How to Get Friends to Help You Move

If you are lucky enough to have a group of friends who live locally, then asking for their help moving home seems like a great idea.

Of course, not everybody can lift boxes and furniture, but there are so many other ways that your friends can help you move, and without the prospect of a hard day’s labour ahead of them they may be more willing to say yes.

So before you think about requesting their help, think about what would be the most efficient use of their time and something that they are actually capable of doing.

You may also like to read: 22 Really Useful Ways to Help a Friend Move Home. In this guide, you will find 22 suggestions for ways that friends can help you move home without having to lift a single box.

How To Ask Friends To Help You Move

Hopefully, you have the type of friends who will volunteer their services on moving day but if you need to ask for their help then these tips will help.

Give plenty of notice

Inform your pals that their help will be invaluable as early as possible, preferably as soon as you know for sure that you will be moving so that they have ample time to schedule or re-schedule their calendars.

Be a straight shooter

You may be tempted to downplay the complexity of the moving task for fear of being turned down.

Saying that you only have a few chairs and a table to move out of your home when you actually mean all your furniture is a risky approach that won’t get you any bonus points when your pals show up and see what they are up against in person.

Be a straight shooter with your potential helpers and inform them what they should expect realistically when they arrive at your home.

Select your wording carefully

How exactly you go about asking friends to help you move house is important.

Be very specific about how you would like them to help you.

Not all your friends will have the physical ability to lift heavy boxes or pieces of furniture so play to their strengths and be mindful of their weaknesses.

For example, if one friend loves your dogs then ask them to look after your pets on moving day.

Another friend may be a fitness fanatic and would relish moving boxes up and down the stairs all day.

Therefore tailor your cry for help to the individual, ask them personally rather than through a group chat, and be sure to mention that there will be pizza and beer at the end of the day!

Don’t be too quick to judge your friends

Moving home is nobody’s favourite pastime, so don’t be too surprised if some of your calls for help remain unanswered while others don’t contain the answer you were hoping to get.

The majority of your pals will probably be genuinely busy raising families, pursuing careers, and just being preoccupied with their everyday struggles.

Also, it’s perfectly possible that some of your friends get down with the flu just the day before they are supposed to come and give you a helping hand.

Anyway, instead of getting angry at your friends for not being able to help you out during this tough transitional period, use the practical tips below and make the most of the friendly help you do receive.

You may also like to read: Why You Should Never Ask Friends to Help You Move. In this post, I share a recent experience of helping a friend move which could serve as a warning about relying on friends to help you move and why it is often not such a great idea.

How To Make The Most Of Your Friendly Help

To make the most of your friends’ help you must be prepared and organised or moving day could end in disaster and you with a friend or two less.

Be ready for your friends’ arrival

Don’t make the rookie mistake of wasting your friends’ time by not being ready for their arrival.

Schedule them to arrive when you’re sure you will be finished with your major role in the residential move so that they can get down to helping with theirs straight away.

For example, if you have asked for packing help, you should have already sorted out your items and prepared sufficient and appropriate packing supplies.

On the other hand, if a number of your helpers arrive to give you assistance with the loading and unloading operations, then you must be entirely ready having finished packing and labelling your moving boxes, as well as any other task that should be done beforehand.

If you’re not ready when your friends arrive, you’ll be simply wasting your time, and more importantly – their time as well.

Distribute the tasks the right way

Ensure you know who is doing what before they arrive then distribute those tasks straight away when they arrive.

Give clear instructions so that there can be no misunderstandings.

The more prepared you are with a moving day plan the better the day will go.

Make the day enjoyable

Ensure there are plenty of refreshments available throughout the day, especially drinks, but don’t have any alcohol available as that is a recipe for disaster.

Make a playlist of happy and upbeat music which always makes hard work so much easier.

Keep the atmosphere relaxed but efficient. If you are stressed then your helpers will be stressed as well.

And the quicker the move is completed, the sooner you can all chill out and relax.

You may also like to read: How to Make Moving Home Fun. In this guide, we share ways to make each aspect of moving home more fun. It may give you some inspiration to make your friends’ day more enjoyable.

How To Thank Friends Who Help You Move

Don’t take your friends’ help for granted but make it a point to show your appreciation and gratitude properly.

Questions like “How much do you pay friends to help you move?” shouldn’t bother you too much as it’s not really about money.

Good friends will help you move not because they expect to be paid for the job but because they care for you and want to help you.

Plus, they might need you to return the favour sometime in the near future too.

Although money is usually out of the question unless you must compensate a friend for their travel expenses, a small gift of appreciation for everyone can go a long way.

Prepare appropriate gifts for friends who help you move – a personal thank you note for each helper or think of a playful certificate to make them laugh.

Alternatively, consider gifting each buddy of yours a particular household item that you won’t need again in your new home but which you know will come pretty handy to the respective recipient.  

When asking friends to help you move, you must plan properly each step of the way, impeccable organisation is the key to making things much easier for everyone involved in the move.

And remember that moving day is not moving day without the traditional takeaway and a few drinks that have been well earned by you and your friends.

Be sure to visit our home moving blog which is packed with ways to make your home move cheaper, easier, and quicker.