Money-saving tips when moving home
As exciting as moving house can be, it can be a lot more expensive than you planned. The excitement of finding a new house is often prioritised over budgeting and planning. If you are anxious about the cost of moving, remember that it doesn’t have to be expensive.
With advanced planning and by knowing exactly what you’ll need to pay for, it is possible to keep the expenses down and look for ways to save some cash. We know moving can be expensive enough as it is – having saved for your deposit, legal fees, stamp duty, furniture… the list goes on!!
Many of these costs can be easily tackled with planning in advance. By doing this, you'll avoid any unexpected bills at the last minute.
In this blog, we have put together some money saving tips to help you along the way…
Plan your move ahead
To start off, make a plan before you move in order to help avoid any costly mistakes. Try and budget your money and give yourself an ample time to sort everything out. This will include everything from choosing your moving day to searching for the different removal service companies and packing.
To save money when moving house, you should take time to plan ahead and consider every cost. By planning ahead, you're more likely to factor in every expense, and less likely to have to spend money on things you forgot about at the last minute.
You should plan everything you need to do in the months, weeks and days building up to the move, making sure you focus on the most important deadlines as priorities.
If you’re really concerned on the possible costs of moving, you should assess where you financially stand and decide on how much you would ideally like to set as your maximum overall spending amount.
Keep in mind that planning is the key to make moving as easy, as hassle-free and as stress-free as possible.
Choose the cheapest day to move
Choose your moving day and time wisely. This might come as a surprise, but moving house is seasonal and prices for removal vans can go up and down depending on the month and day of the week.
Avoid moving in on Fridays as people prefer more to move on this day with the long weekend allowing them a longer time to settle in. Removal companies will put their prices up to match the demand. If you are able to select another day, why not?
Moving house on a weekend or during the summer is also something to consider as these are the busiest times and also most expensive times. Avoiding these days might help save some extra cash that you could save or put towards the new house.
Compare removal services quotes
Depending on how many belongings you have, you may need to organise a removal service to transport your items to your new house.
Each removal company offers a different service, which will all vary in price. Shop around and spend some time looking online. Once you have a shortlist, contact them right away, check which service works best and get some quotes for your move.
By comparing the costs, you’ll be able to get a professional company and the best deal possible on your removals and save yourself some money.
Declutter before you move
Most of us can hold our hands up and say – we have a lot of ‘stuff!’ Over a period of time, we often manage to keep lots of items we no longer use or don’t need which can use up space in your house.
It can be really tempting to move all of these things to your new house. The truth is, it is actually a great time to dispose of these things and move on and have a fresh, clean start in your new house. This decluttering exercise might be something you have been putting off for a really long time, which makes the move a great time to do this.
You can also earn some extra cash by selling your old items. You could try this via one of these platforms:
· Garage sale
· Car Boot Sale
· Online listings - in Facebook Marketplace/groups or in Gumtree
· Take furniture to a secondhand shop
The money you make from the sales could go towards your moving fees – every little helps. Not only will decluttering your belongings make things easier when it comes to packing, but it'll make the cost of your removal cheaper. The price of your home removal will depend on how many items you're taking with you, therefore, fewer items means you'll be paying less.