Friends or Movers?

wrigleyville · July 2015

How do you handle moving?

I'm debating whether I should ask friends or just suck it up and pay for movers. I got a quote of $85/hour, and I don't have that much stuff. I doubt it would take longer than three hours altogether. (H and I split up at the end of April, so it's just my stuff.)

The thing is, I'm pretty tight on cash, and I'd rather pay $20 for a U-Haul than $250-300 for movers.

On the other hand, my friends and I are past the age where beer and pizza is enough to make up for a sweaty morning and afternoon of hauling crap up and down stairs. People have offered to help, and I have two friends who absolutely love doing stuff like that**, but I still feel weird asking.

So, what do you think?

** No, seriously. The last time they helped us move, they went home and did "Insanity" because, as they put it, they didn't get enough of a workout.

luckya23 · July 2015

Definitely movers! They are so efficient, and you can get to unpacking faster!

WinstonsGirl · July 2015

We did friends last time, but all of our big stuff was already at the house, so it was more putting it in places. One friend commented that he had never had such an easy move before. It took about 45min total.

I'd normally say movers though, but if your 2 friends are really that into it, invite them anyway. If you don't have much stuff, can you get by with just them??

STARMOON44 · July 2015

Movers. Especially if they have to walk up and down stairs.

MJKlover · July 2015

Could you do a bit of a combo? Hire movers and allow you friends (if they TRULY love moving) to help? That way you wouldn't need the movers for as long which would save you some money.

hellohkb · July 2015

We usually just do it ourselves. But we've helped friends move before, some who are in their midthirties. I don't think it's an age thing as much as a personality thing.

Our next move I may check into movers but FH is the kind of person who thinks who can do it all himself with some help from me *sigh*.

paperpusher · July 2015

I'm sorry to hear about your split.
If you've got two friends who are more than willing I'd go that route. Just have your stuff ready to go before hand to make it easy. Maybe offer to make them - home cooked dinner instead of just pizza and beer?

hellohkb · July 2015

paperpusher said:
I'm sorry to hear about your split.
If you've got two friends who are more than willing I'd go that route. Just have your stuff ready to go before hand to make it easy. Maybe offer to make them - home cooked dinner instead of just pizza and beer?

This. A friend of ours all went out after FH helped them out and they just paid for his meal. That could be an option too.

particuliersylphe · July 2015

Movers, always movers.

huskypuppy14 · July 2015

So sorry to hear about your split @wrigleyville

I would always recoomend movers, but it depends how much stuff you really have. Do you have a bed and a couch and bedroom furniture, then movers might just make it easier. But if you don't have a lot of furniture, like just one or two pieces, then friends should be fine.

wrigleyville · July 2015

Thanks, everyone.

The divorce has been completely amicable. We're getting along better now than we did when we were in a relationship/married. I think it's because the pressure to "maintain" is off.

The only furniture I have is my bed (easy to disassemble), a small-ish desk, a nightstand, a dresser, two tall bookcases, a small bookcase, a medium-size TV stand, a recliner (splits into two pieces), and a tiny end table.

Our front entryway is huge, and we never use it, so I figure if I stack all of the boxes on the bottom level, that will save lots of time. More time saved = cheaper bill from the movers.

My friends will insist on helping, so I might ask them to help me put the really important/fragile stuff in my car and then help me kind of get things set up once the movers finish. It will really help having them there, as being all alone in my new place after living with H and our pets for five years is going to be odd, to say the least. So I really will need them for moral support, if anything. I'm kind of dreading being on my own that night, even though H and I have had separate rooms for a few years. It's just going to be... weird... adjusting to being truly single again.

I like the idea of making a homemade meal, especially since they're so health-conscious.

I also like the idea of doing the combo move, since, again, that'll keep the movers' bill pretty low. If we can put a bunch of stuff in our cars, that's less stuff for the movers to haul.

WinstonsGirl · July 2015

Glad to hear that things are going better now. I can't imagine divorce is easy, but it seems amicable ones go better, so it sounds like this is a bit of a relief.

