Moving House Checklist
The first thing to do when you are moving home, whether you are moving house or moving apartment is buy a notebook or folder which you can keep lists of all the things you need to do and all of your receipts and business cards from the people who help you. This will be invaluable to have it to hand whenever you need to check something.
Make your first list – there will be many!
- Decide upon a removal van or a skip for all your recycling and rubbish. Go from room to room and the general rule is, if you haven’t used it for a year, throw it out. However, there will be lots of things in your home which are still good and have plenty of wear left in them. These are the items that you can sell or donate to charity shops. There are lots of websites where you can sell your secondhand pre-loved items and sites where you can advertise your unsold furniture on. If it’s good enough, people will come and collect it, saving you recycling charges.
- Notify your utility companies of your moving date and new address. Some TV or Broadband companies can take a month to cancel subscriptions so make sure you do this in plenty of time.
- If you have a piano you may need a specialist piano removals company. Ensure the van for moving has the required height for your piano move.
- Book your moving van. Will you need two people to lift the furniture or will you have someone to help the driver? Enquire if they can provide moving boxes and packaging materials? Some man and van companies will rent reusable boxes or sell cardboard ones. Make an itemized list of all your large belongings and how many moving boxes you will have for the van driver so he can give you an informed price. Think about including photos so the removal van driver knows what size your larger furniture is.
- Try and arrange to get the keys for your new house on any day but Friday. Most banks and solicitors seem to close early and knock off for the weekends early on Fridays and you could be left homeless for the weekend.
- Will you need temporary storage for any of your goods? There is a huge range of companies to choose from but the best one for you would be one that is close to your new home and accessible at convenient times.
- Phone your house insurance company. Ask if your contents are still insured during the move and inform them of your new address and circumstances.
- Check the weather for moving day and prepare accordingly. Have some rain ponchos and hot drinks available if the weather forecast is bad and if it’s good, have plenty of cold drinks at the ready. If it’s raining, make sure you will have plenty of cleared space to maneuver your large furniture inside the front door so it’s not getting soaked outside.
- Buy plenty of cleaning products for your old home and your new one. You don’t want to lose your deposit from rented accommodation for the sake of a few hours cleaning. You will probably want to clean your new home anyway before you put your belongings in situ.
- Buy markers, stickers, extra boxes for moving, and packing tape so you can categorize which room your belongings will be going into your new house. You may want bubble wrap or newspapers for some delicate items. Make sure to mark them fragile.
- Prepare a box with the kettle, mugs, tea, coffee, snacks, milk, and sugar. Don’t forget toilet paper, soap and a hand towel in here too.
Check the light fittings in your new house, if they are bayonet or screw in. Buy lightbulbs for them as you wouldn’t believe how many people take their lightbulbs with them when moving.
