Moving can be a costly process. It is also full of risks and stress. But there are ways to complete it successfully and within budget. This is where most of us tend to search for cheap solutions. Asking friends to help out is one of them. Usually, we recruit friends and family to help with packing. However, there are considerable downsides of asking friends to help you pack for a move.
What to know
Engaging your friends to help out can be very problematic. There are many pros and cons to this decision. Here are just a few reasons why you should avoid asking friends to help you pack.
- Professionals are more reliable
- It can cost more than you think
- Injuries are a real risk
- Lack of experience and equipment
Professionals
Although your friends can be eager to help, getting professional packing assistance is sometimes a better solution even though it is costlier. Professionals are especially important for adequately packing and protecting your belongings for a long-distance move. They can expertly handle the supplies, labeling, and loading making the process fast and smooth. Your friends can be a good solution for short-distance or short-notice moves. In these cases when speed is important DIY packing can be a good solution.
The cost
Professional packing can cost a lot. However, asking your friends to help you pack for a move can cause you a lot of unexpected costs. The thing is that lack of experience can cost you a lot of time explaining what to do. It may cause you to waste in packing supplies, repacking, and even replacing badly packed and broken items. With this in mind, even very helpful friends can prove t be a burden and increase the cost of your move.
Injuries
As your friends are not experienced in packing and moving, they can be accident-prone. Knowing how to lift heavy furniture or boxes is important. Not knowing how to handle these heavy and bulky items is a recipe for disastrous injuries and packing setbacks. Although you may avoid serious injuries improper packing can still cause a lot of scrapes and bruises to occur causing time delays. Overestimating your knowledge and abilities can prove dangerous and cause considerable problems.
Experience and equipment
Besides injuries, the lack of experience can cause additional problems. Usually, it can cause a lot of your things to get damaged or lost. This is because there are some packing rules to go by that you and your friends are not aware of. For example, you should not pack heavy items in flimsy boxes. You should also not pack fragile items at the bottom. Use as many protective materials as possible and don’t bundle heavy things together. In addition, sometimes you must have specialized equipment for bulky, fragile, or heavy items. Things like carts, carrying harnesses, and similar are important and can be difficult to obtain in the middle of packing.
In short
Packing is a serious issue that you should prepare for properly. As stated there are many downsides to asking friends to help you pack. These factors should convince you to at least consider hiring professional packing help. If you can t afford it then use these points to prepare better and make you’re packing a breeze.