How much cheaper to move yourself?

[Northey]

I had originally planned to use a full packings and removals service but as other unexpected costs are popping up I'm starting to panic about money and think about doing it myself. Is it just the cost of vehicle hire, petrol and hefty box purchase, or is there anything I'm forgetting? I'm trying to work out if it's really worth it in cost terms.

north We lived in a large 3 bed ext semi...2 rec rooms, utility, downstairs WC, kitchen diner, 3 beds, bath and loft room!!!

Also a shed and greenhouse we had to clear too!

Secret is to be organised - it doesnt all need to be done in one day!.....so much of our/your stuff will not be used/needed on a daily/weekly or even monthly basis...pack all that stuff up and store it and then week before move pack more, then the day of the move you only have the essentials...kettle, clothes, etc and large furniture!

It was fine, honestly. Yes, it was tiring but at least we knew we had packed the stuff well...friends of ours relocated and when the got to their new home 50% of their stuff was either damaged or missing

I'm going to go against the majority here and say if you need to save money, you can do it yourself without too much stress. As you have time on your side, you can pack things gradually, use it as an opportunity to sort/ declutter. We've moved ourselves and had a removals company do it for us (though we still packed, they just loaded and unloaded everything). When it was the latter, I was 7 months pregnant so couldn't do much heavy work. They were quicker at moving stuff and used to fitting stuff in vans so fitted it in more efficiently than we would have! When we did it ourselves, we roped in friends to help us on the day (they were happy to, and we ordered pizza as a thank you - our friends are easily pleased!!)

Well I must be insane, judging from the comments on here!
We have moved 5 times in 9 years. Each time we did it ourselves.
Buy the boxes from ebay. We spent about £70 on 70 boxes I think, and trust me, no one can have as many belongins as we do!
We hired a van (huge thing for long distance move, large van and two trip loads for shorter moves)
Planning is the key. If you have a van for 24 hours, far better to go mid day to mid day, as then you get a nights sleep in the middle. If you do it 8am-8am its a whole day of moving with no break.

Get a bunch of quotes from removal firms and men with a van.
Pickfords seem to charge way more than others.
Six Keys who we used were wonderful - came round to assess our stuff, told us how much it would be for them to just lend us boxes and us pack, versus them doing all the packing - and recommended that we might as well start packing and they would check on us two days before, give us more boxes as needed, and how much it looked like being if they had to pack what was left on the last day.
Never have I been so glad to give anyone £900!

But that was partly because when moving from 1st floor flat to 1+2nd floor maisonette, neither with parking directly outside, it turned into a four-day nightmare, as our man with van was a wimp who could hardly carry a thing. Only use a recommended chap!
Previously we'd used a chap so strong and fast that he emptied a 1st floor flat in under an hour and we had to chase him down the M40 to get to the new one in time - if he'd been around it would have been OK. Probably still £500, though.

I have moved "myself" numerous times over the years with just DP for help (4DC were too young to help in past). It is tiring but so much cheaper. We usually ask around at local shops for boxes in the weeks coming up to the move and buy a pack of 10 packing tape rolls and dispenser from somewhere like staples. We usually hire a van but last time (as I am getting old)we hired a local man and van and his mate for £30 an hour - it was much better as they drove and had a good big van and really helped with the arm breaking stuff like sofas - it cost about the same as the hiring a van - we helped them and moved quickly -less than 2 hours. We felt so guilty that it cost do little and was so less tiring that we gave them double the money. Pickfords had quoted us nearly 2 grand to move 1/2 mile away with our stuff.

And lots of people on gumtree always want the empty boxes for free for their own moves