A home clearance can often be a difficult and emotional time, whether you’re just getting rid of some belongings or are planning to downsize your home. It’s natural to want to plan a DIY house clearance for this, and it offers more than a few benefits.
But, there are often a few overlooked areas with this. One of the more notable is whether you need a self-drive van when you’re planning a DIY house clearance. Let’s dive into why you could need one, what they offer, and everything else you need to know about the process.
Why Pick a Self-Drive Van for a House Clearance?
Hiring a self-drive van might seem like it’s just an extra cost during the moving process. If you already have a car or similar small vehicle, you might wonder why you should even pay this extra expense. As it turns out, there are more than a few benefits to going down this route.
1. Flexibility on Your Own Terms
When you have a self-drive van, you don’t need to worry about when a professional mover or driver will turn up. You’re free and flexible enough to start the process whenever you want, and you can even take your time when you’re doing it. This flexibility can be great.
If you want to take a stop-and-start approach, then you’re able to do that. This can avoid more than a bit of stress from rushing around trying to get everything done on someone else’s timeline. It’s a much easier approach for you and anyone else involved in the move.
2. Cost-Effective Solution
Professional clearance services and movers offer more than a few benefits. As great as they can be, however, they can also be quite expensive. They just mightn’t be within your budget. A self-drive van, on the other hand, will be noticeably more affordable.
You’ll still have most of the benefits of a professional mover, but at a fraction of the cost. It’s a much more cost-effective approach to take. If you’re moving or decluttering on a budget, this could be the much better option to go for.
3. The Right Vehicle for the Job
When you already have a car, you could think you can use this for the move. But, that mightn’t be the most practical solution to go for. There’ll end up being a decent bit of driving back and forth, just to move all of your belongings.
With a self-drive van, however, you should have all of the space you need. You can avoid almost all of the back and forth, saving yourself more than a bit of time. It’s a much more practical vehicle for the job.
Tips to Pick the Right Self-Drive Van
With how helpful hiring a self-drive van can be, it’s more than worth doing for your home clearance. But, you’ll have to make sure you pick the best one for you. Price will be a natural area to focus on with this, especially when you’re clearing out or downsizing on a budget.
The main area to focus on, however, is the size of the van you hire. Make sure you get one large enough for your needs without going too large. Since this can affect the price, it might involve a bit of a juggling act.
By having a rough idea of how much you need to move, however, this shouldn’t be too complicated to figure out.
Times When a Van Makes House Clearance Easier
There are plenty of times when a van – either a self-drive or professionally driven one – could help with your house clearance. They’re one of the more adaptable and flexible vehicles to go for with this. But, there are more than a few specific times when they’re more than worth it.
Some of the more notable of these include:
- Single-Room Redecoration – If you’re just redecorating a single room, a van gives you the space to put the room’s furniture aside without cluttering up your home. This then lets you focus on redecorating without anything being in the way.
- Decluttering for a Fresh Start – Decluttering often means going through years of possessions and getting rid of quite a bit. Many of these belongings wouldn’t fit in most vehicles, which is where a van comes in quite helpfully.
- Downsizing to a Smaller Home – It’s natural to want to move to a smaller home at some point. With a self-drive van, you can move all of your belongings quickly and easily. It lets you move your belongings in your own time.
- Managing an Estate – Clearing out the home of a deceased loved one is an emotional process. With a self-drive van, you avoid putting yourself under pressure while being able to take your time going through their belongings.
While you could always try to use a more traditional car or smaller vehicle for these, it mightn’t always be the best option. It simply wouldn’t be practical. A self-drive van could be the much better option to help with this.
Practical Advantages of Handling a Clearance Yourself
All this begs the question as to why you should plan a DIY house clearance in the first place. Why do it all yourself and go through a decent bit of work when you could just hire a professional to do it all for you?
As it turns out, there are quite a few benefits. Some of the more notable of these are:
- Better Timing – When you’re sorting out the clearance yourself, you can schedule it for the best times that suit you. You don’t have to rush around based on timeframes set by other people, which can often cause a lot of stress.
- Better Sorting – Doing it all yourself lets you sort through your belongings yourself and load them in an order that makes sense for you. It’ll avoid needing to figure out what’s where when you’re packing up your van and unpacking it later on.
- Caring for Belongings – You’ll need to move more than a few sentimental and valuable belongings, which need to be treated with care. While professionals can do this, you’re in a much better position to treat them with care yourself.
These can all make a DIY house clearance more and more appealing. While you’ll still have to put time and effort into it, there’s no reason why it wouldn’t be worth it. It could be a much better approach than putting your faith in professionals you haven’t met before.
Tips for a Successful DIY House Clearance
As beneficial as a DIY house clearance or declutter could be, it can still be a decent bit of work. You could have a lot to move or get rid of, after all. While you’ll have to sink some time into it, it doesn’t have to be as overwhelming a process as you might’ve thought.
Focusing on a few home clearance tips can make it a lot more straightforward. Some of these can have much more of an impact on the process than you would’ve thought.
Plan the Order You Load in
Having an order of how you’ll load your belongings into a self-drive van offers more than a few benefits. It lets you make sure that heavy belongings are placed on the bottom of the van while lighter options are kept higher up. You’ll prevent more than a bit of damage during transport.
Declutter Before Packing
It’s tempting to pack up all of your belongings before a move and then decide whether you still want them later on. But, you could be better off trying to declutter during the house clearance. It avoids you needing to pack and unpack belongings you’ll end up getting rid of later on. You’ve no reason not to take them with you to your new home.
Use Proper Equipment
Try to use proper loading and unloading equipment when you’re moving anything even remotely heavy. While that could mean hiring them for a while, it’ll be more than worth it. You’ll avoid more than a few potential injuries and damage to belongings because of any accidents.
Try Safe Lifting Practices
Speaking of preventing accidents and injuries, using safe lifting practices is a key part of this. They’ll help you avoid putting your back out and more than a few other potential injuries. More than a few best practices fall into this. Lifting with your legs instead of your back is one of the more obvious of these, and it’s worth making sure you have help when lifting anything heavy.
Why Pick Britannia Lanes for Your Self-Drive Van Hire?
When you need to hire a self-drive van for your home clearance or declutter, pick Britannia Lanes. Our specialist team offers a flexible approach designed to meet your needs while also having multiple vans to pick from. You’ll have no problem getting the perfect one for you.
By working with us, you’ll have all of the support you need while getting through the moving or clearance process. Get in touch today to get a quote on the self-drive van you need.
