Moving house - how to?

What removal options are there?
Im thinking with a couple of friends help we should be able to just hire a truck (any idea how much these cost?). But we dont have family to help, so i would be needing to look after baby and kid.
We could get a removal company in, but I am guessing they cost alot.
I suppose we could hire a trailer, and move it that way, but big items like couch and bed might be tricky and I dont want my antiques getting damaged.

We dont have lots of stuff, and money is tight. So do you think we should hire a company to do it, or DIY? I have no idea what we would be paying for any of these options or what companies are good ones.
We are inner suburb melbourne.

I used to be an expert mover, and after years of doing it with the box trailer (can fit HEAPS in) I will never do it again! A truck, with 2 blokes is the way to go. Having friends to help should make it shorter timewise. It generally takes an hour longer than you estimate!
I always get someone local to my area.

If it ends up being to expensive, friends and a truck would be good too - its better than multiple trailer trips - it gets really tedious..

I second the "two guys and a truck" idea. We found a removalist in our local paper for less than it would have cost us to hire one. I had everything packed - they worked flat out to pack - drive - unpack the truck! We didn't have to lift anything and it was great. Check on insurance tho.

I say go 2 guys and a truck. It is well worth it and over and done with in a day. Generally if you use friends it can take longer than a day and cost just as much. Take into account the cost of truck or trailer hire, petrol, thank you gifts/bbq for helpers it can cost just as much as using professionals.

With one of our friends it took them a month to move after they found the small truck they hired could not fit all their stuff, then they had to do trips in their car of an evening after work for all the little stuff. It was a complete disaster.

we've done all types and i reckon the easiest by FAR is the two blokes and truck option.

it is also good value for time and money IMO.

hiring professionals is really exxy and annoying if/when things get delayed/broken etc. and i reckon they are only value for money if you are doing long interstate or international travel.

trailer option is a PITA IMO. takes too long and stuff tends to get a bit more bounced around. not cool if you have wooden antique furniture...

the truck hire is good in the sense that they can come with motorised lifty thingy (technical term of course!) at the back, which can save our backs the stress of lifting up onto the truck.

good luck with the move!

Factor a weekend of takeaway meals into your expenses!

id say get a truck, 2 guys and friends to help. Generally a hire of truck and 2 guys are by the hour. friends can help you pack, look after the kids and help you clean, rush out to pick up takeaway lunch while you supervise the 2 guys.
declutter as much as possible, hold a yard sale use the proceeds towards moving costs.
save old blankets and sheets to wrap around antique furniture (like the legs etc)
Hope it doesn't rain on you! :pray:

i have moved a tonne of times and the last two times hired professionals.... it is honestly the BEST money you can spend... i will never ever ever in a million years do it myself, its a complete nightmare.... being organised and having everything ready to go is the key.... from memory my last move cost me about $300 and i got an enormous truck and two strong men to do all the dirty work.

start packing weeks in advance so you are not bombarded with the enormity of it all.... i packed all the non essential stuff during the week into boxes so that when it came down to do the last things, it was mainly packing up food and utensils, and clothes, and of course dismantling beds. You can pack up things and leave the bare minimum, like one towel for each family member, one cup, bowl, plate for each family member etc if you want to get really prepared.

seriously, look into hiring someone to do the move for you, if you go online you can get quotes over the net, or just ring a few places. the local paper is good for less expensive, less 'big name' removalists....

good luck, i don't envy you... we just moved a few months ago into our dream house and i am so happy to say we will not be moving for at least the next two decades.

We used to always move ourselves until we had kids.

Now we get removalists.

We just moved a 4br house from Brisbane to Toowoomba (about 1.5 hours driving distance) and it cost us $900 to use a removal company. We did all our own packing - they turned up on the day, loaded it all in the truck, moved it and unloaded again at the other end.

The move before that (about 2 years ago) we got a couple of guys out of the local paper. They were ex-army and they went like the clappers. They moved us two suburbs over by 11am for $500 and didn't damage a thing. They were awesome, but by the time we moved up here they'd gone onto other things.

It was worth every cent to us, it's just too painful with little kids and we also didn't have alot of hands available at the brisbane end to help with either kids or moving.