Moving Checklist (45 Days, 23 Steps)
Everything to do before, during and after a move, in the order the dates force, from six weeks out to the day you get the keys.
Moving fails on the things nobody scheduled — the internet transfer, the final walkthrough, the box you cannot find on the first night. This checklist puts the 23 tasks in the order their deadlines impose, with what each one actually requires.
- D-45
1.Inventory
Walk every room and note what is going, room by room. This number is what movers quote on, and an estimate made from memory is always too low.
- D-40
2.Sort / donate / sell
Anything you have not used in a year does not deserve a box. Selling takes three weeks to actually happen, which is why this sits at six weeks out.
- D-35
3.Mover quotes
Get three quotes, all based on the same inventory. Ask what insurance covers and what counts as difficult access — stairs and narrow streets are where the surcharges live.
- D-30
4.Book truck
Book the date once the quotes are in. End of month and end of quarter are the expensive, crowded slots; a mid-month weekday is cheaper and calmer.
- D-21
5.Transfer Internet
Order the new line three weeks out — activation, not shipping, is the slow part, and a technician visit can add another two weeks.
- D-21
6.Transfer electricity / gas
Set the closing meter reading at the old address and the opening one at the new. Do both in the same call so the dates cannot drift apart.
- D-21
7.Bank & insurance
Update your address with the bank, and get home insurance for the new place effective the day you get the keys, not the day you move in.
- D-21
8.Mail forwarding
Start forwarding from the day after the move, for six months. Two weeks of lead time is what the postal service needs.
- D-14
9.Notify employer / school
Give HR and the school the new address in writing. School transfers have their own deadlines, often earlier than you expect.
- D-14
10.Boxes & packing materials
Count on one medium box per square metre of home, plus tape, bubble wrap and a marker. Running out mid-pack costs an evening.
- D-14
11.Pack non-essentials
Start with books, out-of-season clothes and anything decorative. If packing it now would make the next two weeks harder, it is not a non-essential.
- D-7
12.Label boxes
Write the destination room and the contents on two sides, never the top — stacked boxes hide their own labels.
- D-3
13.First day kit
One box that travels with you: chargers, medication, toiletries, a change of clothes, bedding, and the tools to reassemble a bed.
- D-2
14.Empty fridge
Stop buying fresh food a week out and run the freezer down. Defrost 24 hours before the move so it is dry when it is loaded.
- D-1
15.Final walkthrough (old)
Photograph every room after it is empty, meters included. This is the evidence for your deposit, and it only exists if you take it.
- D-0
16.Check truck
Inspect the truck before loading and photograph any existing damage. Confirm the fuel policy and the return time.
- D-0
17.Loading
Heavy and flat items first, along the walls, fragile on top. Load the first-day kit last so it comes off first.
- D-0
18.Clean old place
Clean after the truck leaves, not before. Ovens and limescale are what deposits get withheld over.
- D-0
19.Return keys
Hand over every key and remote, and get a signed receipt. Verbal handovers become disputes.
- D-0
20.Walkthrough (new)
Photograph the new place before a single box comes in, and read both meters. Note every existing mark in writing.
- D-0
21.Get new keys
Count the keys against what the lease or deed lists, and test each one. Missing keys are a landlord conversation, not a locksmith one.
- D-0
22.Unloading
Direct boxes to their labelled rooms as they come off. Sorting them later takes three times as long.
- D-1
23.Check Internet
Test the line the day after activation, while the appointment can still be rescheduled inside the guarantee window.
What changes with the type of move
Studio or one bedroom. Steps 3, 4 and 16 often collapse into a rented van and two friends. Keep steps 5 to 9 exactly as they are — administrative deadlines do not scale with square metres.
Family home. Steps 10 to 12 stop being one weekend. Start packing four weeks out, one room per weekend, and treat the kitchen as its own project.
Cross-border. Add customs paperwork and a full inventory in the local language before step 3, and expect step 5 to take six weeks rather than three.
The two steps that cost money when skipped
Step 15, the final walkthrough. Deposits are withheld on the basis of photographs. If you do not have yours, the only ones that exist are the landlord’s.
Step 5, the internet transfer. Three weeks is the honest lead time. Ordering at two weeks means working from a phone hotspot, and the appointment slots do not open up because you asked nicely.
DraftLine turns this into a dated plan from your moving day, so the utility transfers land before the truck does.
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