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Real People: A Crosstown Chicago Move

Posted in: I'm Moving, Local Moving, Moving Stories, Moving Trucks

Box and TruckI believe that every move has its challenges. Whether you’re moving across town, or across the US, boxing up your entire life and transporting it to another location can be rough. My last move falls into the former category, as my husband and I had to move less than 5 miles from our apartment to a newly purchased condo. Even though this was the shortest moving distance we’ve ever tackled (check out our St. Louis to Chicago move here), it was still an exhausting process.

DIY MOVE….FULL-SERVICE MOVE…OR A HYBRID MOVE?

Helpers Carrying DresserBecause of the short distance, we initially discussed the option of moving everything ourselves. After thinking through the logistics (& picturing ourselves carrying our heavy dressers up 1 flight of stairs), we squashed that idea. Instead, we settled on a hybrid move. We would rent & drive the truck, and we would use movers from HireAHelper to do all of the heavy lifting. This would save us a bit of money, and it would also save our backs. #winwin

PREPPING FOR THE BIG DAY

Box with SuppliesThe week before our move was a crazy one. When we weren’t at our apartment packing boxes, we were at our new place cleaning or shuttling random items over. This was incredibly exhausting, but ended up being well worth the work. We were able to get our kitchen and clothing all unpacked and organized prior to our move day. This saved space in the truck, and also made things much easier on the back end of our move, as things were already in a well-thought out location and not just shoved into a random drawer. If I have any advice to give other crosstown movers it would be to try to bring items over prior to the big moving day!

RENTING THE TRUCK

Uhaul with BoxesWe scheduled our truck rental a few weeks before our move and settled on a 20 foot Uhaul for our 1.5 bedroom/1.5 bathroom apartment. At first we thought it would be too big, and our items would barely fill up half of the truck. But it ended up being just the right size moving truck. UHaul Moving TruckThe only hard part was driving it around the busy streets of Chicago. City driving is hard enough…but when you have a 20 foot truck, it’s even worse! My husband just drove it slow and we were very careful when parking!

OUR HELPERS

Happy HireAHelpersWe decided on 2 helpers for 5 hours, and we also asked them to bring a dolly and cart. The helpers arrived on-time and they were ready to get to work! Our helpers were awesome and worked quickly & efficiently. It took us about 2 hours to unload our apartment and get it all packed up in the truck. Organized Boxes in UhaulOur helpers were also great at packing up the truck so everything was protected. They used moving blankets on furniture and stacked boxes to maximize all of the space. This was so helpful because we definitely wouldn’t have been able to stack things as well as they did. Helpers Moving MattressAnd when it came time to lift the heavy items, these guys were lifesavers. Seriously. There’s no way my husband and I could have lifted mattresses and heavy dressers ourselves. They were worth their weight in gold for doing all of the heavy lifting! Lifting Boxes into TruckAfter loading up the truck, we drove the few miles to our new place. Our helpers followed our truck in their car and then helped us unload into our new home. The unloading process took about 2 hours too. So going with 2 helpers for 5 hours was a good call on our part!

ALL SETTLED INCarrying a BoxWas our move completely stress-free? Nope. But it sure was a heck of a lot easier thanks to our hired help. Instead of spending the entire day loading & unloading with a DIY move, we were able to get everything moved in 5 hours. This left us plenty of time to unpack and get settled into our new space.

Happy Mover Holding BoxI think it’s safe to say we’re happy we went with a hybrid move.

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