The 3 Hidden Costs Of Moving Home

Posted on: 9 January 2017

Moving home can be a very stressful thing, and the stress caused by planning the move can cause many people to miscalculate the price of their move. To make sure you don't fall victim to hidden expenses, below are three costs to keep an eye on when moving home:

Packing Costs

For some reason, most people completely forget to consider the costs incurred in actually packing their belongings and getting everything loaded onto the truck. Although the equipment is fairly minimal, there is definitely more required than empty cardboard boxes. As such, you need to carefully consider how you are going to pack your belongings to ensure you don't pay an obscene amount to transport your stuff.

The first thing to consider is how you are going to pack your stuff away. The most obvious (and cheapest!) way to do this would be to source empty cardboard boxes from a local store. However, cardboard is a very weak material and is susceptible to water damage, so it's best to use larger plastic containers for valuable items.

To protect your belongings, you will need to invest in additional supplies. Your boxes should be closed shut with strong construction tape – sellotape will break easily and may cause your belongings to come loose during transit. For particularly sensitive items, such as ornaments and electronics, you will need to use bubble wrap to avoid any unnecessary damage. Investing in these additional supplies will add to the cost of moving home, but the emotional cost of breaking your favourite china glass would be much worse!

Cleaning Your Property

With the excitement of moving day on the horizon, it's understandable that cleaning your property will be the last thing on your list. However, it's important to account for this as soon as possible. Particularly if you are renting, your estate agents will charge a nominal fee to pay for end-of-tenancy cleaning, which can be a substantial figure that you want to avoid if possible.

Therefore, you have two options available to you before moving out. If you have some time on your hands, you could do the cleaning yourself. All that you would need to pay for is the cleaning products and some rags, which shouldn't damage your budget too much. However, moving can be extremely stressful on you and your family, so it's understandable that cleaning the house thoroughly may be adding too much to your schedule.

As such, you may prefer to hire a professional company to clean your property on your behalf. Although this will increase your expenditure, cleaning companies can actually be an economical solution if you look hard enough. In order to choose the right option for you, you really need to look at your schedule and see if you have the capacity to clean your property yourself. If not, investing in a cleaning company will significantly alleviate your stress levels as moving day approaches.

Hiring a Truck

Hiring a moving vehicle can often be one of your biggest outlays when planning your home move. Unless you're lucky and have a friend who owns a reasonably sized truck, chances are you will be looking at putting quite a dent in your budget to hire a suitable vehicle.

The main reason that trucks are so expensive to hire is that they come loaded with their own expenses. Hiring a truck by itself isn't too expensive; however, the running costs can quickly escalate if you don't keep tabs on them. Take gas, for example – if you're moving a long distance, return journeys can quickly add significant expense to the move.

Although it is more expensive than planning the move yourself, you should consider using a moving company to transport your belongings for you. This way, you consolidate your costs into one price as the moving company will pack and transport your belongings on your behalf. Additionally, these companies have extensive experience in planning home moves, meaning you can free up your day to spend time with your friends and family before moving day.  

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