A successful house move always comes as a direct result of making all the right decisions when it matters the most. Of course, some move-related decisions will always be more critical than others – for example, your choice NOT to sort out your shoes before packing them cannot possibly affect the household move the same way as your decision NOT to sort out your furniture pieces.
Whether you move your furniture or not is a fundamental question that will determine how you approach the entire moving preparation. In some cases, you may choose not to take a single furniture piece with you – an unusual house moving scenario that should bring you a number of clear benefits in the long run.
Still, moving with no furniture is not a decision you should make lightly – you’ll need to look at all your viable options from various angles and do what’s best for you in terms of time, money, and space.
However, if you’ve already made up your mind that you won’t move any furniture pieces with you, then read on to learn the best way to move out with no furniture.
Why moving without furniture is a great idea
Moving with no furniture at all gives you a number of clear advantages such as saving money from transportation and saving time from packing, including much greater flexibility when it comes to your moving options.
Learn why moving without furniture can work out great for you:
- MONEY I. When moving across the country, your intestate mover will charge you based on the total weight of your items. And since furniture pieces are heavy (some are super-heavy!), you’ll actually be paying good money to move each and every furniture item. So, your decision to leave ALL of your furniture behind will save you quite a lot of money.
- MONEY II. Moving some of your larger and heavier furniture pieces means that you may need to hire professional packers and movers to disassemble those pieces and protect them well for transport. Furniture disassembly and reassembly is an extra moving service that full-service movers offer… for an extra free. Not moving a single furniture piece means you won’t need to pay for professional packers, at least in most cases.
- MONEY III. Packing your furniture means you’ll need to get suitable packing materials to protect those pieces, often packing paper, bubble wrap, stretch wrap – and of course, thick moving blankets. Deciding not to move any furniture will save you money as you’ll need fewer packing supplies, enough to pack up all your non-furniture items.
- MONEY IV. The good news is that moving with furniture will not only save you money, but it can bring in cash as well. That’s the case when you choose to sell some of your well-preserved pieces, usually at a profitable garage sale.
- TIME I. It’s easy to see why moving out with no furniture will save you plenty of time from having to disassemble those large and heavy pieces. And if you can’t do the furniture disassembly on your own, you’ll need to get qualified help too.
- TIME II. No furniture equals no extra time in packing those big household items. As a result, you’ll get more free time to take care of other important move-related tasks.
- SPACE. When you don’t move any large furniture with you, then you won’t have to worry about whether there will be enough space for those huge items in the new home. What’s more, your current furniture pieces may not match the décor of the new residence.
See also: Is it better to move furniture or buy new?
What to do with your current furniture
In reality, moving without furniture can be the perfect solution when you’re moving on a tight budget or when you’re moving in a hurry simply because the decision not to move big and heavy items across the county will automatically save you money and time.
Needless to say, the question of what to do with the furniture pieces you’re not moving should take center stage now. Basically, you should have the following good or maybe not-so-good options to get rid of used furniture when moving:
- LEAVE the furniture behind without doing anything with it. That’s the logical option when you don’t own those pieces – for example, when you’re a renter and have moved into an already fully-furnished place, or when you’ve already sold your home together with all the furniture items inside it.
- SELL the furniture pieces for extra cash, especially when you paid good money for them in the first place and when they are in good overall condition. You can list your unwanted furniture items online or offer them at a moving sale.
- GIFT some of your used furniture to friends, especially if you know or suspect that some of your pals may need them much more than you do.
- DONATE some of the furniture units to help out your community. Many charitable organizations will accept furniture pieces in good condition, and will either keep them for their own needs or sell them and use the money to fund their charitable programs.
- DISPOSE of the furniture pieces that you don’t really know what to do with. Make sure you do it in an eco-friendly way – in most cases, you can’t just leave those items on the side of the street as that is not considered proper furniture disposal.
Read also: What to do with unwanted furniture when moving
Your furniture-free moving options
The best thing about moving without furniture is that, all of a sudden, you’ll have several good options to move cheaply across the country. In reality, moving with no furniture will enable you to save BIG on your moving expenses, period.
- DIY move. Not moving any furniture opens up great cost-effective possibilities for you. When moving locally, you can rent a moving vehicle which will be smaller in size and hence cheaper to rent. Borrowing one of your friends’ pickup truck may work out great as well. Interestingly enough, when you’re moving only a short distance away, you may be able to use your own car to transport those boxes on multiple trips. Remember – no furniture to disassemble, protect and move will make your move way easier and much more straightforward.
- Movers. When moving long distance, hiring a moving truck and driving that big vehicle across the country is rarely a reasonable option. In such cases, you should still hire professional movers but here’s the best part: your moving company will charge you A LOT less thanks to the fact that you’re not moving any super-heavy and bulky furniture pieces. Moreover, you should speak with your mover about shared load moving – that is, when you share the space in the truck with another person’s belongings. That way, you and that other person will be sharing the moving expenses as well, which means you’ll pay much less in the end.
- Portable container. Not moving any furniture pieces to the new home is a great opportunity for you to rent a portable moving container. The container moving company you select will deliver a portable container to your doorstep and then you’ll have a pre-set time, usually a few days, to fill up that container with your things. When you’re ready, the moving company will come and pick up that portable container and then deliver it to the new address where you’ll once more have enough time to unload it at your own comfortable pace. Stress-free too!
Useful info: DO’S and DON’TS when packing furniture for moving
