The Ultimate Moving Checklist for Families

This article is the last part in a series about moving:
Part 1 | 14 Tips for Finding the Best Neighborhood
Part 2 | How to Find a Quality House to Rent
Part 3 | Find a Low-Cost Mover without Getting Scammed

Who can remember everything that needs to be done to relocate your entire life? Based on the experience of moving ten times in the past 20 years, here are my best tips for keeping it together amidst the chaos.

Set Up Childcare, Schools, Summer Camps, Swim Lessons

Since there are often deadlines associated with schools and camps, you’ll want to figure out childcare as soon as you know where you are going.

If you don’t know the area, the best way to start gathering information is by asking locals, like real estate agents, friends of friends, or online parenting groups.

While public schools usually have to take you as long as you live within the boundaries, you can start organizing registration paperwork, such as proof of residence and health forms. You might also need to arrange for your child’s current school records to be transferred to the new school district.

Grand Central:  Your Moving Folder

Keep everything related to the move in one file.  I love those two-pocket school folders.  You can slip things in when you’re a in rush, or place them in the pockets when you have more time.  Staple on business cards, jot down important numbers, and stuff in brochures.

Keep a digital folder of move-related files on your computer and in your email program.

Organize Your Furniture Needs with a Floor Plan

Identifying furniture gaps and surpluses ahead of time can help you channel some of that moving-anxiety steam, as well as lighten your load on the other end.

If you can’t find an official floor plan of your new place (often available online if you are moving into an apartment building), take photos and measurements of all the rooms, including windows and ceiling heights, and draw up your own blueprint.

You may find this totally obsessive-compulsive, but when we moved to New York, I had the apartment’s floor plan blown up as large as possible at an office supply store.  After gluing it to foam board, I measured all the furniture in our house and made cut-outs with colored paper.   The furniture cut-outs were of course in scale with my floor plan (for example, 1 foot real life = 3/4 inch floor plan).

My mother (who suggested this kind of pre-planning) and I had fun moving stuff around without breaking a sweat.  Before we even set foot in the apartment, we were able to figure out:

1. What I could take
2. What I had to give away or sell
3. What I needed to buy and the approximate size
4. Where to tell the movers to put stuff on moving-in day

Knowing we would have no car for picking up new or donating old furniture, this kind of anal planning prevented a lot of headaches (and backaches).

While I found good old-fashioned pen and paper was easier, there are all sorts of free floor plan software out there.  Try Apartment Therapy’s recommendations or Better Homes and Garden’s Arrange-a-Room.  Here is the floor plan I created for our Syracuse rental house, with advice from How to Draw a Floor Plan to Scale.

Purge, Purge, Purge

Now is the perfect time to go through your stuff and ask those often excruciating questions:  do I really need this?

I was especially motivated when we moved to an apartment in New York City, but I did go through every room and closet in our house and mercilessly donated, sold on Craigslist, freecycled and chucked.

Moving provides a great incentive to clean house and, even if you’ll be going to a place with more space, streamlining is great for a fresh start.

Try to pare down first, as a separate process from packing boxes. You’ll be able to find better homes for your stuff if you are not rushed with the stress of boxes piling up everywhere.

Once all these difficult decisions are made and extraneous stuff is farmed out, packing will be faster and easier.

Open a New Bank Account

With so many bills being paid online these days, getting all your financial transactions transferred to a new location can be quite a task.  Doing this ahead of time can prevent things from slipping through the cracks in the heat of the move.

Plus, if you are signing up for direct paycheck deposit at your new job, you’ll need a check from your new account to get it set up.

1. Find a new bank. Since we don’t know how long we are staying in Syracuse, and I didn’t feel like doing this again anytime soon, I decided to go with an online bank:  USAA Federal Savings.  (If you or one of your parents served in the armed forces, this banking and insurance company gives excellent rates and customer service.)
2. Open an account with a minimum starting balance to get the ball rolling and your checks ordered.
3. Transfer extra cash until paychecks are deposited into the new account.
4. Go through past bank statements to remind you who is getting automatically paid from the old account.
5. Once you have a chunk of change in the new account, start moving your auto withdrawals to the new bank account by informing each creditor of your new bank information.  Usually this can be done online.

Find New Doctors and Have Records Transferred

To find a new pediatrician or OB-GYN, use your mom networks and local contacts together with health insurance rosters.

About a month before moving, have your records sent to the new providers.  Usually this requires filling out and signing a simple release form or, if you have to do it long-distance, sending a letter.

If anyone in the family is taking medicine, you might want to take a moment to refill any prescriptions now until you get your bearings in the new place.

Change your Address with the Postal Service

The Official Change of Address form is now online, or you can pick up a form and mover’s guide at the post office.

Order New Address Labels

Get these ahead of time to tell friends and businesses of your new address.  For the cheapest label that will do the job, try a sheet of 100 for $1 at Superior Labels.

Notify Businesses of Your New Address

This used to be one of the most tedious tasks, but now most businesses have a way for you to change your address online.  However, it can be hard to remember all the various companies you deal with.  Here is a list to help jog your memory:

• Newspapers, magazines
• Banks, investment firms, credit cards
• Old job, old school
• Frequent flyer programs
• Insurance (life, health, car)
• Doctor’s offices (especially if bills might be pending)
• Charities you support
• IRS (print out a form online)

Set Up Newspaper Delivery and Cable (or Not)

Depending on your preferences, you might not want a gap in service of newspaper delivery or cable.  Since we are practically a no-TV household, we don’t sign up for cable ahead of time (but I do make sure a paper is delivered that first morning).

For basic TV needs, we can usually get some kind of reception without paying for cable, and that works out just fine for us.

