There is perhaps no greater decision regarding your move than whether you are going to hire a professional moving service to help you with the move. This decision will affect your moving expenses as well as the time commitment required of you.
Moving Yourself
Some decisions are harder than others. If your main concern is adhering to a tight budget, perhaps moving yourself is the best option. However, if you are unable to devote the time to coordinate the move over the concerns of money, your best bet is to hire a professional full-service mover.
If you're moving your one-bedroom apartment across town or across state, it's probably just as easy to gather some friends to help you pack and load the truck. This will allow you greater flexibility and is sometimes less expensive than other moving services. However, you will be responsible for all the grunt work, including loading and unloading the heavy furniture and appliances.
But if you have friends and/or family willing and able to help, you have a couple options. You can save some money by renting a van or even a trailer to attach to your vehicle. Remember to carefully consider the distance of the move since driving a moving van/truck can be a stressful event considering your inexperience driving trucks or pulling a trailer. If this doesn't sound like your cup of tea, there are hybrid moving services available such as the self moving services where you pack and load the truck and the professionals do the driving. It saves you the hassles of traffic while still giving you the comfort of knowing who is doing the packing and loading.
Hire a Pro
There are several reasons to choose a professional moving company over moving yourself, not the least of which is the fact that a moving company can save you time, effort, and stress. If you are moving a 3-bedroom house across the country, you might want to consider going with a professional moving service. While it may appear that hiring a full-service mover is more costly, you might want to consider that doing it yourself may require you to miss work and (possibly) a chunk of your paycheck. Hiring a professional will free you of the tedious planning, packing, loading, driving and unloading, thus allowing you to concentrate on the important stuff such as making sure you and your family is comfortable.
It is also important to remember that your belongings are important to you, regardless of their worth. While you may take every precaution in packing and loading your furniture and fragile items, you are not nearly as experienced in doing so as is the professional mover. They do this for a living and are skilled in handling your belongings. Should something happen to your items, the movers will be liable. However, if you should damage your items while moving yourself, you have no recourse.