jitkaau

As your trip is only half an hour away, I would pack any treasures in small boxes that are easy to carry. Cart these yourself to the new house.Then have a yard sale of all the rest. You will only have a small amount to clean up afterward and no removal costs except for petrol. Then you can buy any new pieces of furniture you may need which will suit the new place. These will also be delivered by the company from which you have bought the items.

pahega

Getting rid of "stuff" will be the biggest hurdle, I think. Sorting and deciding what to keep and what to get rid of can be overwhelming. A lot of people suggest doing a yard sale, but I live out in the country 30 minutes away from a sizable town. People don't have yard sales this far out. What is the next best thing?

quilter1

Just a tip about packing boxes. We moved last year and I found this idea to be very helpful. Instead of labeling each box with the contents, I kept a book log- numbered each box and wrote the contents of the box in the book. That way, if I was looking for something specific, just look in the book and then try to find the box number. I did write on the box which room it was for. (i.e. kitchen # 21). We ended up with over 300 boxes- over 100 boxes of books and 50 boxes of sewing stuff. Oh my.

coopah

As others said, get rid of what you no longer need. Why pay to move it? Take all valuables yourself, especially jewelry, photo IDs (passport, etc)., legal papers, silver, coins, stamps...that sort of thing. We've always used national companies. My brother used a POD to move. If I had it to do over, I'd sell everything but linens and a few mementoes and buy furniture at the new place. The old furniture seldom suits, for some reason. IMHO

Snooze2978

If you have some close friends, I'd use them. I used a nation wide company and found them lacking. So many of my totes were smashed, furniture damaged beyond repair, promised repairs never done, etc. The list goes on. On the other hand my mother used her neighbors and they were much better but they put a gas can in the wrong place and it tipped over all over the van so we had to air stuff out before putting it into the house. Overall though the friends were a better bet than the nation wide company and I paid them good bucks for the moving. Guess it's all what you're willing to accept with possible damage and/or theft.

Good luck. I hope I never have to move again as I've accumulated even most "STUFF" since my last move 4 years ago.

KimmerB

We moved several times from down the street to 5 hours away. Small do it your self moves are the worst!!!! Packing yourself is not always a good idea as we spend too much time and do not pack right. Our last move was the 5 hour one. We had a 4 bedroom home with 3 two plus garages full of ? We needed to be out in 6 weeks. We sold stuff, gave away lots more stuff and threw out lots more. We started packing for 2 weeks and did not seem to get ahead. We then called in professional help (luckily DH's nephew was a mover for Bekins). We finished the rest of the packing 3/4's still left after we did our packing, in 6 hours that would have taken us 2 more weeks. Learned to do it right. Everything went into 1 truck including a car. Professional is the right move! Save yourself headaches and backaches, yes it costs more but is well worth it.

selm

We're getting ready to move after over 22 years in one place. We've been de-cluttering and find you have three piles:
one for the trash; one to give away or possibly sell and one to keep. For the trash make a pile somewhere and hire a trash dealer to pick it up. We've taken many bags of things to the dump but have had one pile picked up and are getting another pile ready.
The give away/sell pile is a problem. I've done yard sales in the past and find them a lot of work, so this time, I'm not doing that. I've taken many trips to Goodwill with items. You could call some charities and see if they will pick up things. If you have things you think you would want to sell you could try craigslist or ebay or have estate sale people look at them(this would work for furniture also). Unless something is very valuable you might give it away or trash it as a last resort. Small items of value could be moved with you and sold later.

Getting rid of "stuff" is a hurdle but the only way is to pick a room and start.

If you're moving locally it is usually calculated by time not weight as a long-distance move is. They will charge so much per hour for a truck and some men. With that in mind look at your "stuff" and ask yourself if it is worth the time it will take to move it out and into a new place. The more you move the longer it will take and the more it will cost. Also, if you are downsizing you need to keep that in you mind too. Will you have room for an item, do you really need it?
I find that we've kept things "just because" because we had the room to keep it as you always think you might need it someday. Now I'm paying the price as I sort and move all that stuff out.

Good luck in your move.

tessagin

I don't empty dresser drawers. I put a blanket or something on top of what's in the drawers. take the drawers out of the dresser, move the dresser, put the drawers back in. Cover the dresser and bungie cord or tie down the drawers so they don't fall out. Saves a lot of time! whe you get to your destination, take drawers out, move dresser to proper spot, put drawers back in. I have been known to put photos in between clothes in the drawers. Mirrors and photos won't break in the drawers. I do as much as I can for myself.

tessagin

This is especially good if you have any family with an open pick up truck and really don't want anything flying off the back.

AZ Jane

Just one more, measure the new place to make sure what you want to take will fit.