A new house is an exciting prospect -- a blank canvas full of untapped potential, waiting for you and your family to turn it into a home. Before you can do that, though, you have to move from your old home to your new one, which can be a stressful, time-consuming and expensive task. There's no way to eliminate all the stress from moving, but there are a few things you can do to reduce the expense. As with many things, you can reduce the cost of moving by investing a little extra time in your preparations.
Cut the clutter
If you're like most people, the longer you live in a place, the more it'll fill up with belongings. Some of these are essential, some are pretty handy, and some are just gathering dust. When you move, you'll be paying to move all of these, whether in time, petrol, van hire or removal service fees, so do yourself a favour and take the opportunity to purge. Heavy items like books are particularly good to get rid of -- if you're not going to read that novel again, and you don't want to keep it on the shelf purely to impress visitors, why not give it to a friend, sell it or let a charity have it?
Pick your moment
If you have a lot of things to move, a professional removal firm is a great asset -- experienced, well-equipped and above all insured, these experts take a lot of the stress out of moving. However, they aren't always cheap. You can save money on removal fees or van hire, however, by choosing the right time to move. The busiest times to move are typically weekends, and van hire prices definitely rise at these times. Plan a midweek move and you could find yourself saving some cash. If you don't have that kind of control over your schedule, you can at least book your move as far in advance as possible, which will help you get the best rate.
Talk face to face
Online quotes for van hire or removal services are easy to get, and it's convenient to be able to compare a lot of different prices at once. However, experienced movers know that a face-to-face quote is almost always better than an online one. It takes a little longer to visit multiple removal firms in person, but the savings are well worth the extra effort.
All of these tactics take time, but they save money, helping make an expensive process a little less challenging and giving you more money to spend on turning your new house into the perfect home.