You know if being on your own at night is a problem at the start, someone is usually up here pretty late, so we can keep you company too.

thisismynickname2 · July 2015

I'm sorry to hear of your split. I think you have a good hybrid plan. Movers are SO efficient. I will always spend for movers, and they have the right equipment to make life way easier!

southernbelle0915 · July 2015

Hey wrigley! I hope everything is going OK.

If your friends offered to help, actually like helping woth this kind of thing, and you don't have that much stuff, I see no issue with friends helping out.

You can always have the movers just do the big stuff.

And poke your head in here from time to time.. We miss you!

sarahufl · July 2015

Sorry about the split.

I always vote for movers- they are insured if something breaks or they get hurt, since you are paying them you can also demand certain things (time, date, etc) more than with your friends.

That said, if your friends truly enjoy it (which, wtf? Who likes moving!?), it could be a fun experience for you and them.

wrigleyville · July 2015

It turns out this is all a moot point. :P

My friend texted me a bit ago to let me know that her husband has to leave for a business trip that day.

So, the new plan is to hire the movers and let them do all the lifting and hauling and stair-climbing.

After she's dropped her husband off at the airport, she's going to head over and enjoy a pitcher of fruity alcoholic something-or-other with me while we watch "Bridezillas", "SYTTD", etc. and unpack boxes.

It'll be sort of a "Single Ladies" night.

Thanks for all of the advice and love. I'll definitely start checking in again.

AddieCake · July 2015

I'm so sorry about the split. I'm glad you got the moving thing sorted out!

CMGragain · July 2015

Hiring movers is your best bet. They have insurance to cover them if there should be an accident.

Some years ago, a neighbor of ours was using friends to move. Her brother was helping stabilize the mattress in a pickup truck. While the truck was going down the road, the mattress flipped out, and he went with it. He was killed instantly. It was shocking for everyone.

I want to add my thoughts and prayers for you. You are a lovely person, and you deserve the best in life.

BouxRadley · July 2015

scribe95 said:

As a friend who recently helped her best friend move it was a miserable experience. I would rather give her $200 actually. I think this is one of those things that people hate with a fiery passion but will never say aloud.

This. I totally hired movers for my best friend when her and her FI moved because it was the end of June in Texas and they only had a truck with no A/C and the apartment was about 45 minutes away. No way was I about to deal with that, no matter how much I love her.

climbingsingle · July 2015

CMGragain said:

Hiring movers is your best bet. They have insurance to cover them if there should be an accident.

Some years ago, a neighbor of ours was using friends to move. Her brother was helping stabilize the mattress in a pickup truck. While the truck was going down the road, the mattress flipped out, and he went with it. He was killed instantly. It was shocking for everyone.

I want to add my thoughts and prayers for you. You are a lovely person, and you deserve the best in life.

Wow, what a great story. Thanks for sharing. So people, in conclusion, don't ever ask your friends to help you move because they will die.

Wrigley, I'm sorry to hear about your split. I hope you're doing well.

yogapants · July 2015

CMGragain said:
Hiring movers is your best bet. They have insurance to cover them if there should be an accident.

Some years ago, a neighbor of ours was using friends to move. Her brother was helping stabilize the mattress in a pickup truck. While the truck was going down the road, the mattress flipped out, and he went with it. He was killed instantly. It was shocking for everyone.

I want to add my thoughts and prayers for you. You are a lovely person, and you deserve the best in life.

Last time I had to help friends move, they had only packed half of their stuff. It was a long, annoying day but in the end we got all of their stuff from House A to House B and nobody died, though my boyfriend did scrape his knee.

lovesclimbing · July 2015

I have helped friends move several times and have never minded. Is it my favorite thing in the world to do? Of course not. I don't think anybody would list "helping people move" on their top 20 list of favorite activities. But I have always enjoyed giving them a hand and chatting with them for awhile before they leave. I would ask friends.

