To Move: Friends or Movers?

falsara · February 2015

when I was a kid we had government movers and packers. When FI and I moved to chicago we moved ourselves because we didn't have a place in the city yet and it was a cross country move. I can see us hiring movers when we have an actual house but I will be packing those boxes myself.

If we're just moving across the city I can see us moving stuff by ouse lives again. We might higher movers if we move farther than that just to load and unload

climbingsingle · February 2015

luckya23 said:

sarahufl said:

At a certain age and income bracket, you hire someone.

THIS!!!

Plus, at a certain age and income bracket, pizza and beer are no longer "payment." I would say that age is around the time you are able to buy your own beer legally.

-------------------------------------
Totally agree. Although my brother and I have always helped each other move. That's just a given with us. But I never have and never would ask friends to help.

AddieCake · February 2015

We have always used friends and family. If we move again, I want to hire movers. Moving out of state. (third time for me) and into my husband's best friend's house while we looked for a place here and then moving it back out and to our new place a couple months later has me DONE with moving my own stuff.

LadyMillil · February 2015

We've always rented a U-haul and had friends help. We're still in a 1 bedroom condo so we don't have a lot of heavy stuff. We always pack and take apart furniture before the friends arrive so it is just carrying the stuff to and from the truck. I have a friend that does help me unpack the boxes, but it's mostly to speed up the process of clearing out boxes so we can move around easier.

theartistformerlyknownas · February 2015

sarahufl said:

At a certain age and income bracket, you hire someone.

This. Family and friends have always helped in the past, but I'll always hire people from here on out. I'm beyond the point in my life to want to help THEM move, and I assume the same is true from them.

FiancB · February 2015

I've never hired movers but then I've never had a lot of stuff. Our last move was a fair distance and we did have all our furniture and stuff. Up til then it was just me and what I could fit into my truck, so it was pretty easy. We had the summer off so it should've been relatively easy but I think if I did it again, especially if we had an actual house vs apartment and if we had kids' stuff to move to, that I would hire.

JennyColada · February 2015

DH already had his house when I moved in, so I just had a few boxes.

DH hired movers when he bought his house and moved in his furniture.

arrippa · February 2015

My lease is up on Sept 1, which is the moving day in Boston, so I always hire movers. I have a few friends moving that day too, so it's easier on friends to have professionals do it. I also use the time that I would if I was moving myself to wait for the cable guy or shopping to pick up stuff I might need.

larrygaga · February 2015

I'm still too young and poor. I hire family with pizza

kvruns · February 2015

all I can say is if you decide to use friends please please please have everything already packed, have a plan for how things need to go in the truck etc. I've helped friends move and the amount of time I've spent throwing stuff in boxes or doing other packing things because they didn't have their stuff ready to go just sucked. I vowed to never help these particular people move again.

last summer we helped someone move who had the majority of everything ready to go and it was quick and easy. be that kind of friend and I will help you move again

Weesh · February 2015

I had always done it myself or had 1-2 friends help me when I was younger (and had way less stuff), but we used a moving company when we bought a house and it was the best investment we made.

The closing was supposed to be on a Thursday when I was off Thursday and Friday, and my husband took both days off. The closing was pushed back until Monday, and we had to be out of our condo and into the house within two days. Our friends and family members had to work, and we didn't want to burden anyone so we hired the movers. One day and everything was moved from one place to the other and insured. They emptied our condo, storage unit, and put everything where we labeled that it should go in our new house.

I don't think I'll ever move again without movers. I don't need them to pack, but lifting and moving everything around is a pain.

melbenso · February 2015

If you can afford it, I highly recommend hiring movers. It makes things a million times easier. If you do, make sure that someone from the moving company comes to your current home to see what needs to be moved and give you an estimate based on that. I've hired professional movers the last two times I moved. The time they came to look at my things and gave me an estimate was the easiest move I've ever had by far, and completely worth the money. The time they didn't come see what needed to be moved, they didn't send a truck that was big enough and had to make a second trip. Cost more and took longer. I was not pleased. (Fortunately, neither were the movers and they agreed to let me pay the original estimate amount and just give them each a huge tip, which meant I paid less than I would have otherwise and they got paid more.)

thisismynickname2 · February 2015

sarahufl said:

At a certain age and income bracket, you hire someone.

