playbook📦
Moving with the cargo bike
A small or medium-sized move done entirely by cargo bike. Fifteen to thirty trips, three days, no moving van.
1d
duration
€ 50–200
budget
Ignite
pace
Renting a moving van costs 200 to 400 euros, plus fuel, plus parking fees, plus the stress of returning it late. For a move within a few kilometres, there is another way: fifteen to thirty trips by cargo bike. It sounds absurd. Those who try it discover it is lean and satisfying.
What works: spread the move over three to five days. No sprint, no cram-everything-into-one-Saturday. Heavy items (books, tools, dishes) go first, in small crates. Furniture that does not fit gets left behind and goes to a second-hand marketplace friend. By the end of the move you will have fewer things than you started with, because the decluttering happens on its own. You are not going to cycle twenty times with something you never use anyway.
Checklist
0 of 6
Kratjes verzameld
Albert Heijn of Lidl
Verhuisplan over drie dagen verdeeld
Sleutels nieuw huis getest
Eerste rit gedaan
Boeken eerst, ze zijn zwaar
Meubels-plan gemaakt
Wel of niet huren
Laatste rit
Vaak gereedschap of stofzuiger
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by PlayTryBe team
Collect 20 crates in the week before the move. Albert Heijn crates can almost always be borrowed — just ask a friendly store manager.
0Make a rough plan across three to five days. Day one: books and tools (heavy). Day two: textiles and light items. Day three: fragile things. Day four: furniture.
Test the keys to your new home before you start. A forgotten key on trip 7 means a stressful ride back.
First trip: take it easy. It is a new route, you have something heavy in the box, there is no need to rush.
Around trip 5 or 6 you will come across something you can no longer explain why you own. Put it on Marktplaats, do not move it with you. The decluttering happens in transit.
For furniture too large for the cargo bike: rent a van for half a day. Three heavy pieces in two hours, done.
80Last trip: usually the vacuum cleaner and the cleaning cloths to do a final walk-through of the old place. A strange but important last trip.
Moving by cargo bike is not a statement. It is a method that also happens to be enjoyable, cheaper, and less stressful than a hire van on the wrong date.
For anyone copying this
Do as we did
Suggestions
- Albert Heijn crates (stacked in fives) fit perfectly in a cargo bike box.
- Schedule the heaviest items for the coolest, freshest mornings of the week.
- A neighbour who keeps an eye on the cycling route saves you a round of search questions at the destination.
- One big trip per day is better than five small ones. Fatigue builds up.
Variations
- - Met bakfiets-vriend: twee bakfietsen samen halveren de tijd.
- - Voor kleine spullen-verhuizing (een kamer): in twee dagen.
- - Voor meubels: combineer bakfiets-ritten met een huur-busje voor een halve dag voor de drie zware meubels.
- - In de winter: te koud voor de meest spullen-zware ritten, plan eerder of later in het jaar.