Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

Has anyone moved house (sold and bought) and not used removals?

65 replies

NapQueen · 16/08/2018 21:46

Dh and I are selling a 2 bed and moving to a 4bed. He is baulking at the quotes for removals - two quotes around 700 inc vat.

We have two small dcs and will be moving to an upper flat. So lots of stuff and stairs to main floor plus another flight of stairs to bedrooms.

We are selling to buy so need to be out by (I assume!) 12noon.

Ive said to him to go do his own research and plans and we will discuss it next week. He seems to think we can rent a van, ask for some help from fuck knows who friends and do it for 200.

OP posts:
suckonthatmaureen · 16/08/2018 22:17

We did the last move by ourselves. It was the stressful day of my life. We had to move just before Christmas and all the removal firms we'd had quotes from were booked up.

We moved from a 4 bed terrace, but it was a small house. We hired two Lutons, plus 2 large cars. To get out by 12pm on the day we had to spent the week loading them up and having to park them round the cornerConfused (DH is a teacher so he could only get the moving day off).

We were out on time but had to wait ages hanging around to get the keys. It took 7 of us to unload, in the dark and pouring rain.

Never, ever again.

isthistoonosy · 16/08/2018 22:20

Yep, I've hired a transit and helped my sisters moved quite a few times, normally me (I'm a 5ft women, Sis and their husband and a few kids knocking about). Never been an issue; tiring and hard work of course, but that's moving house for you!

Nacreous · 16/08/2018 22:20

I did it once - rented to a house - and I would still say never again. We had to park the van about 50 yards from the house and moving the washing machine nearly killed me. It’s a second hand Meile and must weigh 80+kg I think. I can’t huch it across my floor at all. The stress is just not worth it. It’s an essential cost of moving. And that didn’t involve trying to move kitchen appliances upstairs.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

Property
notsogoodhousekeeping · 16/08/2018 22:20

I'm hoping to move house soon, and this time I am going to 'treat' myself to a removals company. I've moved so many times, always either by myself or with a bit of help from friends, and this time I have a small house's worth of furniture and gubbins. Plus I live alone and I wouldn't want to ask friends to lift heavy stuff like white goods. Fuck all that, I'm factoring it into the overall cost of moving house.

I'll pack it all myself, though. Quite happy to do that.

Thecurtainsofdestiny · 16/08/2018 22:21

Yes have done this (from 3 bed semi). Was hard work though!

BossWitch · 16/08/2018 22:22

We did and I was fine - but it was a combination of factors that made it work for us:

  1. We only moved about 20 miles, so we could do multiple trips in one day.
  2. Dh's brother has a truck licence so we could hire a big, big van with articulated tail lift, so we could get a lot in and not have to heft things up into the van.
  3. Dh has several large, strong friends who were happy to help in return for beers in the pub afterwards.
  4. We'd moved a LOT in the previous 5/6 years (renting) so we were really used to it.
  5. We had a crossover so could start early and take all day - no hanging around waiting for keys etc.
  6. I got the hell out of the way for the day and left them to it, took dd and ddog with me so they weren't getting in the way. Turned up next morning to it all done!

It worked great for us, and we were trying to save every penny, so it was a no brainer really. Only cost us the van hire (less than £100) and a few rounds in the pub.

prettygreywalls · 16/08/2018 22:22

I have in the past and helped friends too but now I would pay to get professional to move me it's hard work and in the grand scheme of costs it's not that enormous ( paid £380 to move approx scant 2 bed house 6 miles late last year ) south east

NoIsACompleteAnswerSometimes · 16/08/2018 22:24

Always done it myself but to be fair I've only moved from one side of town to the other ( and back and forth several times!) Usually we've moved most of the stuff previous to the "big move" and stored it in the garage of the new house, with the big stuff going on the last day. How far are you moving?

ShowOfHands · 16/08/2018 22:25

I've done it several times, with little DC too. I find it straightforward. Everything packed and in boxes and ready to go on the day, hire a van, ask a few friends/family round and crack on. Last time we moved out by midday and straight into the new house. It wasn't fraught at all.

beachcomber243 · 16/08/2018 22:25

I've always used a local 'Man with a Van', of which there are a few around here. There are always 2 men for a house move, they are insured and they have averaged about 200-250 quid each time [approx. 2 hours work]. Same for a friend of mine last year.

They come beforehand and evaluate the amount of furniture, whether there are stairs/steps/awkward access etc. then quote. They manoeuvre furniture and large heavy items all the time, so know what they are doing. It's usually taken a couple of trips for them to move everything.

