Self Moving Guide

Save money when moving with the complete self moving guide.

You can save a good amount of money by moving yourself. Many families are on a tight budget today and this prompts them to execute the move themselves. Thus, here we have prepared a complete Self Moving Guide. No matter the type of your move, either local or a cross country move, a few major steps will guide your move and will ease the stress of self-moving. Though you will be doing it yourself and you will not hire movers, as “non-professional mover”, you should follow some professional moving company rules.

Self Moving Guide Major Steps

Before you start the self-moving process, ask yourself some questions and consider the aspects of the moving. All of the steps below will help you organize your move; yet, at some point you will need to think about some more details. One good tool for organizing your moving is our App My Move for iPhone. You can download it for free from the Apple store.

One main detail is the size of your home and furniture, as well as the total approximate weight. If you have a bigger home and bulky furniture, you should ask yourself would you be able to find enough helping hands. Then you need to think about the value of your furniture and see if you need and can get some moving insurance. Least but not last you will have to arrange enough time for the self-moving. Consider all the time constraints such as job, deadlines for vacating the home and anything else that may affect the moving. This self-moving guide will help you stay on track and move yourself with confidence. Follow the steps below to organize and execute the moving by yourself.

Take an inventory of every room

List every item from each room. Mark down any bigger furniture and fragile stuff. An inventory list will decide the overall size of your move and will help you organizing the next steps. Having properly done that you will be able to determine what moving equipment and supplies you need, which will ultimately determine the final moving cost. Make yourself a self moving checklist to keep track will all the things you need to do.

Sell or donate unused items

While going over all your belongings, you should consider items you may never use again and instead of moving with you, sell or donate. Working on the inventory list gives you this great opportunity to see what you own and of all what you utilize. The things you do not use you can sell at a garage sale you will see that many you can actually sell easily. Another option is donating household goods. Many nonprofit organizations accept old furniture and other kinds of items.

Purchase moving supplies

Purchasing moving supplies is necessary. You will need packing tape, moving boxes, plastic and bubble wrap and wrapping paper. You may also get some type of labels. In addition, for fragile items like dishware and china you may use old newspapers and clothes for padding. Think about all the vibration on the truck when wrapping. It pays to purchase professional packing materials. For more information read Top 5 Packing Tips When Moving.

Rent moving equipment

Go through all your belongings and determine what to donate or trow away and what to move.

To load all of your belongings onto the truck you will need the proper equipment. Consider renting utility dolly, furniture dolly, appliance dolly, moving pads and may be some moving straps. If you will be driving the truck, consider towing equipment for your car. You can rent a car carrier or a car dolly to transport your when moving yourself.

Contact family members for moving help

Supplying yourself with all the proper packing material and moving equipment will not do the job though. To get everything packed and loaded on the truck you need man power. Contact family and friends in advance to let them know you are self-moving and ask for their help. It will be a bit difficult to get all of those willing in to help the same day, so you may consider asking some friends to help with packing and others with loading.

Self Moving Options

Self moving containers

One of the option is to rent a moving container or a moving pod. This way you will not care about the actual transportation. All you need to do is to pack and load your stuff into the container. Another company will take care of the transportation of the storage container to your new place. Once transported, you will need to unload it there. You can also hire labor help to help you with the load and unload.

Moving by Truck – Determine the size of the moving truck

Once you know what you are moving exactly you should determine the size of your rental moving truck. If you haven’t moved by yourself before the best way to get the right size truck is to go to the truck rental company and see the sizes. That way you will be able to determine by eye the approximate height and width of the truck and decide which will fit your stuff. Once settled with the size of the truck you should shop around for the best deal in town. When considering truck rental companies check the prices, but also their locations. It is good that you have the pickup location close to your current home, but also the drop off location to be close to your new home.

Hire moving help

If you have a lot of furniture you might want to hire moving help – laborers to help you load and pack the heavy furniture. One place you can do that is HireAHelper.com or there are many other labor help websites. You should read reviews before hiring moving help.

Make travel arrangements for all family members

After taking care of the whole household, it is time to take care of the family members. Discuss travel arrangements and decide on what is the most efficient and comfortable way for the family to travel. If you are moving cross country your family may not want to travel by car, so you have to book airplane tickets in advance. If you are moving internationally, you should prepare with a good moving company – check out our Canadian moving company reviews to find a good Canadian or international moving company for your upcoming move.

Let us know if you have any question and have gone through a self moving.

Author: Vasilka Atanasovaon September 21, 2011
An expert contributor to My Moving Reviews.