By the time you pack up your house and set out for pastures new, you will in all likelihood already have encountered 101 myths, usually negative, about the process. Some of them become self-fulfilling prophecies – things you bring into being just by expecting them. Others may not come true but will still cast a completely unnecessary sickly pall over the house-moving experience. From superstitions to doom-laden prophecies, the experience of moving house is subject to all kinds of harmful nonsense. Fortunately, we will now extinguish these falsehoods once and for all in our Master Removers guide to the myths of moving house.

• Moving House is as stressful as bereavement

It’s an eye-catching idea that somehow sounds plausible. And perhaps the fanciful idea that they’ve gone through something as dreadful as losing a loved one helps house-movers to bond and commiserate with each other. But there’s no credible study that comes anywhere near to proving that moving house is as stressful or painful as a bereavement. For a start, it’s hard to quantify stress and emotional pain. It’s almost certain that if you asked a recently bereaved person whether what they’re going through reminds them of the pain of moving house, you’d end up with a clip ‘round the ear.

• Moving House is as stressful as divorce

As with No.1, this is a headline-grabbing idea that really can’t be rigorously tested let alone proved. Some divorces are amicable, others full of bitterness, blame and rancour. Moving house is not comparable to the demise of a long-term relationship. And if moving house is stressful, there is next to no point in making it more so by telling yourself things like this.

• It’s bad luck to move on a Saturday

This myth falls into the category of superstition and therefore cannot withstand even fleeting scrutiny. It makes no more sense than saying it’s bad luck to move house on a rainy day. It’s a baseless superstition that does nothing but limit the options of the people who believe it while offering them no tangible benefit in return. Consider this myth well and truly busted.

• You can save money by not using a removal company

You might think it a matter of naked self-interest for us to flag this one up, but it’s simply not true. Of course, once you’ve shelled out for a property, whether via a mortgage or, if you’re renting, a deposit plus one month’s rent, the notion that you can save some cash by doing the actual move yourself is a very attractive one. However, you can set off down this path and end up accumulating a whole load of expenses while exhausting yourself in the process. Your own car may well be entirely unsuited to such a large undertaking so before you know it, you’ve had to hire a moving van. You may not be able to rent the appropriate size of vehicle if you’re not permitted to drive an HGV. And all those little extras that might have been available on a complementary basis from your moving company will start to bite, whether it’s the packing materials or the cardboard boxes. Where your worldly goods would be protected from damage in transit while under the care of your removal company, you could well find that when it’s you and a group of friends doing the work, you’re not sufficiently covered. Really, the best way to save money at this stage of your move is to get quotations from reputable agencies, find a competitive one, check the company’s accreditation and customer reviews and then come to a decision.

• Packing must be done months or weeks in advance

Hold back on some aspects of your packing because if you go all out and do the lot in advance of your move, you could find yourself scrambling around for something you desperately need but which is now hidden at the bottom of a full box. Yes, by all means get clothing and furniture sorted out early, but leave things like chargers and toiletries till the end. Make sure you don’t pack away all your work apparel, either.

• You can save money by skipping the survey

Under no circumstance is it wise to cut your costs by forgoing a proper survey of the house you’re buying. Knowing everything you need to know about its condition could save you from financial peril further down the line. If you haven’t organised a survey, it could diminish your options for getting a mortgage and you’ll end up moving into a property blind and unaware of what might go wrong a few years