Money Saving Tips for Moving Home on a Budget

Posted on 10/05/2013

Moving home is not only extremely stressful, but it can also be very costly once you start totalling everything up. There are, however, a number of things you can do to save yourself a bit of extra money.

Packing

When you are packing there are certain supplies that you will need, namely cardboard boxes, brown tape and some packaging material for more fragile items. Instead of buying all of this brand new from a stationer or a packaging company, try asking for used boxes and bubble wrap from local supermarkets instead.

Wherever possible, do all your packing yourself, a packing company is an excellent idea to reduce stress throughout the move, however, when you are moving on a budget this is not a necessity.

While you are packing sort through your belongings, if there are items that are in good condition but you no longer use or do not want, consider selling these on. Not only will this make you some extra money, but the less you have to move to your new home the less you will pay for the move.

Deciding how to move home

A removal company who loads and unloads your belongings onto the van and transports them for you so you can literally do nothing but make sure you've got everything, is everyone's ideal. However, not everyone can afford these services.

A man with a van is a noticeably cheaper option to a removal company, whilst you may have to help load and unload the van, you will get some assistance in this and you will have your items transported for you.

The cheapest alternative to a removal company is to hire a van and load, unload and drive it yourself. With this option you pay for the van rental and the petrol alone, you do not need to pay for a driver. Obviously this does mean that you would have to move home completely by yourself. If you have friends/family to help you this may not be a problem, however if you are a single person or a couple with no help, you may struggle to load certain items onto the van.

Shop around

Get a number of quotes from different companies and find the best offer you can, consider that there are some factors which may increase the amount you are being quoted such as:

o Peak Season: weekends and school holidays or bank holidays often cost more, even when just renting a van.

o How many belongings do you have? The more journeys you need to do or the bigger van you need the more costly it is going to be for you. This is where downsizing your belongings is useful, the less you need to move the better.

o What is the distance between properties? This is going to affect both the petrol it is going to use and the time it is going to take, if the distance is great it may be that you will need to move over a number of days rather than on just the one day.

o What exactly do you want? Will renting a van suffice or do you need more help to move? Do you need any additional services such as packing or storage?

As with everything, moving is as cheap or as expensive as we allow it to be, some people get carried away and spend hundreds or even thousands on moving home, others are prepared to work a little harder and get their hands dirty in order to move home for a cheaper price.