How to move without help from friends

You’re moving soon and one of your first thoughts is to ask your good friends to help you move in an attempt to keep your moving costs as low as possible. You know perfectly well that professional moving services are not cheap, so you reach out to your pals, asking them to give you a hand with packing and lifting heavy items on the day that you’re moving out.

Unfortunately, one by one, your requests for help get politely (and at times not so politely) turned down as your friends come up with various reasons for their inability to help you out during that difficult moment. Apparently, all of your besties happen to be extremely busy on that particular day to come to the rescue.

Yes, it can be rather discouraging and disappointing to be unable to rely on your friends when you need them the most. However, you shouldn’t throw in the towel just yet (you’ll need that towel to pack your fragile items) because you still got good options to pull it off without friendly assistance.

How to move without help from friends? Read on to find out.

Get help from family members

OK, your best friends may have said NO to your pleas for help but that doesn’t mean that you’re left all alone. What about getting help from your family members?

Think about turning to your parents or siblings for assistance, if that’s an option at all. Also, if you have a family of your own, then your spouse will surely be there by your side. And if your children are old enough, they can surely give you a hand with various move-related tasks such as decluttering and packing.

See also: 5 ways children can help during a move

Plan ahead

One of the best ways to move without help from your friends is to start working on your move as soon as you know for a fact that you’re moving out. The thing is that the more time you give yourself before the move-out date, the greater your chance will be of managing most tasks on your own, without having to ask anybody for help.

Follow a good MOVING CHECKLIST that will enable you to organize your time in the best possible way. Packing for a move does seem like a huge task but when you break it up into mini-packing tasks, things will suddenly become much easier for you.

Pare down your possessions

When you know that you won’t be able to rely on your friends’ aid, one thing you must do at all costs is to reduce the number of items you’re taking with you to the new home. In other words, it’s time to declutter your home prior to packing.

Inventory all of your possessions and set aside the ones that you won’t need anymore – those are the very items that you should leave behind with the purpose of cutting your moving costs as much as possible.

In fact, keeping your moving costs and expenses to a minimum will leave the door open to hiring moving labor services or using a moving company when your friends have deserted you.

Read also: How to declutter your home before moving

Sell unwanted stuff for extra cash

The original idea of reaching out to your pals for help is to avoid having to pay professional movers, most often because you’re moving on a tight budget as it is. But once you understand that you won’t be able to secure your friends’ aid, then it’s time to earn some cash so that you can afford to hire professional moving services.

Sell anything you don’t need and won’t use ever again – organize a moving sale or post your items for sale online. Ultimately, every bit of extra money you get from the sales will help you move without help from your friends.

Good advice: How to sell everything and move away

Get free moving boxes

When moving on a budget, you have to do whatever it takes to spend as little money as possible. That way, you’re likely to be able to afford to pay the pros to help you out since your best pals are too busy to do so.

Don’t pay for moving boxes when you can get them for free. Under normal circumstances, you would have asked your buddies for any cardboard containers they don’t need, but that’s out of the question now.

Instead, check Freecycle and Craigslist for free packing supplies near you, then take a tour around large retail stores in your area: supermarkets, home electronics stores, bookstores, copy centers, and so on. Speak with the store managers and you should get more free cardboard boxes than you may need.

See also: How to get free moving boxes

Rely on your own packing skills

With your friends missing in action, it’s time to bet on your own packing skills even if you don’t trust them too much. Actually, there are several packing rules to remember and you should be able to tackle the packing task by yourself. Unless you have items that require special packing care, that is.

• Start packing as soon as you can, without delay.
• Begin the packing task from the rooms that are hardest to sort out and pack – usually storage areas such as basement, garage, attic.
• Use plenty of padding materials (bubble wrap, packing paper, thick blankets) when packing fragile and breakable items.
• Pack a few hours every day instead of trying to pack it all in one go.
• Don’t make boxes too heavy – remember that your pals won’t be there to help you lift them and carry them to the moving vehicle.

Must-read: Packing timeline for moving

Use a moving dolly

When you’re moving out without help, it’s important to stay injury-free and healthy throughout the move. Carrying heavy items all by yourself is a bad idea no matter how you view it, so you’d better rent or purchase a moving dolly to wheel out the packed boxes and other heavy things quickly and safely.

In addition to personal injuries that could end up being too costly, damage to your valuable items and damage to the home you’re moving out of are also a possibility unless you equip yourself with a moving dolly that should make moving so much easier and safer.  

An appliance dolly (the 2-wheel L-shaped handcart) is much easier to handle and navigate by one person than a furniture dolly (the 4-wheel low platform), so get an appliance dolly when moving without help from your pals.

Good to know: What is a moving dolly and how to use it?

Don’t move any large furniture

When moving house with limited manpower, it’s not a great idea to take large and heavy furniture pieces with you. Moreover, it’ll cost you good money to transport those furniture items as well, especially when you’re moving across the country.

The solution is simple: just don’t move any furniture, if possible. Ideally, you will have managed to sell most of your furniture anyway and use the money to buy new one after the move.

However, if you must take some smaller furniture units with you (mostly because of their sentimental value or high quality), then do consider disassembling those furniture pieces on your own to eliminate any chances of accidents happening on Moving day.

Read also: Should you sell your furniture before moving out?

Find affordable movers

It’s never easy to move without help and you may find it too overwhelming to handle it all by yourself. It can be a real setback when your friends inform you of their impossibility to be there for you despite their utmost desire to do so. Nevertheless, the little tricks you used to bring down the moving costs and the cash you earned from the garage sale should enable you to hire low-cost professional moving services.

Get free cost estimates from at least 3 full-service moving companies in your city and compare their offers to pick the one that’s most agreeable with your limited budget. Check the movers’ reputation by reading customer reviews so that you can ensure their services are not only affordable but high-quality ones as well.

How to find cheap movers near me