This, exactly. I would never ask my friends at my age. Also, city living-- with apartments or condos, you either have stairs or elevators. With elevators, you have to pay the building the use the elevator. Sometimes you have all day, sometimes you get a 3 hour block. Movers are super efficient, friends less so. And who the hell wants to lug your TV up 3-4 flights of stairs?

Note, I only pay them to MOVE, not to pack. Packing I do myself. When the movers show up, everything is in boxes and they wrap up the large fragile stuff (i.e. paintings). I love that they show up with huge dollys and put several boxes on it and move it in one go. They are sooo worth the money!!!

badbnagdway · February 2015

I have moved a lot and have certainly had family and friends help when I had cheaper furniture that was not too heavy. When I got my current job and bought real big girl furniture (like, a king-sized bed and leather sofa), I vowed that I would never move again without movers. When FI and I bought our house he was very insistent that we should not hire movers to save the expense and that he and two of his big burly friends could move all our stuff. He truly came to regret that.

We needed to move two apartment's worth of stuff into the house in one day, but we barely got to FI's condo. On moving day, we bought everyone their lunches and took them out to a nice restaurant. FI also gave our moving helpers $40 each. All in all I think we spent close to $180 slipping folks cash and feeding them. Guess what, the movers would have cost maybe $400 and FI and I could have spent the day organizing and directing and not actually moving heavy objects. Our big burly men were not very good or safe at handling the myriad of heavy furniture and our walls and beautiful wood floors ended up damaged.

In the end it was definitely the wrong decision not to hire movers, but if we ever move again, I think FI will listen to me when I plead that we need them.

amelisha · February 2015

badbnagdway said:

I have moved a lot and have certainly had family and friends help when I had cheaper furniture that was not too heavy. When I got my current job and bought real big girl furniture (like, a king-sized bed and leather sofa), I vowed that I would never move again without movers. When FI and I bought our house he was very insistent that we should not hire movers to save the expense and that he and two of his big burly friends could move all our stuff. He truly came to regret that.

We needed to move two apartment's worth of stuff into the house in one day, but we barely got to FI's condo. On moving day, we bought everyone their lunches and took them out to a nice restaurant. FI also gave our moving helpers $40 each. All in all I think we spent close to $180 slipping folks cash and feeding them. Guess what, the movers would have cost maybe $400 and FI and I could have spent the day organizing and directing and not actually moving heavy objects. Our big burly men were not very good or safe at handling the myriad of heavy furniture and our walls and beautiful wood floors ended up damaged.

In the end it was definitely the wrong decision not to hire movers, but if we ever move again, I think FI will listen to me when I plead that we need them.

Where on earth do you get $400 movers? Mine cost $1600, were three days late, treated us like crap, and made me regret hiring them more than anything.

I'm not bitter or anything, lol.

But seriously...I stand by my previous statement of being willing to drag my own 300-pound china cabinet or whatever by myself rather than getting movers again after that experience. And we picked ones with great reviews, even. I have no idea how you hire movers that aren't terrible...

anjemon · February 2015

Every move I've made so far my family has helped me. Mostly my Dad and his suburban. Sometimes my BILs if they are available. And I have reciprocated with moving their stuff as well.

But I think FI and I are at the point where we're going to hire movers when we buy a house. FI has been in his place a long time and has acquired some heavy furniture. And we have a lot of stuff. And neither of us wants to owe friends moving favors. So I figure when we move we'll box everything ourselves and probably move some of the more fragile/important stuff in our cars. And then hire movers for all of the furniture/heavy boxes.

