Tackling The Most Costly Hidden Expenses When Moving Home (How To Save Money!)
Moving home is already expensive because you’ve got some obvious things to pay for. Your new home wasn’t free – and let’s not talk about how much your solicitor charges for their part in the transaction. All the new furniture adds up, but you’re already aware of this, so it’s not a surprise. What is surprising is when you look at your bank balance and realize that moving house comes with some hidden expenses that end up costing a lot of money.
On that note, today’s post will take a two-pronged attack: identify the most costly hidden expenses and work out how to tackle them so you save money!
Paying Twice For The Same Thing
How annoying is it when you pay your utility or internet bills for your old property and the new one in the same month? You’re wasting money, so plan your move around bill payments. Make it so you pay your final bill in your old house and move out before you’re charged again. This way, you only pay for the first bill in the new house without doubling up for no good reason.
Sacrificing Paid Leave From Work
Unless you choose to move on a weekend – which won’t always be practical and almost always results in worse traffic – you may have to book time off work to move during the week. Now, if you’re self-employed and work from home, this automatically means sacrificing a day or two’s worth of wages. Even if you’re in full-time employment, it means you either book paid leave or have to take unpaid leave to avoid eating into your allocated holidays.
In any case, it means you lose money, so while not technically an “expense”, it does eat into your finances. The solution to this is an easy one: hire a professional moving company to do the work for you. It works out as more cost-effective than losing money by being unable to work, so it kind of ends up being a positive ROI.
Wasting Money On Fuel
Similarly, moving companies come in handy to prevent you from wasting money on fuel. If you need to travel a couple of hours to your new home (and then back again), you’ll empty your tank almost every return journey. It can genuinely be cheaper to hire a mover when you calculate how much money you’ll spend on fuel by trying to move all by yourself.
Splashing The Cash On Packing Supplies
Do you know how expensive packing boxes are? It’s quite ridiculous, though you don’t have to spend loads of money on new boxes and packing materials. Look around your home and reuse any old cardboard boxes or plastic cases you might have hanging around. Even better, head to your local grocery stores and ask if they’ve got spare boxes or pallets you can use. You get them for free, and they can store most of your stuff while you move. Then, you either don’t need to buy packing supplies or can buy far less than intended.
On their own, these four expenses put a minor dent into your finances. When melded together, they become a serious financial problem. Work out how to tackle them so you can move without wasting or losing a ton of money.