If you’re planning a small move, whether you’re a student moving into or out of halls or a house share, or moving into a small flat or apartment. It can be worth taking a moment to assess your options. Is it really worth hiring a removal company, for example? For most small moves, much of the work can be done very cheaply yourself, as often the cost of hiring movers will not seem justified if you only have a modest amount of items that need to be moved locally.

Boxes and containers

Before you even think about packing, make sure you have a good supply of boxes for packing your items in. You can often pick up spare boxes from local shops for free, although for more specialty goods and delicates there are a number of cardboard containers available from storage and removal companies, which can be found online. The best solution of course, especially with electrical goods, is to simply use the box you purchased them in.

Tape and Stanley knife

Using is a great way to add some extra strength to boxes. This can be achieved by applying tape along the folds of the box, even double taping to make it extra secure. Using scissors to cut tape can be fiddly and is not very precise, so if possible use a Stanley knife, or sharp pen knife. This will make the packing process smooth and hassle free. Make sure you get proper box sealing tape, as it is much more heavy duty compared to standard selotape (which is too thin to tape a box effectively). You should be able to find this easily at local D.I.Y stores.

Label your boxes

There’s nothing worse than arriving in your new home after a buy move, only to start having to open all your boxes trying to find something in particular. In order to avoid adding more stress to your move, make sure that as you pack you clearly label each boxes contents. Two good options are black permanent marker pens (this way, you can use the boxes again should you move, knowing that the labelled boxes will fit your items), or sticky labels. Both of these can be picked up fairly cheaply from a stationary store.

Use a trolley for heavy goods

Even in a small move, you can still end up with quite a lot of boxes which will be heavy. Rather than put your back out trying to carry things to and from and van, invest in a simple trolley you can stack a few heavy boxes on. This will not only speed things up, but save you lots of energy and hassle. Cheap general purpose trolleys can be found online and even garden trolleys will do the job.

Hire a van

Depending on whether you drive, or have a lot of things to move, hiring a van, or a man in a van, is an efficient way to get everything done in one or two trips, and won’t be as expensive as hiring a removals company. This is especially true for smaller moves, which likely won’t take longer than one day (depending on where you are moving too, of course). Depending on your needs, a man with a van can be a good alternative to driving yourself, as you also get someone to help with the packing and unpacking. Either way, hire companies and man in a van services usually charge by the hour, so is a much cheaper alternative to a removals company.