I think it really does depend on how much stuff you have and how nice it is. The crappy couch in my apartment? Wouldn't care if it got ruined. The gorgeous new dresser I just bought? Better be treated really nicely!

mrsk616 · February 2015

i never moved myself but when my sister and her family moved they had family help pack things into a POD over the course of a few weeks then when it came down to their now house 2 hrs away they had more friends and family help unpack the POD. cheaper since the moving of things were over the course of a month. either way if it was a course of a weekend id have family help or a course of a month. cheaper and you spend time with family and friends.

badbnagdway · February 2015

amelisha said:

badbnagdway said:

I have moved a lot and have certainly had family and friends help when I had cheaper furniture that was not too heavy. When I got my current job and bought real big girl furniture (like, a king-sized bed and leather sofa), I vowed that I would never move again without movers. When FI and I bought our house he was very insistent that we should not hire movers to save the expense and that he and two of his big burly friends could move all our stuff. He truly came to regret that.

We needed to move two apartment's worth of stuff into the house in one day, but we barely got to FI's condo. On moving day, we bought everyone their lunches and took them out to a nice restaurant. FI also gave our moving helpers $40 each. All in all I think we spent close to $180 slipping folks cash and feeding them. Guess what, the movers would have cost maybe $400 and FI and I could have spent the day organizing and directing and not actually moving heavy objects. Our big burly men were not very good or safe at handling the myriad of heavy furniture and our walls and beautiful wood floors ended up damaged.

In the end it was definitely the wrong decision not to hire movers, but if we ever move again, I think FI will listen to me when I plead that we need them.

Where on earth do you get $400 movers? Mine cost $1600, were three days late, treated us like crap, and made me regret hiring them more than anything.

I'm not bitter or anything, lol.

But seriously...I stand by my previous statement of being willing to drag my own 300-pound china cabinet or whatever by myself rather than getting movers again after that experience. And we picked ones with great reviews, even. I have no idea how you hire movers that aren't terrible...

I live in the south, for some reason, I have had incredibly good luck finding cheap, excellent movers in both Virginia and Tennessee.

That would be for an in-town move though. I paid $95 per hour for three guys and a truck to move my stuff, which, because it was apartment to apartment didn't take more than 2.5 hours total. I figured if FI both had stuff to move it would have been closer to 4 hours, so it would have been probably about $400. I did find cheaper quotes around here as well. I also do stuff like disassemble the bed and any other furniture before movers come so I try to be ready and organized to reduce the cost.

lovesclimbing · February 2015

Neither. When H and I moved last spring, we moved all our own stuff. Granted, we had only lived in furnished houses, so the only big stuff was our bed (a cheapo take apart metal frame and the box spring and mattress).

We had helped friends before. With our next move, I expect H and I will ask a couple friends to help move the big couch, dressers and stuff we've since acquired unless we decide to sell the stuff first. We would also likewise help friends with moving (and we have.)

teddygirl9 · February 2015

I've only ever moved by myself or with SO. We never had much though. If we were moving now (with a full house of stuff), I'd gladly take the free help. I don't think I'd ask for help, but if they're offering heck yes.

jacques27 · February 2015

sarahufl said:

At a certain age and income bracket, you hire someone.

This is exactly what I came to post.

During college and early 20's when we were all unattached, just starting out with minimal money, hadn't aquired much in the way of furnishing - it was friends all the way and you paid them in cheap beer and pizza.

You do that 20-30 times and you get burned out. People accumulate more, job schedules become harder to work around, and you just plain get older and don't want to lug that sh*t around more than you have to. I hired movers for my last move and I will for the next one. In fact the last time my best friend moved, I handed her a wad of cash, said "Call it an early housewarming gift - use it toward hiring movers," and walked away. I've helped her move four times - one of those times was a fourth floor walk-up in 100 degree heat - I paid my dues.

huskypuppy14 · February 2015

arrippa said:

My lease is up on Sept 1, which is the moving day in Boston, so I always hire movers. I have a few friends moving that day too, so it's easier on friends to have professionals do it. I also use the time that I would if I was moving myself to wait for the cable guy or shopping to pick up stuff I might need.

