Are you worried about moving? You must be wondering how you will complete all your packing and how will you manage to pack all your belongings safely? Simply, you can hire professional packers as your work isn't only restricted to packing, but you may have other tasks as well to accomplish. You will find multiple options when it comes to packing for your move, perhaps you can hire them to pack your complete household or to pack a few specific items.
If you have a good budget, you can consider hiring both packing services and unpacking services for your move. However, before you choose to hire professional packers you must compare the cost of hiring them with the time and energy you would have invested if you had to pack by yourself.
Read below to learn about the different types of packing services you can hire for your next move:
Full-service packing services
Here’s what you can expect from the full-service packers:
- A full-service packer will disassemble your furniture and wrap each of the parts properly. They will make use of padding to secure each part and ensure protective packing.
- They will take off all pictures and frames from the wall, roll the carpet and prepare everything for the move. Moreover, they will label the moving boxes and sort each item as per their room as well as positioning.
The company you hire will let you know beforehand how much time they would take to complete the assigned task and what you would be required to pay them. They will complete the packing in just one day, while you may have to pay a fee based on how soon you are moving and how many possessions you have for packing. For instance, if you have a limited time to make your move, a greater number of packers would be needed to finish your work on time, thus you will have to pay a higher price.
Tip: It would be a good idea to hire a pet sitter or even a babysitter to manage your pets or children respectively until the professional packers are done with their work.
Packing specialty items
If you have a limited budget and want to save money, we recommend you hire packing services only to pack a few specialty items, like expensive artwork, mirrors, or other fragile items. The packers will come to your house, access your belongings, and accordingly offer you a quote for packing specialty items that will require careful packing.
Any chandeliers, China, and antiques you need to move will require hiring professional packers. It seems a worthwhile decision to pay a few extra pennies and ensure the safe arrival of your valuable possessions in your new house.
Packing appliances
Do you have big appliances to move? More than likely will need the help of the specialty movers. Contact the moving companies and they would suggest you hire professional packers, who will help you pack your stoves, refrigerators, dryers, and washers. Also, no moving company will take responsibility if your large appliances stop working after reaching your new house.
Let’s now learn about the benefits and drawbacks of hiring packers and self-packing and accordingly decide which of the two options best meets our needs and requirements.
Benefits of hiring packers
Reduce stress
Packing for moving can be one of the most daunting tasks until you plan it properly. Of course, if you seek packing assistance for your move, big stress would be taken off your shoulder. Here’s how hiring packers will help reduce your stress:
- You can save both time and energy by hiring a professional packing service. In a nutshell, if you have someone to do your packing, possibly you can focus on doing other important things like managing your kids, working, and doing other preparations for your move.
- Other than emotional stress, hiring packing services will also reduce your physical stress. You don’t have to move your fingers while lifting heavy items like your television set, side table, or artwork. This will reduce the risk of strained muscles as well as back pain.
Save time
Time plays a crucial role in deciding whether you need to hire a professional packing service or you should go self-packing. Packing a house by yourself can take around a few months, however, if you hire packers, you can finish your packing in a span of just a few days. Even if you work 24 hours to finish your packing, you may not get time on the weekends to pack your possessions into the moving boxes.
Packing isn’t only about protecting your belongings with a newspaper, foam, or bubble wrap, but you also need to prepare your moving boxes and load them carefully before the moving day. So, if you have little time to make your move, we suggest you hire packers. You may not want to panic about packing your belongings properly in the last-minute rush. However, if you are free at the weekends or do a part-time job, it would be more feasible to do the packing by yourself.
The good news is that if you hire a packing service, you may not have to go hunting for the moving supplies. Bubble wraps, packing tapes, moving boxes, foam cushioning, or any other packing supplies will be brought by the packers themselves. They will bring the best quality moving supplies to securely pack your belongings and make sure they safely reach your new destination.
No damage
Undoubtedly hiring professionals to pack your belongings would be more efficient than doing the packing by yourself. Since you are using professional services, all your belongings will arrive at your new home without getting damaged or breaking.
Overall, hiring packers means you are using the services of trained professionals who know more efficient techniques than you to pack your items. Also, they will make use of the best moving supplies, reducing the chances of damaging your items.
