Moving To A New Home: A Checklist And Timeline For First-Timers

Moving to a new home is often exciting as it symbolizes the start of a new life. But the moving process is often overwhelming, whether when relocating within the same neighborhood or to another city. And it’s no surprise, as relocating entails a lot, from packaging and transferring utilities to settling into the new home.

With so many things you need to do when relocating, it’s easy not to want anything to do with moving to a new home. But you can make the process of shifting homes to be less daunting by having a moving checklist to guide you. Such a checklist offers insights on what to do to make moving to a new home less stressful.

To make your relocation to a new home much smoother, look no further. Below is a detailed checklist with clear timelines to consider before looking for professional movers in my area to move into a new home.

8 Weeks Before The Move

Moving to a new home can be hectic and typically takes a lot of time. So it would be best if you started preparing yourself as soon as several weeks before the actual move. This makes the moving process a lot less challenging. Some of the things you must do within this timeline include the following:

• Create A Moving Budget

You have to know your moving expenses before you start the relocation process to your new residence. So you need to create a budget that aligns with your moving needs, finances, and items you’ll be moving. Remember to set a budget to be sure you can afford the move.

Regardless of whether you’ll hire movers or do everything yourself, you need a budget. If you opt to work with movers, expect your moving budget to be more expensive.

• Start Sorting Your Belongings

You need to go through your belongings to know what to keep, donate, and dispose of. Do this for all the rooms in your home. Be thorough when sorting your belongings to avoid wasting money, energy, and time moving items that are irreparable or no longer needed. It would help if you did this, more so when relocating to a smaller house.

• Research Moving Companies

Moving companies aren’t the same. Some movers offer quality services, while others don’t. So you need to do your due diligence when looking for a moving company. Remember, you want a company that guarantees the best services possible and charges reasonable prices.

Start researching moving companies by asking for recommendations from family and friends. Also, take time to read online reviews to find movers with positive reviews.

When researching movers, you may narrow down your options to the top three movers in your region. It’s best to get estimates from each of them before making a final choice. And to get an almost correct fee, inform the mover of all your items, even those in storage spaces, such as sheds, basements, and attics.

• Begin The School Enrollment Process

When relocating to a new neighborhood, you’ll need to plan your child’s enrollment in a local daycare or school. The earlier you start the enrollment process, the better to get ahead of the long waitlists. This is more so advised when moving to a state or city known to be ideal for raising a family. Other tasks you might need to take are the following:

• Register your kid for extracurriculars.
• Organize your child’s school to transfer immunization records to the new school.
• Complete the long enrollment forms.
• Request your kid’s current school for reference letters.

Make a point of going to your child’s current school, and inform them about the imminent transfer. Doing so gives them enough time to prepare your kid’s school records to transfer to the new school.

• Collect Packing Supplies

After organizing your belongings and knowing what you’d like to keep, you then need to start packing them. But you can’t do this without the right packing supplies, such as the following:

• Boxes
• Bubble wrap
• Tape
• Packing tape

With all these packing supplies ready, packing and relocating to your new residence will be much more efficient.

• Create A Moving Binder

You need to keep track of everything while moving to your new home. This is where a moving binder, be it physical or digital, comes in handy. You can list everything you need, your average expenses, and your receipts using your binder.

• Notify Your Landlord

You need to give your landlord a 30- to 60-day notice before moving to your new home. Doing so is good practice but can also be a requirement, but this differs from one state to another or your lease agreement.

4 Weeks Before The Move

With a month left, the awaited moving day is fast approaching, and here are things that need to get done:

• Start To Pack Your Items

With four weeks remaining before relocating to your new home, it’s a good idea to start packing the nonessential items. Put proper labels and numbers on the boxes to make your unpacking easier. Well-labeled boxes are a good inventory practice.

• Select Your Preferred Moving Company

After comparing the moving companies in your area, it’s time to choose the one you prefer. You should decide on the moving company one month before your moving day so they won’t take another booking on the same date. Request a written confirmation detailing your costs, moving dates, address, and dates.

• Schedule Utility Start And Stop Dates

This is an ideal time to begin closing your current home’s utility services. Simultaneously, start scheduling the utility bills in your new home. The service providers in charge of the different contacts include the following:

• Phone, internet, and cable providers
• Home alarm system providers
• Gas and electricity gas providers
• Your kid’s schools
• Life, auto, home, and other insurance providers
• Water and sewerage treatment providers
• Credit card firms and banks
• Dental and medical service providers

Don’t forget to also fill out the USPS change-of-address form to inform the office of your upcoming move to a new residence. You can complete the change-of-address form online by going to Usps.com or visiting your local post office.

