This document provides a comprehensive checklist for preparing for and executing a home move. It recommends decluttering the current home, organizing important documents, inventorying furniture, collecting packing supplies, measuring large items, getting estimates from movers, setting up utilities at the new home, packing room-by-room, notifying services of the address change, cleaning the old home, and doing walkthroughs with movers to ensure all items are properly loaded and unloaded.

1. Get yourself on the move

2. Prepare for the big
move.
 Clean out any unnecessary clutter.
 Clear a space in your home in which you can work on
downsizing tasks, packing, etc.
 Clean out unneeded items from filing cabinets, paper
file boxes, etc.
 Put legal documents and other important papers where
you can easily find them.
 Shred important papers that you no longer need.
 Make inventory of furniture you are hoping to move.
List items room by room.
 Go through storage spaces such as attic, basement,
closets, garage, and get rid of as many unwanted items
as you can now. This saves space and will save you
money on your move.
 Collect packing material: boxes, paper, tape, labels,
bags, and totes.
 Sort through memorabilia. Store these items in plastic
bins to protect against mildew.

3.  Make a list of affixed items (such as light fixtures) which
you plan to take with you.
 Look at your old home as to how a potential buyer
might view it.
 Call 3 reputable movers and set up estimates.
 Obtain a floor plan of your new home. Note locations
of phone and cable outlets.
 Measure your large items and write their
measurements down.
 Using graph paper make sure all your items will fit in
the rooms you have designated for them. Remember
to let your creative side out.
 Start cleaning out and sorting things into categories of
what is definitely going, what is definitely not going
with you, and undecided.
 Begin sorting and packing items that you will not need
until after the move.

4.  After your three estimates. Decide on a mover. Don’t
just go with the cheapest mover or most expensive,
thinking they will be better. Use your gut intuition and do
a background check through the BBB or Angie’s List.
 Talk to your mover about Mover’s Liability. Ask them
how it works and also contact your insurance company
and ask them about coverage during the move.
 Make arrangements with a storage facility for items you
want to keep, but don’t have space for at your new
location.
 If you are capable, try setting up necessities at your new
place before moving day if possible.
 Pack on a room-by-room basis.
 Send draperies and rugs to cleaners. Arrange for couches
to be cleaned.
 Make arrangements to have any furniture that needs to
be repaired picked up from old location and delivered to
the new location once it is fixed.
 Make plans for proper care of your pets and plants.
 Decided where you will be staying during your move. For
some people staying in a hotel room is less stressful.

5. Packing
 Plan to have a friend help you pack. It’s too much to do
it all by yourself.
 Call your movers and confirm the moving date.
 Label each box according to destination.
 Pack small 1.5 cu.ft. boxes with books and small heavy
objects.
 Pack heavier items on the bottom and lighter objects
on top. Make sure to fill in those spaces with crumpled
newsprint, towels, or linens.
 Wrap all dishes and breakables separately with clean
newsprint or towels. Dishes should be packed standing
on end, not flat. Use plenty of padding between items.
 Ask your movers to bring out some wardrobe boxes on
the day of your move for hanging clothes from the
closet.
 Keep a box open for items to be loaded on truck last
and taken off truck first.

6.  Call to switch over your phone, cable, electricity, water,
etc.
 Fill out a change of address form from the post office.
 Send moving notifications to charge accounts, credit
card companies, social security office, as well as friends
and family and any other places you should notify like
magazine subscriptions.
 Make appropriate banking changes. If your bank does
not operate in the area you are moving to, make sure to
switch banks. Make sure you leave enough money in
the old account to allow outstanding checks to clear.
 Call ahead to see what forms of payment is accepted by
the moving company. Be prepared to pay at the end of
the moving day.
 Arrange for final clean-up of your old location. Spackle
holes in walls from where picture hooks have been
removed, etc.

7. It’s the day you’ve
been waiting for!
 Read over the movers Bill of Lading and fill out the
appropriate Liability option.
 Make sure you do a walk through with your mover so
they know what they should or shouldn’t take.
 Hide all valuables such as your purse, wallet and jewelry
in the car.
 Do not leave them alone. They may accidently take an
item or leave behind an item that was or was not
supposed to be moved.
 After loading is completed, take a walk-through of your
old location and make sure everything you wanted to
take is on the truck. And everything that was not
supposed to be on truck is still in house.
 Make sure movers have a phone number where they
can reach you and the correct destination address.
 After the movers unload at the new location, make sure
to do a walk through so that all your items are put in
the correct spot. And that the driver sweeps out the
back of the truck just in-case something small got
loose.