To think moving ourselves is a crazy idea.

[havingiraffe]

Planned move date is around middle of August. Haven't started any packing or even decluttering yet. We currently live in a large 3 bed with garage and massive loft full of stuff moving to similar sized 4 bed. We don't have much furniture, no wardrobes for example. Most of our furniture we do have is cheap IKEA crap but we do have a couple heavy oak living room furniture items and massive corner sofa. I feel like we do have a lot of stuff though as we both have hobbies that come with lots of kit and we also have a 3 year old....oh and I will be 5 months pregnant at the time of the move. It about a 5 hour drive to our new house (moving from Midlands to Borders Scotland) so looking at a 2 day moving plan.

My husband is baulking at the quotes coming in for a removal company. Cheapest has been £1300 and that's us doing all the packing and breaking down beds etc. His plan is hire a couple of sprinter type vans and move ourselves with the help of a couple mates. We moved ourselves 8 years ago from a 1 bed unfurnished flat to here but I think he has massively underestimated the amount of stuff we have accumulated since then. He also thinks if we can't fit the furniture in we can just dump it as it's not worth the cost of moving it.

I don't disagree that this will be cheaper (although if we have to replace most of our furniture with new it won't save us money but we get new furniture iyswim) but I think it is completely impractical, friends can be unreliable and it's a big ask, having a little one and getting anything done is difficult (and she won't be in childcare at that time) and I'm going to be having kittens about getting everything packed and loaded within the timeframes. My husband doesn't have the best time management skills, I can just see us up all night the day before the move and then on the day frantically trying to stuff things into a van with the buyer waiting for key handover!!

Just need a reality check am I right in thinking this is just not possible!!!

How do I persuade my husband?

You will be standing in a Luton van at midnight sobbing. do not go there! Your husband is insane

I've moved loads of times, never used movers BUT..... we've only moved relatively locally (as has the kids as well) They've always self moved as well. We have estate cars, lots of friends and family and have only hired a Transit van once I think. I've always had the house packed up practically as soon as an offer is accepted on whatever house I've been selling. BUT if I was moving that distance, I'd think about hiring professionals. Zipping about with load of boxes from one end of town to the other-fine. 5 hours away-no.

Yep, we've stood next to the Luton van, realising we need another van, even after giving loads of stuff to the neighbours. At least I didn't have to talk to DH as we both had to drive to Scotland...

We moved a four bed house 18 miles with two school age kids. We filled an 18 ton pantechnicon even after decluttering and had Packers.

You husband is leaving no time for contingency, we had to get a plumber to disconnect a dishwasher because the stop tap bit for it was knackered and needed replacing. The school pick ups took ages because everyone wanted a tearful goodbye. The neighbours kept appearing for a goodbye chat. The removal men wouldn't take some items, paint gas cylinders, so needed to do some tip runs. They were late loading the van so I had to clean like a madwoman moving out.

It was a very long exhausting day even with professional help and just unpacking has been hard work. It cost us nearly two grand but I'd rather do without Christmas or birthday presents, holidays etc than have done it all ourselves.

We moved ourselves, but had movers in to do the big bits of furniture and white goods. We were moving about 6 kms, but were renting both the old and new house for the same month. so we could move to our schedule over a couple of weekends, and get the house cleaning sorted at the old house.

Get the professionals in!

We used movers last time we moved. £400 and they moved an entire 3 bed house and unloaded it at the other end in just 4 hours. They were like a machine! They were done just after lunchtime with all the boxes in the right rooms and all the furniture put in the right place. Blissful.

By contrast, our neighbours moved themselves recently and were loading from around 7am until almost midnight. I don’t think they were very organised though.

No no no no no no no. God no. Don't do it. We moved last summer and it was the most stressful day of my life. And we only moved two mins down the road, so our 5 yr old could spend the day with friends. We hired a Bedford van which my DH and my dad spent all afternoon the day before we moved loading with boxes, then the next day had a couple of professionals with a another Bedford come to do the furniture. We did do lots of packing last minute though as exchange was very late, and we had an 8 week old, but he was in the sling all day, just came out every few hours for a quick feed and nappy change. On moving day DH was taking furniture apart, finishing packing the van, then unpacking it the other end and my sister and I were cleaning the house, thank God she was there, she was a lifesaver. If there's ever a next time I'm getting people in to do the lot, sod the cost.

I'm assuming you have buyers wanting to move in on completion day? You run the risk of having a very irate family waiting outside your house with all their earthly belongings whilst you frantically chuck all your belongings into a van.

I'm moving myself to my next house, but that's because I rent currently and have a months crossover on the houses. That's the only time I would consider it.

I’ve been the mug taking a days annual leave to help move friends a couple of miles down the road. They hadn’t done a single bit of sorting or decluttering before moving day. Good friends in professional roles where they have to be organised, I was both mystified and shocked.

It was awful, panicked phone calls being made through the day to bring in more and more friends, family and vehicles. Upset kids coming home from school to the “old” house that they’d already bid goodbye. Cleaning years of shite and grime from kitchen cupboards. Upending contents of drawers into bin bags and slinging in my boot. Opening the garage door to an untouched overflowing garage at 7pm and realising there was a weekends worth of stuff just in there.