Drawbacks of hiring packers
Costly service
The most common reason for which people refrain from hiring packers is the excessive cost involved in it. This will require you to pay an additional cost for hiring packers apart from the moving expenses that you need to bear. Here are a few things that you must keep in mind:
- If you are making a local move, you will need to pay for additional person-hours or moving supplies that you are using.
- In case of a long-distance move, you will have to pay a flat fee for everything that you are using.
Moreover, the cost you will pay will vary between the different moving companies, we suggest you take a quote from them, how much they would charge for each hour and for each mover you hire. You must ask them how long it would take to finish packing all your items efficiently.
Least control
Do you prefer to do everything on your own? It would be a good idea to do the packing by yourself only, instead of hiring packers. Here’s what you need to know:
- If you have hired a packing service, you might lose control over a major part of your moving process.
- You may not get the chance to regulate how the packers would wrap and secure your belongings for the move. Also, you can’t decide which items will go inside which of the moving boxes. A packer might keep your dinnerware and barware together in one box, however, if you are doing the packing, you are going to pack them separately.
Tip: If you hire a packing service, make sure you instruct the packers beforehand which items should be packed in which of the boxes.
Impersonal
You may feel awkward about letting strangers look through your sentimental or valuable items. Many people would prefer to pack such sentimental items all by themselves. So, before you let the packers enter your house, you should be able to trust them completely. We suggest you research a moving company comprehensively before you recruit them for packing your house. It would be a great idea to check the reviews and ratings of the moving companies before you hire them for your next move.
Benefits of DIY Packing
Low moving cost
Of course, DIY packing would be the most reasonable option as you would be doing the entire packing by yourself. At most, your family members and friends would help you and you don’t have to pay anything to them. The only expenses you need to bear would be in buying the packing supplies, however, there are other alternatives to it as well:
- You can get packing supplies like moving boxes or bubble wraps for free. It would be a good idea to visit the hardware stores or grocery shops and request them to provide you with a few used moving boxes.
- You may consider using some of your household items as a replacement for packing supplies. Bags, baskets, and suitcases can be used as packing containers, while towels, linens, and old cloths can be used as cushioning or wrapping materials.
Here are a few risks of using saving costs in buying packing supplies:
- Maybe, the moving boxes you get for free will break during the transit because they aren’t strong enough to accommodate your items. This may even damage your most valuable possessions.
- It’s even possible that the boxes you get for free aren’t clean and the items you keep inside get stained.
- Making use of improvised wrapping and padding might not be as efficient and safe as bubble wraps, and Styrofoam peanuts as other professional packing supplies.
- The use of newsprint may impart ink marks on the surfaces.
Though you choose to pack your belongings by yourself, you should consider using good quality packing supplies, mostly for delicate and valuable possessions. An ideal option would be to buy your packing supplies online from the local movers in your area, office supply stores, or home improvement stores.
Convenience and flexibility
You can pack at any time you want, whether it’s during the day or at nighttime. There wouldn’t be any need to follow specific guidelines, but you can pack in the way you like. Packing at a convenient speed and convenient place will help you reduce stress, increase efficiency, and improve the safety of your belongings.
Here's how the absence of time limitations can be beneficial for you:
- You will get sufficient time to pack your belongings carefully and safely.
- There would be enough time for you to purge your belongings and decide which items you want to discard, donate, or give a gift and which items you want to take with you.
Purposeful organization
Packing by yourself will provide you with an opportunity to organize your belongings in a way that is purposeful for you. This will let you enjoy a quick and easy unpacking process. You will know where you have kept your essentials and you unpack them first after reaching your new house. Also, you can store boxes with items you might not need immediately, and you can check them out later when you are free and relaxed.
Drawbacks of packing by yourself
Time-Consuming
You will need a lot of time to pack your household by yourself. You will end up just randomly throwing your belongings into the boxes at the last moment. This will surlily create a mess and you will waste your precious time, which otherwise you could have utilized in doing other pleasurable tasks.
Higher risk of damaged items
Since you don’t have relevant packing expertise and equipment you might not be able to pack as safely and as efficiently as the professional packers.
No responsibility of the movers
If you are packing your belongings by yourself, the moving company will not take any responsibility for items getting damaged in transit.
By now you must have understood that both these options of hiring packers and packing by yourself have their own set of pros and cons. It all depends on your priorities, what is more, important for you, and you can simply go with that option. If you have decided to pack yourself, make sure you know techniques for packing your belongings safely, otherwise, you may end up damaging your most valuable possessions.