More often than not, moving house can be an expensive process. With so many things to consider, removal services to hire, notifying various establishments of your change of address, getting packing sorted etc., if you’re not totally organised, things can quickly spiral out of control. But if you plan and use your time efficiently, the process could be far cheaper than you originally thought it would be. So utilise these hints and tips, make effective use of whatever time you may have left before moving day, and you can be rest assured that everything will run smoothly and will progress without any problems.

1.    Create a moving checklist.
First things first, write down everything that you need to tackle in order to ensure that you have a successful move. Seeing it written on paper should hopefully spur you into action and make you want to begin crossing tasks off your list. Stick it somewhere noticeable, so that every time you see it, you know what you have to achieve and how long you’ve got to achieve it.

2.    Taking on the removal project yourself?
Feeling brave and fancy relocating yourself without the help of a removal company? Then kudos to you for making that decision, but be prepared to put in a lot of effort and hard work because you’re going to have to do everything yourself. Call in some favours from friends and family and get a helping hand wherever possible. Ask them to help with the lifting on moving day, or ask some friends to help you with packing, wrapping and securing your furniture for the move.

3.    Hire a removal van.
Unless you’re fortunate enough to have a van yourself or are able to borrow one for the day, you’re going to have to think about hiring a moving van. Whether you’re moving yourself or have hired a moving company, van hire is what’ll probably make up most of the cost of the job. Therefore it’s essential that you choose an appropriate vehicle, and one that will get you and your belongings to your new house in one piece. Moving vehicles can come in a range of different sizes, so measure up your items so that you can be sure that you’ll be able to fit everything into it on moving day. You also don’t want to get a van that’s too big and in which your possessions are only occupying half of its space, because you’ll be paying for a load of extra space that you don’t really need. If you hire a professional company, they’ll take care of the vehicle for you, and it’ll fall upon their shoulders if anything doesn’t fit in the van after they’ve given you an estimate and you’ve discussed the details of the move.

4.    Storage.
If there’s a lot of decorating or building work to be done in your new house, there’s no point in taking all of your possessions with you right away, only for them to be sitting there gathering dust while the work takes place. Store your items in a safe and secure environment at a storage facility. The company you book for moving day may also be able to provide you with storage services, so ask for any discounts if you book more than one service.  If not, there are plenty of storage companies out there, all offering a range of different individual storage spaces, including containers, units and rooms, so fitting any large items of furniture in a storage space shouldn’t be a problem.