Preparing a Moving Checklist

Everyone should have experienced moving house ever since they were born. For kids, especially teenagers, moving is a horrible experience for them because they have to be separated from their best friends. For parents, moving to a new home and city would be a new adventure.

One of the important things to remember when moving to a new location is to have a checklist. Many people think, “Where do I even start?”, and when they already have a checklist, another question comes to mind, “Did I miss anything out?” Preparing a checklist alone can get complicated and that is why I have helped you in noting down important things that need to be done.

A month before moving:

• Start to clean out your house and make an inventory of everything you encounter.

• If you see things that you don’t need, organize a garage sale or donate the items to charity.

• Go shopping for materials needed for packing like boxes, packing tape, bubble wrap, markers, and so on.

  Make sure to get a lot of everything because it’s better to have more and not need it, than run short on something and not have it or the time to go out and buy it anymore.

• Start packing things that you don’t need every day like books, magazines, picture frames and other decorations you have on display around the house.

• Find a moving company. Make sure that they are reliable – you can probably ask for feedback or advice from friends or family members who have moved before. Another option would be to search on the internet. You can use keywords such as “the best moving company”, “popular moving company” or maybe “top 10 moving companies” so you have more options and feedback from various people.

• Have your new home ready to move into for example, if there are any problems with electricity, plumbing, or even the paint job, it would be better to have it fixed now rather than when you have already moved.

• If you have any house insurance documents, transfer them to the name and address of your new house.

• Sort out your service bills like water, electricity, telephone and rent (if you are renting). Ask if you still have last month payments.

• If you have pets, you might also want to find special movers for them too.

Two weeks before moving:

• Start changing your address. Inform your friends, family members, your trusted bank and other important people of your new address.

• Talk to your insurance company or the moving company and find out how much they will cover in case some of your belongings get damaged in the move.

• Start to pack more of your things and don’t forget to label the boxes.

One week before moving:

• Start cleaning your house; emptying it out. If you don’t want to do it yourself, you can hire a cleaning service if you have enough money to do so.

• Defrost your refrigerator and clean it too.

• If you have kids, especially small children, have someone ready to take care of them on the moving day.

• If you have pets, take them to the vet so they can get the necessary vaccines.

• Call your moving company and confirm with them the time, date and address.

One day before moving:

• Finish any remaining packing and don’t forget to label each box. It would also be good to check that each box is labelled.

• Prepare a big folder for your important documents such as insurances, or office related files, etc.

• Make sure that you have everything packed, that the only thing that is unpacked would be a few clothes and your toiletries which should be easy to pack on the day of the move.

On the moving day:

• Double check your now empty house to see if nothing will be left behind.

• Unplug all appliances that you plan to leave behind. Also make sure that all lights are turned off.