11 Ultimate Tips to Save Money on Moving
If there’s one thing most people agree on, it’s that moving house has a way of making your wallet feel a little too light. Whether you’re shifting across the street or across the country, relocation costs can sneak up on you — from packing materials to transportation fees.
But here’s the good news: moving doesn’t have to break the bank. With smart planning, a few creative hacks, and knowing when to DIY vs. hire, you can significantly cut your expenses without sacrificing convenience or safety.
Here are 11 proven ways to save money on moving, tailored especially for households in Malaysia and Singapore.
by TheLorry on 14 August 2025.
If there are things in life that are sure, it would be death, taxes, and house moving costing you a lot of money.
Okay maybe I am being overly dramatic, but the whole house moving process do make your wallet substantially skinny. And if you’re on a tight budget, the cost for you to move from your old house to your new one may make your wallet even skinnier.
What can you do then, to save money on household moving costs? Well, here are 11 of them. Maybe they can help you out a little if not a lot.
1. Plan your move properly
Relocating is a big deal — and like any big project, the earlier you plan, the better your chances of saving. Start by creating a detailed moving checklist. This helps you estimate costs upfront, avoid last-minute purchases, and allocate your budget wisely.
When you plan in advance, you can also take advantage of off-peak moving dates, which often come with better rates.
📌 Pro Tip: Use TheLorry’s booking platform to compare rates instantly and lock in your preferred date early — Book your move here.
2. Declutter Before You Pack
The fewer items you move, the less you spend. Go through your home and sell, donate, or recycle things you no longer need. Remember — every extra box adds to your transport cost.
Perhaps one of the simplest, yet hardest thing to do in the context of moving out of your home. Beware though, keeping seemingly useless things in your house is a sign that you may be a hoarder.
If you have furniture in good condition that won’t fit in your new home, consider selling it online. The money you earn can offset part of your moving expenses.
3. Compare DIY vs. Professional Movers
Nothing is ever absolute in this world we live in, and there are always two sides of the coin when it comes to do-it-yourself moving versus professional moving.
DIY moving sounds cheaper, but it’s not always the case. You’ll need to consider fuel, tolls, rental fees, and the time (and muscle) needed.
Professional movers may seem more expensive upfront but often include packing, assembly, and transportation in one price — saving you hidden costs.
The best approach? Mix both — pack and dismantle yourself, but hire professionals for heavy lifting and transport.
4. Get Friends & Family Involved
Packing alone can take days, but with extra hands, you can speed things up without extra costs. Offer lunch or dinner as thanks.
One of the common things you can probably do on your own is packing. And you’ll be needing every help you can to pack and box your dishes, cutleries, clothes, and appliances.
What better way to strengthen the relationship between you and your family and friends than to get them to help you out.
Asking for people to help can be a delicate road to traverse however, but a good rule of thumb is not expect too much from them.
Remember, they are doing you a favour, so the last thing you want to do is to overstep their patience. And as the tradition goes, buy them lunch or dinner as thanks for helping you out.
5. Compare Multiple Movers’ Prices
If you do feel like it is essential to hire movers to help with the move, it would be best to look for a bunch and compare them as oppose to stick with one you may know previously.
Businesses are filled with competition, and moving companies tend to be competitive with their prices. What you should do as a consumer is to look for the best deal out of them. Plus, you may never know whether the mover you contact is really honest about their prices.
Don’t settle for the first quote you get. Compare at least three movers and check what’s included in their packages. Some movers offer free packing materials or extra manpower at no additional cost.
👉 Check TheLorry’s instant quotation tool to see multiple options in minutes.
6. Book them early
Another thing to remember if you do decide to hire professional movers, is that booking early ensures no last-minute charges.
A week before is a good minimum duration to book a lorry driver, while two weeks before is safest.
Additionally, keep in mind of any public holidays that may overlap your moving day, as most drivers will not be accepting jobs then.
7. Don’t pay for boxes for packing
The key to moving with a tight budget is to not waste it on the little things. And some of us tend to waste our resources on buying empty boxes to pack our stuff in.
Boxes are definitely essential when you need to move, but they are actually one of those things you can easily acquire for free in supermarkets and convenience store if you ask nicely.
If you’re lucky, you might even stumble upon a shop that had just finished stocking up on their products, which means fresh boxes!
8. Shirts and bed sheets wraps
As one of the most popular tip in house moving, you might have heard about using your clothes, bed sheets, and towels as wrappers for your fragile goods.
In practicality, it does work well, and you can potentially save a lot in the process.
Yet you might also want to take into account the extra work you have to do when you unpack later on. A lot of fragile goods would mean a lot of clothing and bed sheets. And the clothing and linens may need to be washed or ironed once moving is done.
If you think that keeping your budget tight is worth the extra load of laundry, you can effectively save on buying bubble wraps.
Alternatively, there is a moving hack you can find here which suggests using coffee filters in place of clothing to protect your fragile plates and bowls. Coffee filters are a lot cheaper to buy than bubble wrap, and could make for a better replacement.
9. Plan your meals
Go and have a look at your refrigerator now. If you see a fully stocked fridge, imagine having to move with all those food still in there.
I know, you might have forgotten about the perishable food in your house being a factor in your upcoming relocation. A lot of us did too.
Now that you have remembered it, plan your meals carefully and try to not let things go to waste when you’re moving out in a week or two.
10. Don’t overpay your bills
In line with how forgetful us humans can be, we tend to forget important things when we’re dealing with other important things.
As such, please let the concerning parties know that you will be relocating. Because having to pay for water, electricity, or utility bills for your old house after you have already moved is the last thing you want to do on a tight budget.
11. Search for backloading lorries
Maybe at this point you have figured out that some of the tips laid out are not suitable for you, in that the cost exceeds you budget.
Depending on how resourceful you are, there is another way for you to potentially save a large cut of the cost in hiring movers. And it is through backloading.
If you have never heard of the term, backloading (or backhauling to some) is when a lorry is on its way back from completing a delivery and are carrying an empty back load.
As the cost of transportation already been covered before the delivery, there’s a higher potential to hire them for cheaper.
You can have a look at the backloading platform, eLogistik, to potentially find cheaper lorries to hire.
Backloads can be tricky to find though, as you need to find a an empty lorry that can pick-up and drop-off your things while still being on their way back to headquarters.
Which means the availability of a returning truck you can hire for way cheaper than market price will totally be up to luck. So cross all the fingers when searching!
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Save money without sacrificing convenience. Whether you’re moving a small apartment or a full house, TheLorry offers affordable, reliable, and hassle-free moving services in Malaysia and Singapore.
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You can read more on our TheLorry Newsroom for expert tips, cost-saving strategies, and real moving stories from our customers.
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