Moving home can be a stressful process, there's a lot of hard work involved, both on the planning side and on the labour side. By handling the process yourself, you'll have to rent a van, pack everything up, load everything safely, and drive it there, all by yourself. It's a lot of work, and while you do save money via this method, it will also make you more stressed, tired and miserable.

You can avoid this though by hiring a moving company. They'll handle most of the work – from the lifting and loading to the transport and unloading. Some will even help with the packing and the disassembly of larger goods. The question is though, which type should you go for? There's the professional moving services, which are at the high end of the quality scale, but they're on the expensive side. The man and van services are lower on cost, but certain compromises are made as a result. The main one being the amount of staff at their disposal. The man and van movers have to make do with a smaller pool of staff in order to keep the costs down.

The professional movers are better suited to larger moves with a higher budget. The man and van companies are for the small to medium sized move with a smaller budget. But as a general rule, they both offer the same basic service – so they both will lower stress levels to a non existent state. Well, as long as you hire the right company, that is. The right company is one that is trustworthy, dependable, offers a reliable service and has a price that falls within your budget. The only way to guarantee lower stress levels is to hire a removal firm that takes all of that into account, so here's how to find the right one for you;

•    First off, you should restrict your search to your local area. This is the first step to guaranteeing a reliable service. A local business will know the area like the back of their hand, and as a result will get your removal off to a smooth start. Make a list of every company you can find.

•    Once you have made your list, it's time to whittle it down. Ask for recommendations from your relatives, neighbours and work colleagues. If they've had a good moving experience, give the company they used serious consideration. Another way to find which of the movers on your list are worth your time is by looking as customer consumer web sites. Learning from other peoples' experiences is a very good idea in this case.

•    Only when you have found the right handful of companies should you start looking for price estimates. Only when you're sure that every company on your list has a track record of dependability and great customer service. If you are, then check how much weight you are planning to take, and how far you're planning to move. With this information the removal company can make an accurate estimate.

Once you've found the right company, you can be properly sure that your moving experience will be without stress. You can sit back and relax, knowing that the removal firm you've hired is dependable and trustworthy. And let's be honest, on a normally stressful process, that's what makes all of the difference.