Lots of people think they can pack up their home themselves, but they rarely realize the amount of time that will take, says Deborah Secrist. She is a spokesperson for Beltway Movers, serving the Washington, D.C., Virginia and Maryland areas, and talks here about what you should know if you plan to pack up your home yourself. Is it really worth it? Read on and find out.
When you are faced with deciding to pack your home yourself, it all comes down to either time or money, whichever one you are willing to expend. If you are going to spend money, packing by a moving company will add 75% to the cost of your move.
If you want to save some money on packing, buy used cartons, or find used cartons on Craig’s List, Freecycle or other such organizations. You can also save money by not packing things such as clothes, pictures, lamps, flat panel televisions, because Beltway Movers has cartons for those which can save time and money for you.
That’s the money factor. If you want to look at the time factor, saying, “I want to save money and pack myself,” then be realistic. It takes 30 to 40 minutes to pack a box. The best way for you to estimate that time is to stand in your kitchen, look at a cabinet, and say, “I think that will be three boxes.” Then look at the next cabinet and say, “I think that will be two boxes.” It is kind of like how to eat an elephant, one bite at a time. If you look at each little section of the kitchen and estimate the number of boxes you will have to pack, the next step is to multiply that number by 30 minutes. Now you know how long it will take to pack your boxes.
We have some general guidelines for people doing self-packing. An apartment usually takes about 40 boxes and about 20 hours. That’s if you’re doing the packing. A townhouse is about 75 boxes or about 37 hours. A single family house is about 150 boxes, or 75 hours. So to get everything packed on time you will have to start packing a little every evening. You cannot decide the day before the move to get all the packing done before the movers show up.
At Beltway Movers, we provide extra touches to every move, which is our specialty. If you choose to have us pack your things, we promise to:
- Help you organize your items
- Pick up items to donate or give to loved ones
- Store your possessions in our secure warehouses
- Coordinate your moving day with your destination residence
- Help you unpack at the other end, including arranging furniture
- Discard all packing items
The choice is up to you!
