The work of sorting, packing, and loading up all your belongings is a full-time task. Parents and caregivers with children can find this to be an especially stressful time. A moving company can help you organize and carefully pack your household items up. Movers are adept at quickly getting all your things loaded up with little fuss. While you are taking care of little ones, movers can get your things to your new home.

If you have friends and helping hands, you could ask them to help care for small children or to help pack and move your things. It is wonderful to have help, but there is still a risk. A moving company has trained workers to lift and load awkward and heavy furniture and appliances. They may also have the equipment to help them perform the job with less risk of injury. Those are important things to consider when deciding to accept help from friends.

It’s understandable why the cost is a deciding factor for so many people. Professional moving companies can be expensive, and many have trouble justifying paying the high cost of a moving company when they’re not going that far. It may help to write down all the costs involved. These include the boxes, packing tape, materials for your breakable items, and moving insurance. Don’t forget to include the cost of taking time off work during the move and after if you need time to recover. You might also want to include the costs of coaxing friends and family into helping out.

Once you’ve added up all the potential costs of moving yourself, you can compare them to the costs of hiring a moving company. Not all of the costs are purchase-based. Once you think about missing time at work and the lost wages, the cost difference might not be as severe as you once thought. Some people balance the convenience of a moving company with what they can afford. This hybrid approach to moving might mean you’ll pack up and label all of your things, and on moving day, the company comes and loads up the truck for you, then unloads it at your destination.

How quickly do you need to move? If you have more than a month, that gives you time to organize and sort your possessions. You can get rid of accumulated things you won’t be taking to your new place. You’ll have time to plan how you’ll get your things loaded into a truck. Some people are even able to make several trips over a period of time.

In a perfect world, you’d have all the time you need to move your things. But sometimes circumstances mean you have to move with very little notice. If you have less than a month to organize your move, pro movers can be a huge relief. Pro movers have a ton of experience in packing and organizing in a hurry. They can have your house packed up and in transit to your new home faster than you could do it yourself.