If you are going to be moving, whether you are moving across the continent, across the state or just across town, you have several options available for your move. Because moving can be such a stressful experience due to all of the emotional and financial worries that need to be addressed, you should fully consider all of the pros and cons of all the different options you have available before making a decision. As far as what the options themselves are, you can rent a truck to drive to your new home, rent a trailer to haul your belongings behind your own vehicle, load all of your belongings up in your own vehicle, use a self storage moving pod, or hire a full service professional moving company.

If you would rather do a self move rather than hire a moving company, you need to consider your vehicle. You need to consider how much room you have in your vehicle to pack your belongings, how far you will have to drive from your old home to your new home, how many trips you will have to take to move everything you own, the condition of your vehicle, and what kind of gas mileage you will get with or without a trailer and considering all of the added weight you will have in your car. Compare these figures to the same factors and cost if you were to rent a moving truck and decide which would be more practical. Even if you decide against hiring a professional moving company to manage your move, you will probably need to either recruit friends and family to give you a hand, or hire laborers to help you. Websites like craigslist can be a great place to find cheap labor to help you pack and load all of your belongings for a self move. If you can not recruit free labor or find help online, you can contact a local moving company to hire professional movers to help you load heavy items such as furniture and appliances, even if you do not use the moving company’s services for the rest of your move.

Keep in mind that if you want to move yourself, you may have to take time off of work to do so, and factor in the lost wages of doing so compared to the cost of hiring a professional moving company. You may find that it is actually cheaper to hire a moving company than to take time off of work to move yourself. Especially if you have any medical conditions that would make packing and moving your belongings yourself difficult, like a bad back, you should definitely consider hiring a moving company.

Hiring a moving company has it’s own pros and cons that you need to consider. Some of the advantages to hiring a full service moving company include the time that you will save by letting someone else load and unload your belongings, as well as the physical strain you will save yourself by letting someone else handle all of your heavy furniture and appliances. When you hire a professional moving company, your belongings are less likely to be damaged, since they will be handled by people who are highly skilled at safely moving household items, and in the event that something is damaged, the moving company will be liable for any damages, not you. Hiring a moving company does not remove all of the responsibilities of moving. You need to research various moving companies to find one that is consistently given positive reviews to make sure your move goes as smoothly as possible.