Your Six-Week Moving Plan
(downloadable)
Moving soon? Start planning at least six weeks before moving day. Use this checklist to stay organized, avoid last-minute surprises, and make moving day go more smoothly.
6 Weeks Before the Move
☐ Declutter: Set aside anything you don't plan to take with you.
☐ Donate or sell unwanted items: Schedule a garage sale, arrange a charity pickup, or make other plans for items you're leaving behind. For charitable donations, photograph items, keep an itemized list and estimated values, and save receipts for your records.
☐ Inventory valuable belongings: Photograph and describe high-value items before the movers arrive.
☐ Get moving estimates: Contact at least three reputable moving companies. Ask for an in-home or virtual estimate and verify that the mover is properly licensed and insured.
☐ Choose your mover: Get a written estimate and confirm payment methods, delivery terms, tips, wardrobe boxes, blankets, and other included services.
☐ Plan multiple stops: Tell the mover in advance if belongings will go to more than one destination, such as your new home and a storage unit.
☐ Gather packing supplies: Stock up on boxes, wardrobe and picture boxes, packing paper, tape, markers, and other supplies, or schedule professional packers.
☐ Label every box: Clearly mark the destination room on each box to make unloading easier.
☐ Review insurance: Contact your home, renters, auto, and other insurance providers about transferring or updating coverage. Keep appropriate coverage in place through the move.
☐ Check employer benefits: If you're relocating for work, ask whether your employer covers any moving expenses.
4 Weeks Before the Move
☐ Create an address-change list: Include banks, insurance companies, subscriptions, doctors, schools, and other important contacts.
☐ Change your address: Submit your mail-forwarding request and notify businesses that regularly send you mail or deliveries.
☐ Get pet records: Request veterinary records and make sure vaccinations are current.
☐ Transfer utilities: Schedule shutoff dates at your old home and start dates at your new home for electricity, gas, water, trash, and other services.
☐ Schedule internet service: Book installation early—appointments can fill up weeks in advance.
☐ Pick up dry cleaning.
☐ Return borrowed items and collect things you've loaned out.
☐ Prepare outdoor equipment: Service lawn equipment, boats, and other items being moved. Properly drain fuel and oil as required.
☐ Gather medical records and prescriptions if needed.
☐ Request school records and make plans for children if you're moving long distance.
☐ Use up frozen and refrigerated food rather than moving it.
☐ Make arrangements for houseplants: Check whether your mover will transport them or give them away/sell them if necessary.
☐ Schedule bulky-item or hazardous-waste disposal for unwanted furniture, appliances, garbage, paint, batteries, and other items that can't go in regular trash.
2 Weeks Before the Move
☐ Cancel or transfer services: Housecleaning, gardening, lawn care, and other recurring services.
☐ Arrange childcare or pet care for packing and moving days.
☐ Schedule a move-out cleaning if you're not doing it yourself.
☐ Schedule your landlord's move-out inspection if applicable.
☐ Start Packing things you won't need access to until well after your move (Girl With A Truck can help you start this phase and even do a combo downsize & pack session with you.)
1 Week Before the Move
☐ Transfer or close bank accounts if necessary.
☐ Service your vehicles if you're driving them a long distance.
☐ Document furniture condition: Photograph existing dents, scratches, and other damage and/or proof of no damage and share your inventory with the moving company.
☐ Dispose of prohibited items: Don't pack gasoline, paint, propane, aerosols, or other flammable or hazardous materials. Check your mover's list of items they won't transport.
☐ Prepare a cleaning/tool box: Keep cleaning supplies, toilet paper, hand soap, paper towels, trash bags, a hammer, screwdrivers, and other basic tools together for your final cleanup and prepared for quick access to them on move-in day.
☐ Pack your personal travel bags: Set aside everything you'll take with you rather than putting it on the moving truck. Include towels and other toiletries you'll need for showering at the new house.
☐ Continue Packing: Don't wait for a day or two before the move. If you're not hiring professional packers to come the day before the move to pack everything, at least half of the house and garage should be packed by now.
☐ Review your entire moving checklist and add any personal tasks you've overlooked.
Moving Day
Before the Truck Leaves
☐ Be available for the movers: Plan to spend several hours at the old home to answer questions and oversee loading.
☐ Set out drinks and snacks for the moving crew.
☐ Point out fragile and valuable items that require special handling.
☐ Do a final walkthrough: Check every room, closet, cabinet, the garage, storage area, and behind every door for anything left behind.
☐ Confirm the destination address on the mover's paperwork.
☐ Exchange phone numbers with the driver so you can communicate during the move.
☐ Get emergency contact information for the moving company and anyone overseeing your shipment.
☐ Secure the old home: Lock doors and windows and notify the appropriate person that the house is empty.
At Your New Home
☐ Stay with the moving truck if you're moving locally, and walk through the home with the movers before unloading begins so they know what rooms are where.
☐ Set up a guest bathroom with hand soap, toilet paper. paper towels, and a trash bag for the movers.
☐ Direct boxes and furniture to the correct rooms as they're unloaded.
☐ Check the truck before it leaves: Make sure all boxes, furniture, and plants have been unloaded and placed in the correct locations.
☐ Do one final walkthrough to confirm everything is accounted for. This is your final chance to ask the movers to make any last-minute box placement or furniture re-arrangments.
One Last Tip
Don't rely on a generic moving checklist alone. Add a final section for tasks specific to your household, your destination, your pets, your work, and anything else that doesn't apply to every move.
Isabella Guajardo, founder and Principal Professional Organizer of the Bella/Girl With A Truck™ team, offers home organizing and move management services in Oakland, San Francisco, and throughout the Greater San Francisco Bay Area since 2007.