundry baskets, trash cans, and even suitcases and bags all make great extra storage for your things.
Have a yard sale
Leaving your old house can be stressful, and even sad, but one thing it certainly helps you do is to declutter. In the weeks leading up to your move, plan to have a yard sale, or even just start trying to sell some of your old stuff online. You’ll come to realize as you’re packing up that you’ve accumulated a lot of stuff that you no longer need, and moving it with you just makes the job harder.
This is a great way to save money on your move, as anything you make on the sale you can offset against your total moving costs and you’ll have less stuff to take with you.
Get help
We don’t always like to ask, but the fact is that getting help from friends and family to move house is one of the best ways to save money on your move. Whether they have a van they can help you move with, a basement you can store some stuff in, or just a strong pair of arms to carry stuff out of the house, asking for help is always one of the best ways to save money. Buy them a pizza when the job’s done!
Use up food
One of the things that can accumulate most over years in the house is food. Non-perishables, canned food, dried food, that kilo of quinoa you bought two years ago because you were going to start a superfood diet—all of these items can be very heavy, and will add to your moving costs.
In the weeks leading up to the move, try and get through as much of this as you can, or simply donate it. Of course, using it up would save you more money than having to buy other foods.
Furthermore, when the moving date is getting closer, try and empty your fridge and freezer too, and don’t stock up on those items anymore. Moving large amounts of food can add to your costs very quickly.
Insurance
You need to know you’re covered against any major mishaps when moving—insurance isn’t a cost you should skimp on. That said, don’t rush to fork out money for expensive moving insurance when you may already be covered. Yo
In many cases, your current home insurance will already cover you for the duration of the move. You’ll most likely have to make your insurers aware of the move, but this is a good way to find out if you’re covered, too.
You can also check the insurance that the movers have—if you’re using professional movers, most of the time they will be covered against any mishaps.
Bottom line—check if you’re already covered before spending more!
Book an off-peak moving day
Moving companies will set prices based on demand for slots on a particular day. Unsurprisingly, the most popular times to move are typically at the weekend. If possible, try and arrange a slot sometime in the week. This will save you a lot of money on your move, and you’ll also most likely have more choices of time slots. Moving at the weekend is going to be more expensive.
DIY removal
When moving, you should always try to do as much as you can yourself. Taking your furniture and belongings from A to B is one part of a much longer process. If you can make the time, you can save money on your move by completing as many steps as possible yourself.
Disassemble your furniture, do all your own packing, and you can even load the items onto the moving truck yourself. All of this will save money on your move by reducing the cost of the removals.
Storage
If you’re not able to move straight into your new home, you may need to store some stuff for a while, and this can become a big expense. Be sure to shop around and compare offers, or as I said earlier, see if a friend has a basement you can use for a while. Decluttering will again help you save money here since you’ll have less stuff to store.
Cleaning
Finally, one of the biggest expenses with moving can often not even go to the moving job at all: just to cleaning your old house. If you can make the time in the weeks leading up to your move, clean the whole place yourself. Don’t hire a cleaning company to do it, or if you simply don’t have time, again be sure to shop around for the best deal.
