Preparing for moving day. Any moneysaving tips?

nrobinson

I only have the contents of one room - have been living in a shared house.

And I need to move it from London to Scotland - any ideas.

I have a car to take up there anyway so hiring is not ideal...

Post? Can you post stuff? I don't mind if it takes a week to get there, just want to get it all up there, the biggest problem is all my books - will break the axel on my car if I take them all - and the petrol - certainly not money saving!!!

Cheers,

Nik.

Noozan

I moved from Cornwall to Fife in July; I had the contents of a three bed house.

Removal companies were £2700 plus so we decided to hire the biggest van we could - in this case we could only get a Luton as we wanted a one way hire. That was £325 for 2 days. We also had my Astra whicg I drove up.

We had to be incredibly ruthless, so ditched one bed and the sofa as they were ancient. The money we saved on removals easily paid for new bed and sofa anyway.

I was worried that all the stuff wouldn't fit but it did! We crammed it all in and used EVERY last inch of space available; the van was jammed floor to ceiling with furniture. ;D

It was really tiring, only two of us and each driving a vehicle. 14 hour drive in total. Arrived in Fife, few hours sleep and then up again to unload ourselves (new area so no new friends yet) to get the van back on time.

Ask your local supermarket for banana boxes - they're very strong and have handles so they're easy to lift. They also stack well.

Buy a big roll of bubble wrap froma removal company (about £10) rather than from the shops who charge exorbitant prices! Wrap breakables in towels, sheets and jumpers to save on space.

Put stuff like plants inside fridge and oven in van as this also saves on space.

Also if you have chests of drawers, etc, stuff things in these too.

Oh and a sack trolley for unloading and loading is a Godsend!! ;D

anniew

Congratulations and good luck - you have had lots of good advice here, but I didn't see the suggestion that if you decide to go the professional route (i.e. a removal company) or if you decide to D.I.Y., you could see if anyone else has stuff to come BACK from your area in France. This will potentially cut your costs in half, and there are always people who need to.  Worth posting the question probably?
Enjoy your new life.
p.s.  I bought a house in France 4 years ago, and if it wasn't for forums like this, I don't know that I would have coped - well done Martin, keep up the good work!
Just realised that you may not be going to France! (I came through on a Overseas property link!) But the advice still stands.....