2 Weeks Before The Move

With two weeks left before your move to your new home, here are some of the things you must do:

• Start packing items you won’t need to use within the next two weeks. For instance, you can pack your towels or duvets in a well-labeled box. Don’t pack the moving essentials just yet, such as the packing tape, rolling dolly, cleaning supplies, or measuring tape.
• Contact the moving company to confirm the date of your relocation.
• Give back any borrowed items to the respective owners. This can include furniture, magazines, library books, or appliances.
• Contact your employer to time off during the day of your move.
• Dispose of any unwanted waste or items you might have in your home.
• Clear out your pantry, freezer, and refrigerator. Going forward, you should only buy the food you need, more so when it comes to perishable produce.
• Take your car for routine maintenance and inspection. You don’t want distractions such as vehicle breakdowns when moving to your new home.

1 Week Before The Move

You don’t want to inconvenience your movers or landlord. For this reason, you need to continue with your preparations one week before moving to your new home by doing the following:

• Go through your shelves and closets to confirm you’ve packed all your items, even those in hard-to-see areas.
• Pack essentials you’ll use in the first 24 hours after moving into your new home in the same box. You want to easily access these items and don’t want too much hassle when unpacking.
• Start dismantling your furniture to make it easier to load onto trucks during the moving day. You should do this, more so if you don’t want to leave the task to movers to prevent avoidable damage.
• Do a thorough cleaning of your current home now that you’ve packed most of your belongings. Remember, you don’t want to leave it in a mess to avoid conflict with the landlord. Also, if possible, clean your new home, as it’ll be easier to do so before adding your possessions.
• Pack the clothes you won’t be needing for the remaining days.
• Confirm yet again the time and date of the move with the moving company.
• Review your checklist to confirm you’ve done everything and that nothing is missing.
• Repair nail holes, scraps, marks, or scratches before leaving for your new home.

1 to 2 Days Before The Move

A few days before the move, you can do the following set of activities:

• Take photos after clearing all your items and unplugging everything. The pictures will act as insurance if anything should happen to your existing home following your move.
• Empty, clean, and defrost your freezer and refrigerator if you’ll include them in your move. Ideally, this needs to be done 24 hours before your moving day.
• Drain the water filling the hoses in your bathroom and kitchen.
• Make one last call to the moving company to confirm they remember the moving times, addresses, or other pertinent information.
• Do your laundry to avoid carrying dirty clothing to your new residence.
• Disconnect all the electrical appliances, such as the washing machine or dishwasher, that you’ll be taking with you to your new home.
• Tightly and carefully pack all the long-lasting food that still hasn’t expired. Dispose of any food that has already expired.
• Take out your old home keys from your keyring.
• Allot a cash tip for your movers, ideally $4 to $5 per hour for each of them. That said, you can tip them more if many of your items are very bulky.

Moving Day

On the big day, here are the things to prioritize:

• Have Essentials Bags

The first day after moving into your new home is usually tedious. So you’ll most likely not have time to unpack your belongings. For this reason, you need to have an essentials bag in preparation for the moving day. Here you’ll pack things you can access with ease, and these include the following:

• Medications
• 2 to 3 sets of clothing
• Computer and smartphone chargers
• Toiletries, including shampoo, toothpaste, and deodorant
• Headphones
• Credit cards
• Toys, games, and books
• Tablet and computer
• Flashlight
• Snacks and water for your pets or kids
• Crucial documents such as birth certificates, marriage certificates, and passports
• Cash
• Jewelry
• Trash bags
• Tape measure

Separate this essential bag from the rest of the moving boxes so that it’s easy to trace when needed.

• Do One Last Sweep

Before you hand over the keys to your landlord, do one final sweep across all the rooms in your home. You don’t want to forget any of your precious belongings during your move. This is why having an inventory list to refer to and confirm you’ve packed all your valuables is advisable.

• Work With Your Movers

You need to work closely with your movers as they load your belongings onto their trucks. Offering them a helping hand helps them know fragile items that need to be handled with greater care. Remember, you don’t want any of your items destroyed due to poor handling, which is avoidable.

Your presence during the moving day is also vital to ensure all your possessions are loaded onto the moving truck. And after arriving at your new home, you can better guide the movers on which rooms to take the moving boxes to.

Takeaway

The lack of a proper plan during the weeks leading to your move to a new home can cause great stress. It could be worse if you’re a first-timer. For this reason, you need a moving checklist and a clear plan to ensure everything remains organized when preparing for your shift to a new home.

A moving checklist acts as a helpful guide that helps you better plan your move. This in-depth guide has presented sets of checklists with corresponding timelines to help you plan your move. Following the tips helps the relocation process be as smooth as possible.