Register to Vote and Establish Residency

Sometimes to enroll in a school or to take advantage of other public services, you need a few documents to prove you really live there.

A voter registration card is usually among the accepted forms of proof of residency.  Check with your state’s Board of Elections for procedures by searching online for your state and the words “voter registration.”

Deal with the Department of Motor Vehicles

I know it’s painful, but if you can get anything done ahead of time, it’s gotta beat standing in line.

Find out what you need to do to register your car in the new state, county or city.  Some DMVs even offer a new resident ready pack.

Set Up New Utilities (and Cancel Old)

Once you know your moving dates, tell your old utility companies when you’ll be leaving and start setting up service in your new place.  If you can and want to stay with the same company, some national companies (like Verizon) can make the transfer pretty seamless.

Think about:

• Electricity
• Gas
• Phone (Land and Cell)
• Cable
• Internet
• Water

Use What You Have

Several months before the move, you can start going on a shopping diet, which will help your wallet as well as your peace of mind.  If you’re like me, you have stockpiled a lot of personal care products, household staples and pantry items.

Now is the perfect time to figure out how to use that can of black-eyed peas, that lotion your mother-in-law gave you, or the tubes of strawberry toothpaste you bought on sale.

Find out your mover’s policy on plants, food and cleaning products. If you can’t use up all your food and laundry detergent, make arrangements to donate them to a friend who can.

If You Are Packing Your Own Boxes

Pack first the things you use the least, such as knick-knacks, paintings, books, and out-of-season clothing.  As the time gets closer, work up to the most used things.

Label boxes with a number (on every side of the box) and the room they will be going into.

Keep a running list of the box numbers and contents. That way if you need a certain item, you know which box to look for, instead of having to read over the contents of every box.  Plus, it will help you to make sure nothing is missing (and if so, to know what went missing).

To make things quick for you and the movers, consider color coding each box according to the room it will go to, with paint, markers or colored dot stickers.

Create a Last-On, First-Off Box

There are some essentials that you’ll either want to bring with you in the car or have the movers load last and unload first.

In Simplifying the Big Move, Martha Stewart recommends these day-to-day essentials:

• bedding
• towels
• toiletries, including soap
• toilet paper
• basic tools
• cleaning supplies
• medications
• a camera (to document anything broken in transit)
• snacks
• a few dishes and utensils, and
• a coffeepot — plus coffee and mugs

Simple Mom also has a detailed list of essentials for Day 1 of moving, which reminded me of:

• curtains for the kids room (if you have light sleepers), and
• lightbulbs

I would also add:

• your moving folder
• cell phone charger and/or a phone you can hook up the first day
• checkbook
• favorite toys and storybooks
• paper towels
• garbage bags, and
• a shower liner and rings

If Movers are Packing Your Stuff

Admittedly not the most frugal option but — since moving always seems to coincide with having a baby –we have done it before and I have to tell you, it was some of the best money I’ve ever spent.

The first time we tried it, from Italy to Cincinnati, they only charged us $200.  I couldn’t sign fast enough!  For this move, when I’ll be almost 9 months pregnant, we’ll have to pay about $1000 for packing, one fifth of our total move cost.  Plus the movers will disassemble and reassemble all of our fine Swedish furniture.

I rarely pay someone to do things I can do myself, but sometimes in life, it’s just worth it.  If I’ve culled through all my stuff ahead of time, it doesn’t bother me that someone else is throwing it all in boxes.

If you go with this option, make sure you agree on a no-pack zone — like the bathtub — where you put anything you want with you, not on the moving truck.  This could comprise suitcases packed with your overnight essentials, diversions for the car trip, your first-out-last-in box, pet supplies, and your move folder.

Don’t be shy to inform the movers of anything else, like a crib or a box of toys, that should also be loaded last, and unloaded first.

Reconfirm Movers and Prepare Contact Info and Payment

When you reconfirm your move date, make sure the movers have ALL your details:  old and new addresses and more than one contact phone number.

If a cashier’s check or money order is required for payment, get that ready, plus cash for tips.  (Ten percent of the total fee is considered standard.)  Make sure your checkbook is among the items that don’t get packed.

Pick up some Gatorade for moving day:  we were amazed at how much the movers will happily guzzle down!

Arrange for a Move-Out and Move-In Clean

Here is another instance of a luxury you might want to treat yourself with during a crazy time.

Seriously consider hiring a cleaning service to clean your old house when you leave and your new house before you get there.  Even if you are not doing any heavy lifting, moving is incredibly draining.  Remember it’s up there in the top 10 most stressful events in life!

Even if you are a clean freak, you’d be shocked at how much guck and dust accumulates under and behind things in your own house.

Ditto for the other end.  If time and energy are tight, consider paying for a move-in clean.

Arrange Travel and Accommodations

Where to stay the night when everything you own is locked in a truck?  If you don’t have a comfortable friend’s house to stay in, think about splurging on a motel.

We thought we’d camp out in sleeping bags in our house the night after the movers left, but that was before we saw what our house would look like.  To quote my husband:  ”Empty, dirty and full of flies.”

What would you include on your family’s moving checklist?

This article is the last part in a series about moving:
Part 1 | 14 Tips for Finding the Best Neighborhood
Part 2 | How to Find a Quality House to Rent
Part 3 | Find a Low-Cost Mover without Getting Scammed

Photo credits: keys, moving van, numbered boxes, motel, crayons, newspaper.

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1. Find a Low-Cost Mover without Getting Scammed
2. 14 Tips for Finding the Best Neighborhood
3. How to Find a Quality House to Rent
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5. 15 Ways to Save Money and Be Green

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