housing

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.