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Original poster

Would we be idiots to move ourselves?

70 replies

Bobshhh · 09/08/2022 10:45

Starting to talk completion dates so need to get our life in order.

We're moving a 5 minute drive down the road, going from a 2 bed with garage and loft to a 4 bed.

Would we be idiots to hire a van (husband and dad are comfortable driving it) and try and do it ourselves? Is it worth just paying the extra cost for movers to take the pain away?

OP posts:

SpottyStripyDuvet · 09/08/2022 10:48

We did this and it was fine BUT we had no children at the time and there was about 3 weeks overlap with our rental. If you are in a chain it is more difficult.

RosiePosie27 · 09/08/2022 10:50

We did this (again just DH and I) and I would want to do it again (+3 kids and a dog!) as I wouldn’t want to pay a lot of money for someone else to move out things. We would have help though from in-laws. Do it if you feel you can (and 5 mins isn’t far to move!)

Allthegoodnamesarechosen · 09/08/2022 10:51

Are you very strong? Because it is no joke heaving boxes and furniture around. Getting large items upstairs and in doors is a skilled business.

if you do decide to do this, please hire the van the day before and load everything but essentials the day before. I bought a house from people who moved themselves and they were still doing it at six pm after completion at ten that morning. In the end I had to ask my movers to clear the house, which they did, and dumped the stuff on the pavement to get it out of the way.

123ZYX · 09/08/2022 10:52

Could you get van(s) big enough to fit all of your belongings? You will need to empty one house before unloading into the next. Normally, all of your things are stored, temporarily, in the mover's trucks.

CMOTDibbler · 09/08/2022 10:53

I think it depends on how many people you have access to who can lift and shift boxes - calling in favours and having 6 people who can be hoiking things to the curb at the old house and shuttling them into the new is a very different proposition to it just being your dh and dad moving everything.
If there is a local '2 men and a van' sort of service that would be a lot cheaper than movers, or you could even put an ad on your local FB looking for help for the day

mummymummymummummum · 09/08/2022 11:00

We've hired a van and done everything ourselves for every house move so far! 6 moves I think. We've always had an overlap, but for the local moves didn't need more than a day.

But, we're now older, have a bigger house and children. And it's unlikely there will be an overlap next time. I'm planning to pay movers to pack for me too. Hate packing!

Good luck!

JaninaDuszejko · 09/08/2022 11:01

The last time I moved without removers I was a student (so only had a carload of stuff).

We moved a similar distance to you a few years ago and used removers. Our removers took 2 days of 4 men working continually to empty our 3 bed house. It's a lot of work and since we both work and have 3DC we didn't have time to do it. Nor did we have time to declutter before we moved. It took us about 6 months to unpack properly as well (although that's partly because we redecorated the playroom and put in cupboards and shelving before we could unpack the playroom contents properly).

Blixem · 09/08/2022 11:02

I moved from my 2 bed to a 4 bed with just a van and family help.

We were in a chain, we packed the Luton van the night before. Make sure you get one with a tail lift to get the heavy stuff in.

We slept on a mattress on the lounge floor on the last night and then loaded the last few bits in the morning. And then cleaned the empty rooms. You need to make sure you have enough room to be able to load everything as you are supposed to have everything out and hand the keys over on completion plus your buyer may well be there ready to move in.

We put more breakable stuff, crockery and DPs beloved TV in the cars.

Make sure everything is labelled so whoever is carrying it into the new house knows where to put it.

Purpleavocado · 09/08/2022 11:03

I attempted to do this, but at the last minute got a man with a van service and it was worth every penny. They had to dismantle and reassemble ikea wardrobes, move a super king bed, etc.

Beamur · 09/08/2022 11:04

You could. But be realistic about how long it will take and how tiring it is. V good point about making sure that you have emptied the house you're leaving in good time!

Jules912 · 09/08/2022 11:10

I did when moving a similar distance, but we were moving out of a rental with 2 weeks overlap so we could put all the big stuff in the van on the day we had it then use the car to shuttle back and forth with everything else over the next week. Without the overlap we hired movers, who took a whole day to pack up everything the day before (still a lot quicker than us doing it!) and stored it in their van until we got the keys.

lightand · 09/08/2022 11:12

How much big and heavy things do you have?

How much needs to be disassembled and reassembled?

