Moving Yourself vs. Hiring Movers: Which Is the Best Choice for You?

Relocation is intense- both physically and emotionally. 

You are moving to a new location and house, it’s bound to be a tiring move with all the logistics involved. 

You have to settle in the new surroundings, make new friends (if you relocate to a new city), get acclimatized in your home- all of which can build up stress. Not to mention the stress of actual moving. All of this can leave you feeling drained. 

How about you reduce some of that stress? Maybe hire a relocator? For some people, the costs involved could be another source of stress. 

So what should you do? Hire movers or move yourself? Here’s an honest take on both. 

Keep reading to know the pros and cons of moving yourself versus hiring a good removalist. 

Hiring Movers

What makes them the best:

• You won’t have to lift a finger

Why should you do the heavy lifting when you have the best people do that for you. When you hire a good removalist team, you ensure they do all the laborious tasks like carrying the heavy couches down the staircase, moving your bed, and packaging your costly home appliances like TV and refrigerator. 

Another benefit is that you wouldn’t have to strain your own muscles or request your friends to oblige you. You are free to take care of other important stuff like watching your pet, packing your valuables, caring for your children, etc. 

• Stress free

Goes without saying, having a team of experts do the job for you is indeed stress busting. You also save a lot of time as experts know how to do everything that too with perfection. Imagine having to maneuver the giant truck yourself. 

Scary and stress inducing, indeed. 

Time crunch, children to care for, running out of time, and then having to actually pack and move all your belongings- all of this can quickly overwhelm even the most patient people. 

• Efficient  

Ram Pahwa, founder of Move My Stuff suggests hiring a legitimate removalist company is extremely important. Experienced moving companies are reliable and efficient. Your friends can take a rain check last minute. 

But a moving company is under contract with you. As a result, they will honor the commitment and relocate you within the agreed upon time limit. 

They will arrive with appropriate equipment to save you from the boring and draining task of packing and moving your stuff. 

Mr. William goes on to add, “With an experience of more than a decade in the industry, Move My Stuff and reliable companies like us take utmost care to relocate you with maximum efficiency and minimum disruption”. 

What you might not like:

• Expensive

Hiring a relocation company can be a bit expensive. It would certainly cost you extra dollars. But if you hire a good removalist, it is certainly going to be better than the thousands of dollars you might end up losing due to damages caused by improper packaging. 

• Flexibility

Hiring a removalist can be challenging for people who would like to have complete control over the move. With a removalist, you would have to fix an appointment, choose a pick up manner, and then wait for the D-day. This can be problematic if you like to do things in the spur of the movement.

• Impersonal

It can be nerve racking to hand over your precious belongings to people you don’t know. This is why it becomes very important to hire a removalist you can trust. Read reviews and do your homework before you set a date with your chosen movers. Especially if you are moving with kids, you have 100 things to take care of. You can’t pay attention to the smallest of belongings because your mind is way occupied.

Moving Yourself

What makes it yay: 

• Complete control

You are in total control! The greatest part about doing it yourself is you get to decide when to move and how to move. DIY makes sense when you have enough experience of moving and you know what you are doing. You also get to decide how to best protect your precious goods. 

• Inexpensive

Moving yourself is definitely inexpensive. You don’t have to shell out dollars on a removalist company. But exercise caution while packing, loading, and unloading stuff especially if you are new to this. If you end up breaking your valuables, you could actually lose more than the amount you saved by not hiring an expert removalist. 

• Pack your own belongings

As we said, you are in total control. That means you decide how to pack your belongings. You know the worth of all your stuff so you will exercise extra caution to keep them safe. You are also free to pack as little or as much as you desire. 

What might make it nay:

• You have to do the heavy lifting

Doing it yourself means you are the one to pack, load, unload, and unpack stuff. At best, you can ask your friends for help. But ultimately you’ll have to get down and dirty and do all the heavy lifting. It can leave you feeling physically drained. It is definitely not going to be a walk in the park. 

• Unexpected problems

Good moving companies have experience of relocating thousands of people. They know all the challenges and unexpected problems that might arise at the last minute. But not you. If the couch gets stuck in the doorway or any other problems raises its ugly head at the last moment, you might waste a lot of your precious time figuring out a solution. And still, you would run the risk of things going awry. 

• Poor planning

Hiring a good removalist definitely takes a lot of planning. But coordinating everything yourself is going to be much…much more work. Ples, there’s a risk of your entire move getting disrupted if you are inexperienced. Poor planning can wreak havoc on the entire move. 

Hope the above pros and cons of moving yourself versus hiring movers help you figure out the best choice for you. Happy relocating!