As we get back from our summer holidays and head into September, removals season kicks off again. In fact, last Friday was apparently the most popular day of the year to move house.

The cost of a move can top £2,000 – and if this is coming on top of the ruinous cost of buying and selling, it can be the final expense that breaks the budget.

Fortunately, there are five easy ways to cut the cost.

Start with a significant clear-out

Everything you sell, give to charity or throw away is one more thing you don’t have to pack, pay someone to move, and then unpack again at the other end, so be ruthless. The longer you have, the more effective this will be, so try to start at least a month before the move.

Read more: Three financial tasks that could leave you £1,000 better off

You can raise some cash while you’re at it by selling items online. Even if something isn’t worth the effort of selling, you can donate it to charity, and may still be able to make money from it if you’re a higher rate taxpayer. Ask the charity to send details of how much it raises.

They’ll claim the first 20% tax relief themselves, but you can claim the extra 20% tax back through a self-assessment tax return, which will bring your tax bill down.

Consider hiring a van and doing it yourself

Hiring a van and doing the heavy lifting can cost as little as £75. This is going to be more doable if you’re moving a relatively small amount of stuff a reasonable distance, and if you don’t have kids and pets to wrangle at the same time.

Measure up, and don’t scrimp on the size of the van. A bigger vehicle could set you back £200 a day, but avoids the agony of discovering the sofa won’t go in and cuts down on the number of times you have to drive to and fro.

Get recommendations for a ‘man and van’

If you don’t have the muscle for a move or the licence to drive, a van plus a helper will start at around £200, depending on how much stuff you have and how far you’re moving. If there are big items or any furniture, at the very least you will need to carry one end, but they may refuse to move you at all, so check this before you start.

A person with a van is cheaper than a removals service, but you won’t be getting help from a specialist remover, so they won’t carry the same kind of protective cases for valuable items, and they won’t have the insurance if something goes wrong. Consider whether these things are important to you.

Cut back on what you ask a removals firm to do

If you need more help than this, removal company charges start at around £550 for a one-bedroom house, or £1,400 for a five-bedroom house. However, it varies significantly across the country, and there may be extra charges on top. If you need them to pack for you, or dismantle flat-pack furniture, this can add £400 to the cost. If there are longer distances, or flights of stairs, it can add another £500.

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The more you can do, the more you can cut the cost. In addition, if you have a really brutal clear-out, it may be worth getting them round to price up after you’ve done this, so they appreciate you don’t have as much stuff as they expect.

Get three quotes to be sure you’re not over-paying.

Start with local recommendations and firms in the area, but you can also use comparison websites. When you’re comparing quotes, check what’s included in each of them. Some will offer insurance as an added extra, which can be pretty painful if you haven’t factored it in.

Whatever approach you take, removals are just one extra cost you don’t need when you’re making a move. However, these steps could shave hundreds of pounds off the cost, and a really effective clear out could offset a big chunk of it into the bargain.

Sarah Coles is a personal finance analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown and co-presents Switch Your Money On podcast.

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