We did this last year OP.

Caution: It is so freaking HOT in July. Seriously, you'll know who your true friends are based on who shows up Saturday morning to help you move out the heavy furniture and move it into your new place.

Crank up the a/c in both places, have gatorade on hand, provide lunch, etc.

We did with a uhaul and about 6 hours of back and forth (5 miles between TH and SFH, but 5 miles in NoVa takes like 15 minutes each way).

Read the previous thread about labeling/organizing the boxes for a more streamlined move (don't over load books in a box, etc.).

Another thing that helped us is that we moved a lot of the stuff on Friday night - the stuff that was easy for us to unload and did the big furniture pieces (mattress, dresser, couch, table - type items) when our friends showed up Saturday morning. So our friends weren't screwed out of a whole Sat. with us moving just about 3 hours with the big stuff.

I'm pretty frugal, but even I'm all for paying for movers. If you movers, help keep your cost down by:
Move as much crap yourself once you take possession of the house. I found we had a lot if stuff that was easier to carry ourselves than to try to pack for movers. Dissemble all the furniture before the movers arrive. Move all your boxes by your front door.

DH helped move a friend and I'm still bitter about it. It was Valentine's Day, it was supposed to be 2 hours, DH was gone 6. The people moving didn't pack anything ahead of time so you had 6-8 guys and my husband found it odd to be moving his friend's wife's underwear and bras. The friend and his wife didn't even offer water to the friends so the guys ordered pizza and paid for it themselves. My husband stayed only because he felt bad since most of the people left. Needless to say, we *rarely* see this friend anymore.

I had friends who bought a house and then asked for help moving. There was no way I was going to help. They had plenty of money for the new house but were too cheap to hire movers. So gald we were out of town when they moved. Hearing them talk about how much the moved sucked made me laugh.

Be prepared for your friends to say no or flake out.

If you really don't have that much stuff, I think it's doable. We had free use of a moving truck from our realtor, and that plus our cheapness pushed us in the direction of doing it ourselves last March. (Although doing the same in July might have been a different story...)

Since it's only a 2-mile trip, you could do it in two parts like we did: first all the boxes, then all the furniture. I was somewhat obsessive in my packing and organizing, which I like to think helped speed things along.

However, we didn't have anything we couldn't lift between the two of us. I would hire help for that stuff (not ask friends unless you offer to pay them). We used http://www.mapdispatch.com/ last year to find a couple guys to move some heavy furniture we bought on craigslist. You can name a price/see what people will offer. Our experience was kind of mixed, so I'm not exactly recommending it, but you might want to check it out.

Good luck!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:we hired moved for the first time the last time we moved. We went from a 2 bdrm 2nd floor condo. Movers (my truck buddy) cost us $600, and yes this is in the DC area. Best money I EVER spent.

The way I see it is that if you are adult enough to buy a hosue then you are adult enough to not be forcing friends to move your crap. I know that for me I am at the age where I am over doing that sort of thing.

We just used My Truck Buddy last week, and they were amazing. Came in under their estimate and cost us $600 plus tip. Moved from a townhouse to SFH. We gave away a lot of our furniture, so we had about the same amount of large items as you.

Do some price comparisons; 2k is too much for what you have.

My Truck Buddy SCREWED me on my last move. Cheap, but days of missing furniture and the company's contracting out to a "friend" of his was not worth it. It was three years ago and my family still talks about what a hellish move that was.

Wow, I was just about to contact them too.

PP here who recommended them. We used them for a very local move (4 miles or so), so there was no way they could have lost the furniture. Sorry to hear your experience - we loved them.

we also used them on a local move and loved them. I have no idea how they could possibly lose furniture as I beleive they only do local moves.