It's always worked for me, had no damages, but I haven't done long distance moves and have moved into bungalows each time so no steps or stairs and don't have loads and loads of furniture, just basic items and garage contents. I always move clothes, tv's, pc's, boxes of books/small kitchen items etc in my car.

sockunicorn · 16/08/2018 22:27

we moved from a large 4 bed to a much smaller 3 bed recently. the person buying our house was being a bit of a pain in the arse and not giving us a date and then stalling etc. so we didnt actually have a moving date for definite to book someone in. Friday of exchange comes though and theyre ready to move and need to be out of theirs. However our new house didnt have our money yet (problem with solicitor). So we moved ourselves and were out by 3pm, with nowhere to go!! Luckily new house were lovely and asked us to quickly pop to their solicitor to sign a "if we damage we pay..." form and let us move in. The money then cleared by the monday but for 2 days we sat, not unpacking, just incase!! it was a massive drama.

but moved ourselves and it went fine. just had my sister and her husband to help so 4 of us :)

ToManderleyAgain · 16/08/2018 22:28

I think you need to find out what size van the removals company will be using and your DH needs to work on the basis that he will need something of equivalent size. You can’t do multiple runs in a Transit while your buyers are waiting to move in!

Flobalob · 16/08/2018 22:28

I have just moved last week. Never, ever again will we do it ourselves. It's been a killer and has taken a week to move a 2 bed property.

We moved from a one to two bed a few years ago but we had a 3 week overlap and that was fine.

Trust me, do a removals firm.

JourneyToThePlacentaOfTheEarth · 16/08/2018 22:29

We've done it ourselves 3 times and once with removers. It was actually more stressful with the removal men because their van broke down. If you have enough money to pay someone to make your life easier then fair enough. But if not it's very possible to do it yourselves if you're organised

Childrenofthesun · 16/08/2018 22:32

Yes, 3 bed to 4 bed. Only a mile away. 2x 7.5 tonne vans (DH and FIL have licences) and to and from houses rather than flats. It was DH, FIL and 2 friends plus me but I was no use because I had a toddler and baby. I found it pretty stressful and I did none of the loading/unloading! We also are forever indebted to those friends who spent hours unloading on a wet January afternoon.

There's no way I would do it to an upstairs flat.

Original poster
NapQueen · 16/08/2018 22:34

Theyve said it will be a three man team plus "large van". We only need to dismantle the beds and a triple wardrobe prior. All single wardrobes/ikea storage units will stay complete. Only moving about 10 streets away.

Sadly no option to "shuttle" stuff back and forth as we wont get keys to new home til we are 100% out of old.

OP posts:
IrregularCommentary · 16/08/2018 22:41

Christ, no. We moved (pre dc) from 2 bed to 3 bed, all own furniture though, and it was a fucking ballache doing it ourselves.

Thankfully we both agree that if we ever move again we will count a moving company as part of the cost.

Life is too short, your dh's particularly so if he continues with his current nonsense.

theunsure · 16/08/2018 22:46

We’ve just done it, but we were moving less than a mile down the road.
It it horrific even then, and we have no DC to worry about.
It’s a long and boring story about why we had to DIY it-we had removals lined up.

I’ve done 2 moves DIY and 2 with removals. Never doing it ourselves again. Please get removals in, you will not regret it!

Namechanger2015 · 16/08/2018 22:47

I’ve done it a few times - the last time I did it without removers, I cried because I was just so, so tired and stressed on the day. I would never ever do it again.

But if you can’t persuade your DH then leave him to it whilst you and your DC disappear for the day.

theunsure · 16/08/2018 22:49

@Namechanger2015

I cried too, and the day after because I was in so much pain (back and feet). 12 hour torture day. Never, ever again.

PlatypusPie · 16/08/2018 22:51

We moved two boroughs away, from a small one bed flat to a three bed house using a transit van with help of one very organised friend and taking a couple of trips plus my car. No DCs at the time. Was doable.

Some friends were moving houses ( 2 bed to 4 bed) within the same area -10 minutes drive away and decided to do it with a rental van and asking friends to help. They’d had done no preparation when my DH and other friends turned up in the morning ( my contribution was looking after their riotous toddler whilst nearly at my due date ) they realised the van they hired was too small to take some of the furniture because they hadn’t measured anything or actually thought about it so that had to go back to the van rental to be exchanged and they had insufficient boxes . Eventually, late at night my DH crawled home, dusty and exhausted - it had taken many shuttle runs to complete.

He was distinctly unimpressed when they brightly announced on the next weekend that they had spent the day sorting out and getting rid of many of the books that my DH had lugged down stairs in the old house and up two flights in the new !

WeeM · 16/08/2018 22:52

Money well spent-the way removal men can lift and move furniture At the speed they do is something to behold. Did it once ourselves and swore never ever to do it again.

NotReallyUnreasonable · 16/08/2018 22:54

FFS pay the men to move you.

MimpiDreams · 16/08/2018 22:55

We did it when we moved here. Never again.

CustardOmlet · 16/08/2018 22:56

Moved ourselves several times, last time I was pregnant with a 3yr old, but each time we have had a week overlap so no pressure. I’ve become a bit of a pro with moving. However without the overlap, I think I would pay someone to do it for me, love the idea of moving into a hotel for a day or two while someone else does it all for me.