How to move house on a budget

The costs of moving house can often suddenly pile up. Whether you’re moving across the country or moving down the road, it’s important to organize yourself and prevent unnecessary costs. Here are our 10 tips for a cheap, easy move.

First things first, you must choose how you’re going to move house. You can call on your friends and family and rent a car or van through various sites, which is often the cheapest option. However, you must consider how you’re going to feed your troops and make sure that you reserve parking spaces outside both properties if necessary.

Another option is to hire a moving company or find a group of willing volunteers who are prepared to help out with your move.

To save even more on your move, you can easily find inexpensive furniture. There are tons of sites with listings for second hand items. There are often local buy/sell sites and Facebook groups for people to sell their stuff to people nearby – sometimes you can get stuff for free from people who just want it off their hands.

To avoid the stress of administrative procedures and regulations, you can also check out sites and companies which provide services to combine all (or some) of your household bills. They can even take care of your home insurance. Check out comparison websites to check you’re getting the best deal on your bills.

If you’re moving to a new city or your accommodation is not yet ready to move into, you can easily find a spare room for your family or friends to spend a few nights in while you get everything sorted. You can check out our spare rooms on offer on Roomlala.

In order to avoid application fees for a new contract with an energy provider, you can ask the former tenant to transfer the contract into your name, which is much cheaper than opening a new one.

Moving house can be very expensive, but financial help is available. If you’re moving for work, your employer may be able to undertake some of the cost of moving. There is also help available in certain areas – contact your local council or the Citizens’ Advice Bureau to see what is available.

There are many sites in the UK where you can find furniture to rent at low cost. This gives you more flexibility or time to buy new things once you’ve moved in. If that doesn’t suit you, you could tart up your old furniture or second hand furniture to suit your new place. Check out our hints in our article: “DIY: Upcycle your furniture without breaking the bank”.

An area of the sharing economy which is growing in popularity is shared storage space – UK sites like Storemates and Stashbee offer cheaper storage than most private companies. If you have stuff that won’t quite fit or you only use for half the year, why not find a local online with extra space in their basement, attic or garage? You can save money and even get to know someone in your local area.

Every day supermarkets and businesses throw out packaging boxes that are only used once. Before your move, you can head down to your supermarket and ask to use them. Some organizations collect these boxes to give them out for free. Save the planet and your wallet at the same time!

You could even generate some cash by selling your furniture and other bits and bobs that don’t need to come with you online. It will save you the cost of transporting them and provide you with a bit more cash to pay for everything else.

Author: Roomlala