Dontfuckingsaycheese · 09/08/2022 11:13

My mum paid £380 for us to move a 2bed to 2bed 5 minutes away and it was worth every penny. Two men and when I saw one pick up and entire chest of drawers complete with contents and carry it downstairs and pop it in the van I appreciated they were worth every penny!!
I reckon if we were doing it ourselves we’d still be at it! We completely underestimated how long it would take to pack up house. Me and 17yr ds. I had been boxing up stuff for weeks but the night before they came we ended up working through the night. McBreakfast at 5am was never more welcome!! My one house fitted within one van - with some stunningly artistic packing. Then they did another trip for all my garden pots

Sailorchick14 · 09/08/2022 11:21

We hired a van and moved ourselves from a 3 bed house to a 4 bed. Both kids were in childcare on move day and we put as much as possible in self storage before the move as well as lots of tip runs.

Our move was about 15 min between houses so not far.

It was hard work but we just about managed and had kids bedrooms done before collecting kids. Didn't help we only got keys to new house at 2.30pm.

JosephineMaynardd · 09/08/2022 11:23

We've always moved ourselves. So does everyone I know.

Original poster

Bobshhh · 09/08/2022 11:25

This is very helpful thank you!

We're leaving all white goods, wardrobes are built in so the only big thing to dismantle is our bed.

Maybe it is possible, we could certainly pack it up the night before so that wouldn't be a problem. Saving money at this stage would be a real treat.

OP posts:

DreamingofItaly2023 · 09/08/2022 11:27

As long as you are fully packed up the day before apart from a mattress on the floor you should be fine. You don’t want to end up having your buyers getting angry because they now own your house but you are still packing.

Discovereads · 09/08/2022 11:27

Under age 50 sure go ahead
After age 50 best to hire movers because one wrong mobs and you’ve injured yourself and there goes your moving schedule.

longtompot · 09/08/2022 11:39

We did this but we had a 4 week overlap between buying the house and our rental ending. Also only a 5 min drive
We thought we had moved tons in that time, but when it came to the final day it was chaos! We had my sister, our bil and a friend help, thank god, otherwise I don't think we could have done it.
I think our issue was although we thought we were all on top of the packing, we lived in our rental for 22 years so there was so much stuff even with throwing things away.
I think if we were to move again, as it would be going from owned to owned, we would get movers in.

silkeyemask · 09/08/2022 11:42

There is no way I'd move myself - movers are worth every single penny!

LunaAndHerMoonDragons · 09/08/2022 11:45

We did this with 2 kids and pregnant, moved about 20 minutes away. We've never gotten movers for local moves. I packed, unpacked and cleaned while looking after DC. H and a mate moved the big stuff.

Lovetogarden2022 · 09/08/2022 11:53

My old neighbour made this mistake and it was a disaster. Like, total disaster! And extremely stressful especially if you're in a chain and have got kids.
We moved 5 minutes down the road and hired a moving company and it was possibly the best £350 I ever spent. A team arrived, packed everything up into the van and then went off to another job whilst we waited for the keys. Extremely low stress - we could have a look around the house whilst they moved things in (check the electric was on, no nasty surprises with the house etc). They brought the sofas in first, and we literally sat down whilst they moved all the boxes into the correct rooms. They're professionals and do this all the time so it took them less than half an hour to empty the van and we didn't have the hassle of having to take the rental van back to the depot before they closed etc (my neighbour was delayed moving in, so missed dropping the van off and got charged an eye watering amount - the total for the van hire for three days was more than we paid for the removals company)
You want as little stress as possible when you're moving, especially with kids in tow. Don't make extra work for yourself! X

TheSoundOfMucus · 09/08/2022 12:01

We did. We’d been in a short term rental so lots of things were already in boxes. We had help however, 2 male relatives to help with loading and unloading, plus another relative cleaning our rental as we vacated it, and yet another friend cleaning the new house when the owners vacated it. We also didn’t have too much furniture then and it was before children.

For our next move, we had a baby and a lot more stuff and furniture and we used professional movers to pack and move us. It was so much easier that we said that we would always budget for movers going forward.

So it was possible with extra help, but not much fun!

Nejnej2 · 09/08/2022 12:08

We debated it - had a bit more heavy furniture to move than you, but nothing too challenging. In the end, hiring the right sized van was only about £300 less than paying for movers, and was so much simpler.

We did all the packing ourselves, and they just came in the morning and Tetris-ed it into the van (much better than we would have managed!).

Don't know how much prices would have changed as this was late 2020, but might be worth comparing prices and shopping around.

girlmom21 · 09/08/2022 12:38

If the only big thing to move is the bed, I would.

We paid a lot for our movers. They were great in the morning but were horrible by the time we got our keys - yes it was later than planned but bloody hell!

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