Moving to a new home can be an exciting yet stressful time. When it comes to moving your belongings from one place to another, you essentially have two options – hire professional movers or do it yourself. The DIY route, also known as self service moving, certainly has its advantages. But before deciding to go that route, it’s important to carefully weigh the benefits and potential drawbacks.
What is Self Service Moving?
Self service moving refers to moving your own belongings rather than hiring a moving company to handle the task. With this approach, you rent a truck or trailer designed for moving, and undertake all tasks associated with the move yourself – packing, loading, driving, and unloading. Some key things that define self service moves include:
- Renting a truck, trailer, or moving container to transport your belongings
- Handling all packing, loading, driving, and unloading yourself
- Recruiting friends or family to help with the labor if needed
- Arranging for moving equipment like dollies, furniture pads, and ramps as needed
The do-it-yourself approach gives you maximum control over the move. Unlike with a moving company, you decide how your items are packed, what vehicle transports them, when the move takes place, and who assists you. But assuming responsibility for everything also comes with challenges.
The Potential Benefits of DIY Moving
Doing your own move has several potential upsides that make it an attractive option for some people:
Greater Flexibility and Control
When you manage everything yourself, you call the shots. You can be flexible about timing and pack/load your items how you want. Professional movers operate on their schedule, not yours. With self service moving, things happen on your timeline.
Potentially Lower Costs
Hiring movers is expensive. Even just a few hours of professional moving assistance can cost hundreds of dollars once you factor in labor, materials, driving time and other fees. Renting a truck and doing it yourself is almost always the cheaper choice.
Less Risk of Damage
No one will handle your belongings with more care than you will. Moving companies damage or lose items far too often. When you pack and load the truck yourself, you reduce the risk of damaged furnishings, broken dishes, and lost boxes.
More Privacy
Allowing strangers into your home to pack up your life can feel invasive. Doing your own move lets you decide what helpers see and what remains private. You also don’t have to worry about missing personal items later.
Sense of Accomplishment
Completing a move yourself can be deeply satisfying. The sense of having tackled a big project independently is powerful. Even if exhaustion sets in, self service movers get to feel good about handling a challenging task.
Potential Drawbacks of Self Service Moving
Doing it yourself also comes with some definite disadvantages and difficulties:
Extremely Labor Intensive
Moving an entire household’s worth of belongings takes massive physical effort. You must pack every single item, haul all boxes and furniture, load the truck meticulously to prevent shifting, and then unload at the new home. It can be absolutely grueling without enough helpers.
Time Consuming
In addition to back-breaking labor, moving solo requires huge investments of time for packing, planning the logistics, driving, loading, unloading, and unpacking. Work obligations can make it hard to set aside enough time for self service moving.
Risk of Injury
Lifting heavy, awkward items like mattresses, sofas and appliances can easily result in painful muscle strains and injuries. Proper lifting techniques help, but injuries are common without professional moving experience. Back injuries are all too common.
Lack of Expertise
Professional movers are experts at packing, loading trucks efficiently, and transporting belongings safely. Most people lack this specialized knowledge. Without the right techniques, items get damaged, trucks don’t get fully utilized, and belongings can shift dangerously en route.
Minimal Help Recruiting
While friends may agree to lend a hand, few are prepared for the grueling nature of moving. You may struggle to get enough capable bodies to share the workload sufficiently. Good intentions give way to sore muscles and fatigue.
Logistical Hassles
From renting an appropriately-sized truck, padding and securing the load properly, obtaining insurance, mapping out routes, handling parking, and returning the vehicle, self service moving involves endless logistics. It can quickly become overwhelming.
Permit Requirements
If your move involves extremely large or heavy items like pianos, safes, pool tables, or sleeper sofas, you may need special permits to transport them legally. This adds hassle and delays to the moving process if you didn’t anticipate this.
Key Questions to Ask Yourself Before DIY Moving
Determining if self service moving is the right choice depends on honestly assessing your situation in terms of:
- Time – Do you have enough free time in your schedule to pack gradually and then handle the move? Will work obligations be impacted significantly?
- Budget – Is the lower cost of DIY moving worth the physical exertion for you? Or would paying movers be money well spent?
- Possessions – Do you have lots of large, heavy, fragile or high-value items that are best left to professional movers?
- Helpers – Can you recruit enough strong, responsible helpers to share the considerable workload and prevent injuries?
- Skills – Are you highly skilled at packing fragile items, securing furniture in trucks, and lifting smart? If not, the risk of damage is far greater.
- Logistics – Does tackling the truck rental, insurance, parking, permits and other moving logistics feel doable or extremely stressful?
