A do-it-yourself truck rental move takes time to prepare. Find out the usual timeline to make it happen.
When moving with a full-service moving company, your timeline for planning and making the actual move is somewhat short when compared to the timeline for a do-it-yourself or truck rental move. With a full-service move, you don't have to bother with the packing, loading, unloading, and unpacking of your belongings; the moving company takes care of all those things. All you need to concern yourself with is finding a reputable moving company and purchasing of packing supplies (i.e. boxes, bubble-wrap, moving blankets). With a do-it-yourself or truck rental move, the actual time it takes to prepare and actually make the move is much longer (though you can save a huge amount of money). Here's why.
Packing up the place
If choosing a truck rental move, you'll be responsible for not only purchasing the necessary packing supplies but also the actual packing up of your belongings. Though it depends upon the size of your place, you'll need to start packing four-weeks prior to the move date. Pack up all of the non-essentials first, and week-by-week schedule a room to be packed up. Leave the essentials such as a weeks worth of clothes and toiletries for last. In fact, it's best to pack up those must-have items in a suitcase so that you can easily find it when arriving at your new place.
Loading up the truck rental
Depending upon if you have volunteers or not, it might take up to a full day to load the truck rental. It will also go faster if you have the right equipment like a couple dollies (with straps) and a flatbed for the bigger items.
Unloading the truck rental
Similar to the loading portion of the move, the time it takes to unload the truck rental depends upon if you have any help or not. Count on at least a half-day to unload the vehicle, and even more if you have limited assistance and lots of possessions.
Unpacking
Like the packing portion of your move, the unpacking will take the longest time. If you're highly organized, the amount of time to unpack can be reduced as much as possible. Create an "unpacking" schedule so that you tackle one room at a time. Depending upon the size of your place, it should take you at least one week to unpack.
