This past weekend, I moved into my new condo. It takes a lot of work to move, and you have to decide if it is better to pay a professional moving company or make the move on your own.
Moving Company
Moving companies’ rates depend on a lot of different factors. How big is your home? How much stuff do you have? Is it already packed up or do the movers have to do it? How far are you moving? How many people are going to be needed to move your stuff? How big will the truck be?
There are a lot of factors. If you are moving cross country and have a lot of stuff, you are definitely going to want to hire a moving company. For a cross-town move, you may still want to hire movers as you get the benefit of not having to do the work yourself.
You just pay, and someone else does the heavy lifting. A one bedroom apartment would cost about $200-$300 in my city. It is worth it to some people, but others would rather suck it up and take care of it themselves.
Friends
I decided to skip the moving company and recruited four friends to help with my move. Here was my cost breakdown:
- Rental Truck: $65
- Moving Boxes/Tape: $15
- Pizza: $25
- Beer: $20
- Total: $125
Moving myself did save me some money, but it was a lot of work. Retrospectively, I would hire someone to do it for me. However, I did enjoy spending the time with my buddies, I did enjoy driving the big truck, and I did enjoy the accomplished feeling at the end of the day.
Your Opinion/Experience?
If you were going to move across town today, would you do it yourself or hire movers to take care of it for you? In the past, how have you taken care of moving? Please share your thoughts and ideas in the comments.
Photo by james.thompson / flickr.
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I always use help from friends and family when I move – that’s just the common thing where I live. I even drove 5 hours to help my sister and her husband pack their stuff when they moved. I’ve never even rented a truck – many of my friends have pickups, so we just make multiple trips. Of course all my moves have been within 20 minutes of each other so that makes a difference.
That is a great tradition. It sounds like it builds community and is even better because so many people have trucks. I only have one friend with a pickup and it was in the shop on my moving day.
What part of the country do you live in?
What else are friends for but to help you out when you need it! If it is a local move I think it makes sense, you can save some money. Having said that I would venture to say that you don’t live where I live, Phoenix. It was 104 the other day and I think I would rather pay someone to move me in that heat! 🙂
That makes sense. On my moving day we had a beautiful, sunny, 80 degree afternoon. Over 100, someone else can carry my stuff to the truck.
I have done both! I prefer professional movers, in the longer it is cheaper.
Whenever I move again, I think I am going to side with you. I am not doing it again alone with how much stuff I have. I’ll pay the pros.