Being realistic about your personal situation will help determine if solo moving is the right choice. For many people, a hybrid approach utilizing some professional assistance while handling the rest themselves ends up being the ideal balance and most affordable option.
Tips for an Easier Self Service Move
If you’ve weighed the pros and cons and decided to do your own move, these tips can help it go far more smoothly:
Start Organizing and Packing Early
Don’t leave everything until the last minute. As soon as you have your move date, begin decluttering, organizing stuff by room and boxing up non-essentials. Do this gradually over several weeks.
Use a Moving Checklist
Checklists help you remember important tasks and logistics. They keep things on schedule. Break the big move down into more manageable pieces.
Protect Your Back
Use ergonomic lifting techniques – bend knees, keep back straight. Let your legs do the lifting, not your back. Get help moving heavy objects. Take breaks. Listen to your body.
Obtain Dollies and Ramps
Having the right equipment makes a huge difference in minimizing exertion and injuries. Dollies let you roll heavy objects instead of carrying them. Ramps help you wheel things up into the truck rather than lift.
Get Moving Insurance
Accidents happen. Make sure your possessions are protected. Moving insurance can be purchased separately or may be built into some truck rental packages. Look into it well in advance.
Pack an Essentials Box
This box contains items you’ll need as soon as you get to your new place – toilet paper, soap, basic tools, trash bags, chargers, scissors. Having it handy avoids frustration searching for necessities while surrounded by boxes.
Secure Top-Heavy Items
Use straps, tie-downs, blankets, and furniture pads to make sure tall items like dressers and bookcases are secured tightly and can’t tip over during transit. Loose heavy objects are dangerous.
Host a Moving Party Instead of Asking Friends to Help
Make it fun! Order pizza and drinks to thank friends for their help. Having a party atmosphere encourages friends to work harder than just asking for help.
The Bottom Line on Self Service Moving
Doing your own move definitely isn’t for the faint of heart. It demands immense amounts of physical exertion, planning, time and mental stamina. Butself service moving offers big advantages too – greater control, lower costs, flexibility, and privacy.
Overall, carefully considering your specific circumstances is crucial when deciding between a DIY move and hiring professionals. Involving friends, renting equipment, and utilizing moving tips can make solo moving far more feasible for many people who are up to the challenge. Just be sure you have a realistic plan in place before tackling a self service move.
Frequently Asked Questions About Self Service Moving
How long does it take to do a self service move?
On average, plan on self service moving taking 2-3 times longer than using professional movers. Packing alone tends to take between 4-6 hours per room. Actual moving time depends on proximity to your new home and how many helpers you have unloading. Budget more time than you think you’ll need.
Can you do a long distance self service move?
Yes, it’s absolutely possible although more challenging logistically. The key is ensuring you have adequate time off work so you don’t have to do all the driving in very long marathon days. Long distance DIY moves can take 3-7 days depending on distance and number of helpers.
How do you move large furniture yourself?
Use dollies, lifting straps, and ramps to minimize heavy lifting when moving large items like sofas, mattresses, appliances and tables yourself. Prevent damage by padding and securing these items very securely in the truck. Move one large piece at a time with help.
What supplies do you need for DIY moving?
Boxes, packing tape, bubble wrap, newspapers, permanent markers, zip ties, box cutters, furniture pads, tie downs, straps, ramps, dollies and hand trucks are all essential supplies for moving yourself. Create a checklist well in advance.
Can I move everything in one trip with a rental truck?
This depends on how many belongings you have and adequate helpers for unloading. If your move requires multiple trips, consider renting the truck for longer rather than one day. Make measurements before reserving a truck to ensure it’s large enough. But resist overloading it.
Is self service moving worth it?
The cost savings of DIY moving can be worth it for those able to invest the considerable time and physical labor required. Being able to move on your own timeline is also a plus. But for those unable to take time off work or handle lifting, hiring movers is likely the better choice. Assess your needs and abilities realistically.
Am I required to get a moving permit?
In most cases permits are not necessary. But if you are moving oversized objects like grand pianos, safes, hot tubs or sheds, permits may be required. Check regulations for the areas you are moving to/from beforehand to avoid issues.
Conclusion
Moving yourself offers terrific advantages in saving money and having more control, but also comes with daunting physical demands and logistical challenges. Taking stock of your personal moving abilities and circumstances allows you to make the best choice between self service and using professional movers. With adequate help, the right equipment and plenty of preparation, moving yourself is an accomplishment you can feel proud of. Just be sure to consider the extensive efforts a DIY move entails before committing. With realistic planning and support, moving doesn’t have to be a nightmare – even when you go it alone.