Wegl13 · July 2015

When our family moved, we did all the "stuff" ourselves (boxes and the like) and hired movers for the furniture. That way no one was moving anything really heavy and it saved us a bit of money. I will say though, I moved myself with friends most recently because it was going to be chump change to move my crap out of my apartment, but the 8 hour round trip drive was going to cost me a ton of money. I guess it didn't even occur to me how much extra it was going to be when I was moving to another state.

southernbelle0915 · July 2015

yogapants said:
Last time I had to help friends move, they had only packed half of their stuff. It was a long, annoying day but in the end we got all of their stuff from House A to House B and nobody died, though my boyfriend did scrape his knee.

This is my pet peeve. We've had people ask us to help them move and DH drives a pick up truck, so we get asked this more than you'd expect. And we generally agree to help people.

What drives me NUTS is when they aren't ready to go. If people are helping you (general you), your shit better be packed up, by the door, and ready to be picked up and carried to the car. If it's not, don't waste others' time.

WinstonsGirl · July 2015

Ditto not being ready. My good friend asked me to help him move. I arrived at noon to nothing packed. Not 1 item. It took till almost 2am to get him packed and moved. I was pissed

ETA - I packed while he cleaned and then helped with that too.

BouxRadley · July 2015

WinstonsGirl said:

Ditto not being ready. My good friend asked me to help him move. I arrived at noon to nothing packed. Not 1 item. It took till almost 2am to get him packed and moved. I was pissed

ETA - I packed while he cleaned and then helped with that too.

We're moving at the end of August and we've already started packing. I hate that shit.

Also related but distantly, we were once roped into helping some of momster-in-laws friends move. (like PP, I have a truck, so I'm used to this happening fairly regularly) so we show up to the house and there's like seven cars in the driveway. Like WTF folks, how many people do you need to move one house? Right,well, ok. We get inside and it's not a "moving party" like we were asked to help with, but a fucking PACKING PARTY. As in we're too lazy to pack all of our belongings in a timely fashion and we didn't expect the house to actually sell in a timely manner so please spend the next four hours packing up my 37 different pattern china sets.

Maggie0829 · July 2015

H and I have moved twice. Both times we enlisted friends to help with a promise of pizza, beer and cake. This was when we were in our 20s, so everyone was "woo this is going to be fun!". But now? I will happily whip out my checkbook to pay someone to move me. Telling people where to place the heavy shit is a lot more appealing then actually having to move the heavy shit myself.

southernbelle0915 · July 2015

scribe95 said: I also find this interesting in terms of what we tell brides, which is not to ask your friends to do a bunch of tasks/jobs for your wedding. But people do it for moving all the time. And that shit is actually hard.
**************pretend there's a box here************************
I would never (have never) asked people to help me move. But people have offered and we've taken them up on a couple of things.

I feel the same way about weddings. If someone offers to help with something, great. But in the absence of an offer, the assumption should be that people do it themselves.

littlemushroom · July 2015

I had a couple friends offer to help us move, but we said no because we were hiring movers. They then volun-told us to help them move when they find a new house.

If I wasn't interested in moving my own stuff, I definitely don't want to help them with their stuff. Especially since they told us we were going to help instead of asking. They need to budget for movers if they need help moving.

Maggie0829 · July 2015

I guess for us and our friends we have always asked for help when it is needed. We also completely understand when people say no. And we then help our friends in turn when they need help with some thing. I guess that is just what I figured friends do.

Now would I ask a bunch of friends to help me tie bows on favors? No, because that is a simple task that requires no help at all. But moving an entire house? Yeah, that is something I could use a hand or two with.

And if my friends help I of course want to provide them with food and refreshments as well as huge thanks yous and hugs for taking time out of their lives to help.

We have also asked our one friend to help install our new kitchen sink. And another to help out with the electrical in our basement. Then in turn my H helped our sink installer friend hook up a new HVAC system in his house. And whenever the electrician friend needs a helping hand we are here.

I guess in my mind I don't see the harm in asking for help when it is something that you truly need help with.

lyndausvi · July 2015

I do not have a problem asking family and friends for help with most things. Wedding or otherwise.

It's when people expect their family and friends to help or if they pretty much guilt you and/or volun-tell you to do something is where it becomes a problem for me.

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