is ia REALLY bad idea to move house yourself?

[nailpolish]

we are havinga major major clear out pre-flitting

we getting rid of dd2s bed
the suite (2 enormous couches)
we have no bedroom furniture as it was all fitted in the house we are in now
all the kitchen stuff - wahsing machine/dishwahser/fridge/freezer is getting left

are we mad

NOOOOOOO - DON'T DO IT....
Made this mistake some years ago - took all bloody day and it was absolutely and totally knackering. All moves since have been done by professional moving firms. Well worth the money, less stress, less hassle and much much quicker.

do you have a 7.5 ton licence? You would easily get it all in there for one trip. Otherwise you might struggle. I've usually had to do 3 even moving flats.

It is a nightmare, and uttlerly exhausting, but it is possible. DP and I moved on our own from a third floor flat to a semi 50 miles away, took three trips, and we had all four kids with us. I didn't even drive at the time, so he would have to drive the van while I got the train with the kids back and forth.

Depends, whose doing it, whether you have to clean the old place as soon as you've put it all down. How long you have to do it. I did it myself recently and it was horrible - I personally would never ever as long as I live do it again.

Are you and dh comfortable handling a big truck? 'Cos you will certainly need more than a transit van for one journey. When we moved ourselves dh drove ours. I couldn't do it at all!

And yes, get boxes all one size!

btw, one of the things that helped us, was doing the first load up the evening before, then backing the van up and blocking it in, so no one could steal it. That we we got the laoding up done after the kids were in bed, and so were all ready to set off straightaway.

We moved from Kent to Dorset in a luton van, 2 double beds, chests of drawers small fridge freezer and loads of boxes of books and clothes etc. It was a squeeze and doable

Oh yes - the licencing thing has changed. It was a long time ago.

If you and your husband are fit, I'd go for it.

Just hire someone to sit the kids and a man w/a van.

Removal companies are a fecking rip off.

the biggest van you can hire with an ordinary licence (if you passed test before 1996) is a 7.5 Ton Box Van with Tail Lift. I've driven one, it's not too bad. Think I managed a single trip moving a 2 bedroom house (2 double beds, couple of sofas, a wardrobe, dressing table etc).

You folks must be minted!

There's no way we could ever afford a removal company.

It's good exercise and you know all your gear will be handled well.

I'd offset the cost against a nervous breakdown.

it is a bloody nightmare moving yourself!!!!!!!!

we have mmoved 5 times and twice moved ourselves, first time was first house-no prob, we had nothing and bought all when we got in......3rd house we moved too, still didnt have wardroes to take, fridgefreezer was delivered by company so other white goods, beds etc had to be brought along with a million boxes...it took us till late on the night and we both felt like crying(had 1 yr old dd with us all day too!)..to add insult to injury, we didnt even have our 2 3 seaters with us as we couldnt get them out of old house!, a removel firm could have(and has since!) done it in two seconds flat!...get a good few quotes and go with removals whenever possible!

oh god yes fio - id find it wierd someone else packing my stuff anyway
all our cups etc are chipped and id be way too embarrassed!
im going ot phone round more companies - maybe smaller ones that are just a man and van

thanks folks

oh and we paid each time for 1/2 day(4-5 hours)..get a few quotes(we used sandersons in teesside), pickfords etc are total rip offs!

look in yellow pages youl often find local guy/cmpany who will be cheaper(but make sure they are insured or that you B&C ins covers the move!)

nailpolish - ask removal companies if they do part loads (that was the term I couldn't remember earlier).

Agree about the bigger companies - we had to use a BAR registered company because it was relocation, but there are plenty of small local firms who will do the job for half the price of the big names.

I'd get three quotes from proper movers but avoid big chains - go with small removal firms local to where you're moving to or from. Problem with man and van can be insurance - if they knacker their back moving something of yours I think they can sue you directly - something like that anyway - someone I know who has to organise things being moved for her job advised me not to use cheapo man+van for moving and that was the reason - can't remember details though.

You'll find the proper movers' quotes vary a lot so don't go with the first one, but I would only ever move with movers now (having done it both ways) - it's value for money in that you're paying for their effort, the speed, the lack of stress. Once you've done all the packing, you just watch it fly out of the house and then fly back out of the van at the other end - so much easier.

and you can haggle too!, i did with alst two moves and got quite a lot off!

Ah, yes, Mercy, thats a good idea, thanks

I've moved twice in the past three years, each time we've moved ourselves. The first one, we had several adults help put the stuff on the van, but had to unload it all ourselves at the other end (I was in the early stages of pregnancy too!). The second time, we had my parents and three (male) friends to help - we didn't even hire a van that time, just used a trailer and several big 4x4s. Did all the packing ourselves. Banana boxes (from supermarkets) are fabulous - they can't get too heavy even when full of books - and they are very strong too- you can stack 'em 10 high and they won't buckle!

Perfectly possible to move by yourself - but remember the 80/20 rule - 80% of the packing will take 20% of the time, but the last 20% will take up 80% of the time ...

... and hire a couple of people to help load/unload; it's too much to manage by yourself.