I always lucked out and never moved on Sept. 1. When I first moved to Boston I moved on like August 27, then I always moved in June or July. Sure it meant paying double rent for a couple months one time, but so worth it.

Make sure you hire your movers in like May for Sept. 1!

wandajune6 · February 2015

I've moved a lot. I'll beg a friend to drive the rental truck (I lack that skillset) and hire muscle from Craig's List. For the last few moves, I'll hire 2 guys for $20-25/hour each. They load the boxes into the truck then empty it later. They also take care of all of the heavy pieces. If I have friends offering to help,I usually just have them supervise.

Friendships are too important to waste on moving.

doeydo · February 2015

When my family moved from Hamilton to the next place we had professional movers and it went fine. When my mom and I moved from there to an apartment in town people from the church helped so much. When I moved from my mom's to where I am now it was just us and a couple of friends and family doing the moving. Everything went fine. I would not ask someone to do it, but I would take up their offer.

arrippa · February 2015

huskypuppy14 said:

arrippa said:

My lease is up on Sept 1, which is the moving day in Boston, so I always hire movers. I have a few friends moving that day too, so it's easier on friends to have professionals do it. I also use the time that I would if I was moving myself to wait for the cable guy or shopping to pick up stuff I might need.

I always lucked out and never moved on Sept. 1. When I first moved to Boston I moved on like August 27, then I always moved in June or July. Sure it meant paying double rent for a couple months one time, but so worth it.

Make sure you hire your movers in like May for Sept. 1!

I was thinking about doing that when I move from my current location. Technically, I have to be out Aug. 31 so they have time to clean the apt before the new tenants move in. I was thinking about moving the month or two before that.

ginnybinny17 · February 2015

I'm having a battle with my SO over this exact thing right now. I've moved apartments (mostly) by myself 3 times and it may not have cost much but it was kinda miserable, even though I had a few really sweet friends who offered to help me with the big stuff I couldn't physically get myself.

We're getting a new place in June and I'm dead set on movers. SO thinks it's ridiculous because movers cost so much and we aren't moving far at all (less than a mile), but like. I don't care. This time around I wanna sip wine and watch from the balcony as professionally hired muscular men pack up/wrap/cart away every single thing in my apartment.

pinkcow13 · February 2015

When I moved into my own apartment (twice) I had friends and family help me, as well as FI (then bf). When we decided to move in together, he moved into my apartment, and we hired professionals.

They were awesome. Long story short, we had a horrible experience with the building thanks to an asshole neighbor. The movers ended up having to carry the bed, tv, and couch up 13 flights. What was supposed to be like a $500 move ended up costing over $1,000.00. Regardless, from now on, movers all the way.

Inkdancer · February 2015

For me, it depends on how long the move is.

For our less-than-a-mile move, we paid FIL and BIL in beer. They hauled our heavy stuff and it was great.

For a move a few states over, movers or GTFO.

danamw · February 2015

Movers, no matter how far the move is. They are licensed, bonded, and insured. They swoop in, and your place is bare in a few hours.

Friends can still help. You can pack boxes, or move the delicate things like electronics and china in cars.

Wouldn't anyone feel bad if a friend dropped a bureau on their foot, or if they broke your expensive lamp?

mrscomposer · February 2015

Oh sweet baby Jesus. I moved myself seven times after high school, plus moving my stuff into storage when I went for training.

Then the dear, dear, DEAR professional movers moved me out of storage and half way across the country. And then again when I transferred. They swooped in, packed, loaded, moved, unloaded and unpacked. I just had to put things away.

I will never move myself again.

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