How to Move without Going Bankrupt

Moving house can be quite the expensive endeavour. You should be prepared for all kinds of expenses being thrown your way once you decide on a relocation. From all the money needed for all the packing materials, to the moving company fees, to the fuel price to move to your new home, and that is not counting all the costs that might pop up in between. In order to even think about a relocation, you first need to sit down with a pen and paper and do the math. Have an estimate price of the move, and make a budget that you should do all you could not to break. If you are looking for ways to cut all extra costs, here is a list that might help.

Downsize
Admit it; most of the things in your house are just extra clutter. Everything from your cupboard to your wardrobe contains items that you neither need currently, nor ever plan to use. All this is clutter, and you should de-clutter your belongings before you begin packing. Do you really need all the old clothes that no longer fit you and you never plan on wearing? Do you really need all the paintings that were mostly presents you never liked, but kept out of courtesy? And even some of your own paintings that you are keeping around so that you don’t have to look at an empty wall space, how important are those? You should be cruel to all the extra items and only plan to take the essentials with you and resupply yourself with decor once you are settled in and financially stable again. Make a moving checklist and only put down important items, the rest you should either leave, or donate, or maybe even try to sell to get some more money for the moving budget.

Pack Smart
Don’t take packing boxes from removal companies, and don’t buy the big and supposedly safe packing supplies. Go to a local market or store and ask if they have spare boxes you can take – they resupply on a daily basis, so they should have loads of those. Use these free boxes for all your belongings. Also, you don’t need the expensive bubble wrap and other small joys of packing – simple newspaper will do the trick just fine. Use newspaper to fill empty box space after you have organised items inside, and use it to fill empty items like containers or shoes to protect them against getting squeezed, squished and warped. All the packing materials you need you already have in your home, so don’t go crazy with that.

Try to Do as Much as Possible Yourself
Moving companies will make the relocation extremely easy, yes. And their removal van will get all your items sorted with ease, yes. And, yes, they will do it faster, safer, and more organised. But if you can, do try to avoid removal services. You can just ask friends to help you with that, use their cars to transport belongings and furniture. If you really need a moving van, go ahead and hire one, the price will be cheaper than having to get a whole team of movers, but a simple move should not require more than that. A friend will take care of most of your needs: a helping hand for loading, transporting, and unloading the boxes.

The most important thing you need to focus on is to make the move as secure as possible. If something can make it safer, then invest as much as you can so that your mind can be at peace. As for the rest, as you can see, moving house does not have to leave you bankrupt. There are different kinds of ways to reduce expenditure when relocating, and you only have to think a bit before you find the right way for you.