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Moving checklist, week by week

48 things to do before, on and after moving day. Fewer than eight weeks? Start at the top anyway and run the early phases together. boxlister.app

* marks a task where someone else has to act: a landlord, a mover, a utility, a school, an office. Those are the ones a late start costs you, because no amount of working harder gets the time back.

8 weeks out

Nothing here is urgent yet, which is exactly why it gets skipped. This phase is about pinning down the date and finding out what the move is going to cost you.

  • Confirm the moving date in writing with your landlord, agent or settlement contact *
  • Get quotes from removalists, or price a truck hire if you are moving yourself *
  • Check what your contents insurance covers in transit, and whether the mover’s cover is separate *
  • Start one folder for quotes, contracts, receipts and reference numbers, and keep it out of the packing
  • Measure doorways, stairwells and the lift at the new place against your largest furniture
  • Decide what is not coming. Everything you keep costs a box, a lift and floor space at the other end

6 weeks out

Booking phase. Removalist availability and price both get worse from here, and anything you plan to sell needs time to actually sell.

  • Book the removalist or the truck, and get the confirmation in writing *
  • Book specialist moves separately: piano, safe, pool table, aquarium, gun cabinet *
  • List what you are selling or donating, and arrange collection for the bulky items *
  • If you rent, re-read the notice clause and put the notice date in your calendar *
  • Order packing supplies, or start collecting free boxes
  • Begin packing the rooms you barely use: storage, garage, spare room, out-of-season clothes

4 weeks out

The admin phase, and the one that punishes a late start hardest. Almost every task here sits in someone else’s queue.

  • Give notice on the current place if you have not already *
  • Book end-of-lease or pre-settlement cleaning, plus carpet cleaning if your agreement asks for it *
  • Arrange disconnection at the old address and connection at the new one for every utility *
  • Arrange internet at the new address. It is routinely the longest lead time of the lot *
  • Set up mail redirection to start on the moving date *
  • Transfer or register school and childcare enrolments *
  • Request medical, dental and vet records, or register with new practices *
  • Update your address on licence, electoral roll and vehicle registration *
  • Pack in earnest, room by room, and number every box as you close it

2 weeks out

Confirmation phase. Everything you booked a month ago needs checking, and the house starts running down rather than restocking.

  • Confirm the removalist, the arrival window and how they expect to be paid *
  • Tell your bank, insurer, pension or super fund, and employer payroll *
  • Update the address on subscriptions and anything that arrives on a schedule *
  • Book parking, loading zones or lift access at both ends for the truck *
  • Arrange collection of anything not coming with you: gas bottles, garden waste, hard rubbish *
  • Arrange somewhere else for pets and small children to be on the day
  • Start running down the freezer and the pantry. Frozen food does not travel

1 week out

Last week. From here, the job is separating what goes on the truck from what absolutely does not.

  • Confirm final meter readings and the disconnection dates *
  • Confirm who hands over the keys, when, and to whom *
  • Pack a first-night box and label it clearly so it is loaded last and comes off first
  • Set aside what must not go on the truck: passports, medication, jewellery, keys, chargers, devices
  • Defrost the fridge and freezer at least a day out, and leave time for them to drain
  • Disassemble what you can, and bag the fittings to the item they came off
  • Photograph each room as you empty it, in case there is a dispute later

Moving day

One job today: nothing leaves that should stay, and nothing stays that should leave.

  • Walk the driver through the house before loading and point out the fragile and the not-going
  • Keep the first-night box and the valuables bag with you, not on the truck
  • Photograph the meters at the old address before you hand back the keys
  • Check every cupboard, the roof space, the shed, the letterbox and behind every door
  • Do the final clean, or let the cleaners in *
  • Read the meters at the new address as soon as you get there
  • Send each box to its room as it comes off, instead of stacking everything by the front door

First week in

The phase everyone forgets to plan. Two of these have deadlines attached and the rest decide how the next month feels.

  • Check the boxes off against your list and report anything missing or damaged before the insurer’s window shuts *
  • Register with a local doctor, and chase any address change that did not stick *
  • Make the beds first, before you are too tired to
  • Find the stopcock, the fuse box, the hot water system and the meter
  • Test the smoke alarms and change the locks
  • Flatten the boxes and pass them on, or recycle them
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This list stops at the front door of each room. For what actually goes in the boxes, and in what order, there is a room-by-room packing checklist with its own printable, and a box calculator for how many boxes to order.

Ticking paper works. If you would rather the list searched itself later, BoxLister is free for five boxes.