It is never easy to choose whether to move yourself and try to save yourself some expense or to shell out the money and have someone pack your things and move your stuff for you.
There is a lot to look at. This is what I have learned thus far out of all the moves I have done.
Having someone move your things for you:
Many of my moves in the past were with the US Air Force who came in, packed your stuff and moved it for you and then they would deliver it and you unpacked yourself.
Having packers pack your stuff means they are not going to be as careful with your things nor will they really pack relevant things or worry about fragile things being under heavier items. They will fill the boxes and use tons of paper wrap for nearly everything. If you left an orange out, they'd wrap it and put it in there, a booger, yep, they'd wrap it and put it in there.
Now the bad thing about this is that your boxes could have some mismatched items and not be labeled with what you deem is more important so you know what's in it. The movers tend to put on the boxes where it came from, what room.
The other bad thing is the cost. Hiring movers is very expensive to do, professionals do not come cheap.
The good thing is not having to move anything heavy on your own. Plus, they will pack the truck very tight so as to avoid anything from falling or getting broken. They don't usually use bubble wrap however so the getting broke part can be questionable.
Moving yourself can also be expensive but not nearly as much as hiring someone if you shop around.
But, you will have to get all your own boxes, tape and then try to find a cheap moving truck and guessing how big you need to move all your own things.
The bad thing is if you have heavy things to move and unless you have help, it can be quite difficult to not only move it, but to get it up into the truck and then you have to secure it. It can be daunting of a task and a lot of hard work so much comes down to what you are physically able to and if you have help.
The problem with help is that everyone has their own ideas as to how to do it best and usually not in agreement with how you may want it done.
But, to do it yourself, here is what you want to do:
1) Find a good moving truck, Uhaul or Penske as they seem to have some good prices if you can get a good deal from them, military discount is always bonus. Look for extra days, convenience of location for drop off and extra mileage. Often they will let you use a dolly for nothing or the moving blankets and you can get boxes from them, although they are cheaper to get the boxes from Home Depot or if you have a great restaurant that tosses out boxes in good condition, you can get those for free possibly.
2) Start to pack months in advance if you can. Buying boxes over time makes it seem less painful to the wallet when you start to pack your things. You also can figure out what you really NEED and what you really don't and can do without.
3) Once you get a truck, go right down to Lowes or Home Depot and buy some moving cargo straps and some sheets of plywood. This is the trick we learned, especially when you have odd pieces or just a lot of things. Using a 26' truck, measuring inside it, we realized that the sheets of plywood that are 4 x 8 won't fit in the 26' truck but will if you have HD cut a foot off the 8 side. Then you can stand the plywood up and overlap the middle a bit. So what you do is pack it as much as possible and in the 26' truck, about half way is a cut area between the wood rails and this will fit the plywood perfectly. So when you pack to that point, bring in two sheets of plywood and stand them up and then use the cargo straps and secure the plywood sheets in place. Then you can go ahead and continue packing as high again as you can. We used a step stool to help get to the top as well and then like Tetris, you fit your boxes in as tight as you can. Then we added two more sheets of plywood with more cargo straps when you get close to the end. This helped us tremendously and stopped a lot of our things from getting broken or shifting too much. Felt like professionals at that point!
4) Try to make sure you pick a place to return your truck that has a 24/7 drop off to where you can just drop the keys into an overnight box. This makes it so convenient!
5) Don't use too many old boxes or ones that have been used as they are weaker and not as rugged or sturdy. I know it's tempting in trying to save some money and some boxes might not be in too bad of a shape but...on the whole? No, best to get new ones.
6) Get not only a tall dolly, but a furniture dolly for moving those heavy items. I recommend 2 as you can get them at Lowes or Home Depot for $20 a piece! Great price!
7)Use bubble wrap. You may think it's frivolous, but it does help to cushion the more fragile things.
8) Good packing tape and something that cuts off easy so you are not having to mess with it. Can't ever have enough packing tape.
9) Get a nice big black Sharpee so you can mark your boxes how you wish to.
10) Save your own blankets for furniture blankets if they are not too fancy or you can use some old towels as well.
Those are the big tips. You can get friends but best to just get one or two that will do as you want and not rush you. You need to pack it so you feel good about it. Last thing you need or want is to be arguing or such about it. The less frustrations and stress, the better.
Also, give away all your spices or food items to your neighbor. This is the best time to share that stuff so you are not taking it with you and can start fresh when you get to the new place. It's less to pack, less to unpack.
Which truck company? Get quotes for prices. We used to use Penske trucks as we didn't like the Uhaul but this time we went with Uhaul and were very happy with the price and of course the staff was top notch!
Penske was nice and one thing to do, is to always get the insurance! Yes, it's an extra cost but little did we know when we left Texas, was someone had stolen the catalytic convertor right off it! We got as far as Tennessee and boom...truck went kaput! Called Penske and they had a husband and wife team come out with a new truck and moved them end to end with no room in the middle, perfect fit and then they did what they called the "Tennessee Hot Swap" they swapped the contents from one truck to the other. We didn't have to lift a finger, it all came with the service! Awesome! Loved them for that!
The bad thing with Penske when we rented again from them was that the a/c didn't work and they wanted us to take it somewhere to get it fixed and wait or not have a truck or something? It was bad as we had reserved a truck, we'd expect the a/c to work! So as we did not have time to dilly-dally around with that and we were in a rush and all, we just McGyvered the a/c with a nail clipper to make it work and pressed on!
Uhaul was awesome, extra days, mileage...just really awesome and they had a great area above the cab we could pack stuff into! They were really great!
The biggest thing this comes down to tho', is what your abilities are. You have to be honest with yourself and ask those big questions. Are you up for it? Do you want to even mess with it?
The choice is yours, but take notes with each move you make so you have a reference for the next time. This is probably the last move we will make on our own as we are not getting any younger. Its a stressful situation no matter how you slice and dice it.
The choice is yours, but take notes with each move you make so you have a reference for the next time. This is probably the last move we will make on our own as we are not getting any younger. Its a stressful situation no matter how you slice and dice it.
Just be careful if you do it yourself and don't push yourself too hard. Know your limits. :)
Good luck to you!
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