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Moving Yourself vs. Hiring Professional Movers

Deciding whether you want to move yourself or hire help can be a very difficult choice. At the end of the day, however, it comes down to your priorities and circumstances. There are disadvantages and advantages to both, and you need to consider them carefully before deciding. Although, keep in mind that circumstances can change rather quickly, and there are risks no matter what you decide. Also your preferences will also play a part in the decision, and every person has different preferences. So, while we can’t tell you which of the two options is objectively better, we can outline their benefits. We’ve put together a list of differences between moving yourself vs. hiring professional movers, and we hope you find it helpful.

The cost of the move


When it comes to the price of moving yourself vs. hiring professional movers, we can’t deny that moving yourself is generally cheaper. Especially when it comes to long-distance moving services, hiring movers can get fairly expensive. However, keep in mind that if you decide to move yourself, you’ll have to budget for everything yourself. Renting out a truck, all of the packing supplies, fuel, and so on will all be on you to fund. As such, hiring professionals may turn out to be more expensive when all is said and done, but it’s much easier to do than moving yourself. And, if you don’t have a lot of time, preparing and executing yourself can be extremely difficult to pull off yourself. Even if you ask for help from friends or family, it will take a lot more time than if you simply hire professionals to do the heavy lifting.

Timing the move


person hold cash
DIY moves are cheaper but less convenient than hiring movers to help.


All in all, timing your move can be difficult, no matter how you look at it. However, when hiring professional movers to help you, you will have to deal with deadlines. After all, when you hire professionals, you’ll need to pick out a specific day and stick with it. On the other hand, if you do everything yourself, you’re free to set your own timeline. In this sense, if you don’t want to worry about getting everything done and ready by a specific date, making the move yourself is the better call. 

On the other hand, if you need to get moved out quickly, hiring movers is the better choice. Especially considering some moving companies offer professional packing services to make your move even easier. Without having to worry about packing, you’ll have a lot more time to worry about other important details involved in moving out.

Safety


When it comes to both personal safety and the safety of your belongings, hiring professional movers is, by far, the better choice. By moving all of your belongings yourself, you risk your physical health and damage your belongings at every step. Without question, getting professional help to make sure nothing goes wrong is the best choice when moving out. After all, movers are experts who deal specifically with making sure people’s belongings arrive safe and sound. Besides damaging your belongings, moving everything out yourself can be risky for you too. There are many stories of DIY moves going wrong, ranging from being relatively tame to quite severe. Just remember, if you do end up hiring movers, especially for a long-distance move, you need to make sure you can trust them. Learn what the makings of quality long-distance movers are and look for these traits when searching for movers.

Planning the move


mover taking inventory
Letting professionals handle the move is much safer than doing it yourself.


As we mentioned briefly, when doing everything yourself in a move, you must prepare everything yourself. This makes planning a DIY move a logistical hell, especially when moving long distances. For example, if you’re moving to Tampa from out of state, you’d have to plan ahead and make sure you have enough fuel. Also, you need to make sure the truck you rent is big enough for all of your belongings. Then, before the move, you need to make sure you pack everything correctly, which can get complicated. By hiring movers, planning gets much simple overall, and you can instead focus on other things. However, if you’re moving to large cities, consider hiring local moving services to help you out. Local movers will know how to handle bad traffic much better, and they’ll make sure all of your belongings arrive on time and completely undamaged.

Stress


Stress is something you need to consider when planning a move. Being stressed out, obviously, isn’t good for you, and even more so if you’re planning a move. When stressed out, it’s much easier to get overwhelmed, and when you’re overwhelmed, you’re more likely to make mistakes. When moving, a single mistake can make everything a lot more complicated than it needs to be. Forgetting a single detail can lead to a series of issues that stress you out even further. As such, if you want to avoid getting stressed out, hiring movers is the better choice. Professionals can make sure your move goes smoothly, and you can sit back for most of it. Of course, there is still some stress involved as you need to do some things yourself. But, all in all, movers make the moving process much less stressful for you overall, without a doubt.

Person wrapping a chair
DIY moves can get highly stressful extremely quickly.

Moving yourself vs. hiring professional movers – wrap up


All in all, there are benefits to both DIY moves and hiring movers to help you out. If you need to save money, then consider a DIY move. But, if you want the process to be more convenient, movers are the better choice. However, you also have to take into account the safety of your belongings and yourself. Letting professionals handle the heavy lifting is the better choice if you’re worried about getting injured or damaging your belongings. All in all, however, the choice ultimately comes down to your personal preferences and circumstance. Just remember, consider everything very carefully before you come to any sort of final decision. We hope that this comparison of moving yourself vs. hiring professional movers has helped you decide.