I was exhausted after 12 hours and went home, the evening shift of friends helping after work was turning up. They were extremely lucky that their buyer wanted to do their house up, so was not moving in straight away. He called by during the chaos, saw what was happening and kindly let them have another day or so to move out.

I’ve no idea what my friends were thinking. They’re not normally CFs, the must have had collective brain farts due to the stress of moving.

I’ve moved house 6 times and always moved ourselves (I was pregnant on the last move too).
Never really found it too difficult and last time involved moving stuff from our rental, my old house and a storage unit all into the new house.
Long days but we managed :)

I've moved house lots of times and hired a van and done it with the help of friends. It's hard work, but removals are so expensive.

I'd say, if you can comfortably afford removals, then pay. But if it's going to be a stretch then bite the bullet and do it yourselves.

You will be very little practical help on the day as you will mostly be occupying your 3 year old and heavily pregnant.
I would definitely pay the professionals.

We moved ourselves recently but we hadn’t sold the old house when we bought the new one so no time pressure and it was a mile away. The bulk was done on the Saturday (several van loads) but also several car loads were taken on the Friday and Sunday. DP did trips to the tip every weekend in the months before the move. DC were at school / with grandparents.

It should just be factored into the cost of the new house.

We moved as a young couple from a 3 bed to another one and paid for removals (cos we had money to burn back then). We are no longer as young, now a family and don't have money to burn but I would pay for removals again.

No no no, you must get the firm to do it. Moving day is a nightmare even with a removal company.

Seriously pay someone, we just moved and it is UNBELIEVABLE how much stuff we had. We moved from a small 2 bed flat and took no furniture from it. Only furniture came from my parents who kindly gave us their old stuff.

We had movers and even packing took about 10 times as long as I anticipated.

We have estate cars, lots of friends and family and have only hired a Transit van once I think

How's that even possible, what about sofas, washing machine, fridge freezer, dishwasher, beds, mattresses, wardrobes, chest of drawers, tables, chairs, How do you get all that in estate cars?

Do a budget to show your DH.

Hire of two vans.
Petrol for 2 vans x 2x 5 hour journeys (getting there and driving the van back)
Train ticket for your DH to come back after dropping van back
Meals for Mates who help
New Furniture
Divorce Costs
Etc

Please do not do this. My vendors did this, they were supposed to be out by 2 pm, I eventually got the keys at 8 pm, infuriating.

I can’t believe you are even considering this, it’s absolute madness!
Moving is a bloody nightmare anyway but add on the distance, young child and you being heavily pregnant 😱!?
No way!!

So £1500 is a LOT for a 3 bed house (if you are doing everything, packing everything up, breaking down beds etc...) Unless you are going from John O'Groats to Paris, I can't see why it should be £1,500. Are you getting the quote from a huge company? If so, try a local (small) company.

It's a 5 hour journey so it will mean an overnight stay because of limitations on the driving. It will also require two people, at least, throughout that time because they will want to guarantee they have enough people at the other end. £1300 for 2 people for a 24-36 hour period, their petrol, vehicle costs, insurance etc. I'd be suspicious of any quotes much below this.

I've moved somewhere around 15-20 times over the past 30 years. Even moving that often, you accumulate a lot stuff. I've learned not to throw away boxes in between moves and I hoard them. It always, always, always, even when you already know this, takes more packing material, boxes, tape and time than you think it will. You can be 75% packed and after another 8 hours of stuffing boxes still be 75% packed.

With a 5 hour journey and no margin for error, I'd do whatever I needed to do to get the £1300 together.

Your dh is bonkers.
Do not even consider this.

Let's say you've underestimated how much stuff you have. That happens on every move. Even our big name professional movers did last time we moved. If you do then you will need another van and driver at short notice. Or to do a second massive round trip. Either way that's going to cost.
You need to start packing now. You will need to be camping out for days before you move. Unsettled child etc.
Alternatively you live as normal until the day before you move. Packers pack, loaders load, you drive up, sleep at your parents and the boxes are unloaded.
It's not 2 days work, it's weeks of chaos, uncertainty and physical hard work you're paying for.
Get him to run up and down the stairs every 5 minutes for 3 hours tomorrow and ask him how he feels.

“If you do then you will need another van and driver at short notice. Or to do a second massive round trip. “

You can’t do this when selling and buying, because you can’t own both houses st the same time.. They can’t leave stuff in the old house because it belongs to the buyers.

This has all the hallmarks of you worrying yourself sick & risking injury to yourself & unborn baby. You will be in no condition to start sorting, boxing & shifting belongings & furniture. The whole suggestion is ludicrous and quite frankly dangerous.

I'd be packing the essentials for myself & 3yr old & asking parents if I could stay with them for 2 weeks.

Then I'd tell penny-pinching DH to crack on with moving everything himself.
Let him & his mates do it all, if it's so simple.

Did the removal company tell you what size van you have or how many cubic meters? You can probably times that by about 1.3 to tell you how many van load you’ll need. I say 1.3 because they’re packing experts and larger lorries will take loads more efficiently than smaller ones.

Your husband is a loon if he thinks chucking everything out is going to save £1300. And while you’re about it you should pay the extra £400 (or whatever it is) for the pack service.