We have recently moved home into a converted chapel and I have been keeping a list of the true cost of moving house. The costs in this blog post are for the actual move and don't cover anything like mortgage fees or tenancy applications. Here is everything we have spent on moving home.
Man in a van – £436
We had been quoted £3,500 for a previous move with a full packing and removals service (no unpacking). Part of the reason for wanting to move house was to save us money, so paying this to a removal company wasn't an option. What we did instead was head to Shiply and allow local man in a van firms to bid on our job.
We paid £36 to Shiply for this, and the man in a van cost £400, which included moving everything.
Doing it this way was extremely stressful, but saved us over £3,000!
Keys cut – £55
Our new house has two front doors and a back door, and our landlord was only able to give us one set of keys. We needed 4 more sets of keys – one for each set of parents, a set for me and then a spare set. This came to a whopping £55 and would have been £65 if we paid on card and not in cash. That's £4.50 per key.
Pizza hut – £27.71
We had been keeping up with cooking, but two nights before the van arrived we just couldn't do it any more. We needed a break from cooking. Not going to lie, in the 45 minutes it took for this to arrive I had a nap.
I don't usually go for takeaway pizza – my favourite pizza is under £2 from Iceland and I prefer it to any takeaway.
This actually fed us for two meals by the time we reheated it. No plates needed either!
Pub meal – £20.38
Another ‘we can't cook because everything is packed' meal at the pub. This covered starters, mains and drinks for both of us, and covered two meals (late lunch; no dinner).
End of tenancy clean – £127.50
We moved out from a 5 bedroomed house, and I had always promised myself to never carry out an end of tenancy clean after our last house move.
I did have a little wobble when it came to actually arranging the cleaner. £127.50 is a lot of money, but the cleaner could do it much faster than we could, and to a much better standard.
I will always make room in my budget for this for any house move. You will not believe the amount of dust you find once you start moving furniture!
Heating oil delivery – £270.98
I wasn't sure whether to include this as a moving cost, because not everyone has heating oil, and not everyone will need to pay this before they move in. However we had no heating before we moved in and assumed the tank was empty (the reading device was showing there was just under half a tank). Having to order heating oil in a rush is probably the most expensive way to do it, but needs must. We opted to wait a weekend longer (Monday instead of Friday) to save a further £50. If you have oil heating then check out these ways to save money on heating oil.
Whilst this is a cost, it is worth pointing out that we will no longer be paying Bulb for our gas, and it will simply be diverted into the heating oil fund.
Royal Mail Redirection – £66.99
Changing addresses is a long, boring process, but no matter how much time you spend here there is a chance that you forget to update some addresses.
A Royal Mail Redirection can really help – for 3, 6 or 12 months it will redirect any mail received for the names you provide.
It costs £66.99 for 12 months per surname. We opted for 12 months for £66.99, as 3 months alone would cost £33.99.
New stuff for the house – £197
I can't believe this amount. I am actually really annoyed by it!
I didn't want to buy new things for the house – what is the point in moving to save money to buy new things? However our bedroom needed curtains so there were £70.
We needed a shower caddy and other bathroom bits which easily got to £30.
We needed a door bell (I've missed so many deliveries!) so that was £15 for a wireless one with two receivers.
The rest comes from other bits and bobs we have needed for the house, like towel rails, a house name sign and a new cat bed. Luckily these things are ours and can move with us later.
Total cost of moving house – £1201.56
Whilst there were definitely areas to save money during the move, I don't think the total cost of moving house is as bad as it could have been.
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