Moving Planning Checklist

Four Weeks Before the Move

• If choosing to hire a moving company, call Student Movers Inc to get your move scheduled. 
• Walk through your house and decide which things you can get rid of, give to charity, or sell.
• Call your doctor or dentist to see if they have a recommendation for a new physician in your area.
• Set up transfer of school records to new school your children will attend.
• Check your homeowner's insurance to see if it covers moving.
• Make sure your new home is safe by transferring your insurance for fire, theft, and other things.
  

Three Weeks Before the Move

• Plan to eat most of the food before moving to avoid waste.
• Check and clear tax assessments.
• Set up service for your big appliances before you move.
• No aerosols, flammables, corrosives, or ammunition can be moved by movers. It's best to use them up or give them away before you move. Both propane tanks and fuel tanks for lawnmowers need to be drained.
  

Two Weeks Before the Move

• Make any travel arrangements.
• Tell the Post Office and ask for a form to change your address. 
• Close or move all of your credit cards.
• Bring back the books and other things you checked out from the library. 
• Collect things you've lent out and things you've put on hold, in cold storage, etc.
• Make plans to stop getting utilities and packages.
• Get rid of cleaning fluids, acids, caustic drain cleaners, etc. so they don't get in the way of your shipment.
  

One Week Before the Move

• Change your bank accounts and ask the credit bureau in your old city to send your records to your new city.
• Check on your travel plans.
• Set up for the cable TV to be cut off.
• Set up how the utilities will be hooked up in a new home. Make a floor plan of your new home and show where the furniture will go. It makes it twice as easy to move in.
• Before the goods are unloaded, make sure you have cash, a certified check, or a money order ready to pay the driver, unless your employer is paying, or you've made plans to pay by credit card.
• Maps, games, snacks, flashlights, and other things you'll need in your car should be set aside.
• Get your medicine and important papers together before you get in the car.
• Start to pack your bags.
• You can drain the gas out of a lawnmower.
  

The Day Before the Move

• Find out the agent's name, address, and phone number.
• Put cleaning supplies, toiletries, and a coffee pot in a special box that will be loaded last and unloaded first.
• Finish putting everything in your bags.
• Defrost the fridge, clean it, and dry it.
  

The Day of the Move

• Be there all day to answer questions, help the driver with inventory, sign the bill of lading, and confirm your new address and delivery date. Make sure to tell him where you'll be staying and what your phone number is, if you know it.
• Check every room and place you store things one last time. Make sure all the windows and doors are locked, the keys are passed on, and the lights are turned off.