Your Moving Checklist

By Dermound Becker
Special to VanLines.com

Anyone who has ever moved from one home to another knows that there is what seems like a million things to do, and it is easy to forget something essential. Follow our moving checklist to help you remember some essential steps:

As soon as you know you are going to move:
  1. Begin to sort through your belongs and get rid of anything you don’t really need. It is a waste of energy and space to pack things that you don’t really have any use for.

  2. Begin a list of people/businesses/magazines you need to notify of your change of address. Keep a list of everyone you get mail from so no one gets forgotten.

  3. Start the search for a moving company. Get moving estimates and find the right one for you early on. You do not want to lose your ideal moving date due to a company already being booked.

  4. If you have children, get together their school records and immunization records for the new place.

  5. Forward your medical records (if you already know who your new doctor or dentist will be) or request copies that you can take with you. This saves a lot of time when you are getting together with a new doctor.

  6. Get the supplies you will need. Order boxes or begin to collect them, get the packing peanuts, tape, labels and anything else you need to begin packing.

  7. Make a list of all the important people you need to notify. Don’t forget places like your bank, brokerage firms, credit card companies and insurance companies.

A month in advance:
  1. Fill out a change of address form. Make sure that everyone important you have put onto your list (#2 above) is notified of your move.

  2. Notify all the utility companies to arrange to have your utilities turned off the day following your move, and to make sure all the utilities are turned on at your new place at least the day before your arrival.

  3. Start packing. You can get a lot of non-essential items packed well ahead of time. Make sure you label each box with the contents and what room it will go into in.

  4. Start using up whatever you can, such as frozen food. You can’t take it with you so you really should use up whatever you can now.

  5. Confirm the date with the long distance moving company.

Two weeks before the move:
  1. Start returning things. You need to at least arrange to take back any cable boxes, library books, DVDs, things you may have borrowed from a friend or neighbor.

  2. Start retrieving things such as dry cleaning, things others have borrowed from you and anything that might be in a repair shop.

  3. Empty your safe deposit box.

  4. If you are driving, have your car checked and get maintenance.

  5. Refill prescriptions.

A few days before the move:
  1. Make sure you have enough cash for the move.

  2. Arrange for someone to watch your kids and pets the day of the move.

  3. If you are driving, make sure you have maps and good directions to your new home.

  4. Defrost the freezer.

  5. Make sure you have your valuables separate and ready to go with you. Things like very important papers (birth certificates, for example) should go with you and not be packed. This is also true of credit cards, check books and any especially valuable jewelry.

  6. Recheck everything.

  7. Pack your suitcase. You need the essentials with you for the actual move and when you first arrive at your new home before you get unpacked.