Organizing and performing a DIY move to another home will always be (a bit) riskier than letting a professional moving company take the heavy burden off your back (figuratively and literally speaking too). When the cardboard dust settles, it’s all about the insufficient relocation experience, or its complete lack thereof, that can easily cause you to commit unpleasant or even costly self-moving mistakes.
Moving house is a fairly complicated process but being well informed and adequately prepared will help you avoid the most common mistakes when moving on your own. Once you know what to expect from your residential move, and more importantly – what to do during each major relocation stage, then things will become clearer to you and the number of errors will suddenly drop to their all-time low values.
Take a look at the top 4 costly self-move mistakes to avoid so that you finish your relocation journey with a smile on your face.
Assuming that moving on your own is always more cost effective
It’s a common belief among home movers that they can save a good amount of money if they skip the step of paying for the quality services of a professional moving company, and consequently move straight to the stage of organizing and executing their impending house move all by themselves. But despite the fact that such a deduction may initially seem to have its own unshakable logic, self-moving is far from being that predictably straightforward.
The thing to understand here is that no two residential moves are completely alike because there are always minor or major differences in the set parameters. As a result of these differences, each and every moving job should be assessed on a case-by-case basis.
- Are you moving locally?
- Do you have previous experience in moving house?
- Do you have good and reliable friends who are ready to give you a helping hand?
- Do you have a smaller home with no excessive number of items in it?
If your particular move meets the above relocation criteria, then yes, your specific move is probably more suited for a DIY move. However, one of the big mistakes when moving on your own is to fail to take into consideration all the hidden DIY costs (follow the link below) that could easily wreak havoc on your self-move budget.
Don’t be quick to dismiss professional relocation help as often the invaluable assistance of experienced moving experts is less expensive than you might think.
MUST READ: How much does a self-move really cost?
Thinking that you have plenty of time to prepare
Another mistake when moving by yourself is to simply underestimate the urgency to start the preparations of your self-move, and thus fail to organize your pre-move time in the most efficient way there is. The clock starts ticking away mercilessly the minute your house move is confirmed, so it’s crucial that you make the most of every minute of every hour. At times it may seem to you that there is plenty of time until the big day so there is no real need to hurry or even worry for that matter. Regrettably, in most cases, this notion of having all the time in the world proves to be nothing but a big relocation illusion.
Don’t commit the serious DIY mistake of failing to introduce structured organization into your own move. Create a personal moving calendar to keep track of your progress by having all your essential tasks in one place. Personalize your moving planner to match your parameters, prioritize your moving jobs in a way that makes sense to you and watch your self-move efficiency go through the roof.
GOOD TO KNOW: Which free moving apps will help me organize a perfect move?
Choosing a rental truck of the wrong size
Among other things, your informed decision to perform a self-move means that you’re going to have to provide the means of transportation for your household goods and personal items. If you’ve already arranged to borrow a friend’s pickup truck to complete the job, then that’s one less thing to worry about. But if you intend to go the distance and rent a moving vehicle on your own, then you must know how to avoid one of the costliest self-moving mistakes you can ever make – renting a moving truck of the wrong size. As you can probably figure out by yourself, the trick here is to choose a moving vehicle with the right storage capacity simply because the other two alternatives will cause you to lose money and time.
For instance, if you rent a truck with insufficient space, you may be forced to either leave some of your items behind (unacceptable in most cases as you must have already optimized your belongings) or more frequently – to make multiple trips to your new house and back (additional transportation expenses and loss of time). On the other hand, if you pick a much larger truck than you actually need, then you’ll be paying for space you can’t utilize and you’ll have to spend extra time securing your goods in the back of the truck.
SEE ALSO: How to rent a moving truck cheaply?
Deluding yourself that you don’t need any help
Should you catch yourself thinking that you can manage your move entirely on your own, then you’d better check again the logic behind your assumption. In fact, you can arrange for the transfer of the utilities and services, and you may even succeed in packing up your entire book collection, but a residential move, especially a residential self-move, is much more than tackling a few important tasks without additional help.
In general, one of the biggest self-move mistakes to avoid is the delusion that you could somehow manage the whole relocation on your own. A successful house move is all about teamwork, so the best course of action in your case should be to reach out to your trustworthy friends and ask them to give you a helping hand, if they can spare it.
Get in touch with your future helpers as early as possible to minimize the disruption of their schedules, be straight with them as far as their exact roles are concerned, do your best to facilitate the entire moving process by being ready for their arrival, distribute the moving tasks according to your pals’ strengths, and finally – don’t forget to award their efforts with suitable thank-you gifts.
MUST READ: How to get friends to help me move?
