Moving To-Do’s

Ø      Send change of address cards to local post office, magazines, insurance companies and creditors, along with friends and family.   (The post office has free change of address cards available.)  Note that your change of address at the Post Office is normally valid for one year, however at the end of that year if you turn in a second change of address card at your OLD Post Office, your mail will often continue to be forwarded for another year.

Ø      Discontinue telephone, cable, local internet service provider, electricity, water, and gas service at your old home.  Collect any refunds and pay final bills.  Start up your utilities at your new home (it is a good idea to switch the gas to your name prior to closing, the others should be turned on in your name the day of closing).  Keep a telephone (and charger) available throughout moving day.

Ø      Contact your children’s school, your doctor and your dentist to transfer necessary records.  Where possible get copies made of the records to hand carry or mail to yourself.  School records can not always be transferred by being hand carried, in those cases, the school your children are leaving will want the address of the new school and they will mail the records to the new school.

Ø      Get prescriptions written for your new pharmacy.  (Make sure you have an adequate supply of all medications to carry with you.)

Ø      Check the requirements for your new city and state for transferring your auto & driver’s licenses and any professional licenses.  Ensure that banking, legal, and other valuable records are transferred.  (Hand carry valuable records or mail them to yourself certified mail).  Ensure that change of address notification has been given to your bank and legal counsel.

Ø      Ensure that you leave the warranties and paperwork on your old home for the new owner.  Put these items somewhere the movers won’t accidentally pack them.  Leave your change of address with your old neighbors and in the home for the new owners.  Unless you are moving locally, leave the phone books behind (if they are out, they will get packed and moved).
 

Ø      Avoid sending valuables with the movers.  Mail them to yourself or take them along with you.  On moving day, it is better to have already removed those items and taken them to a friend’s home for temporary storage.  If you are moving to a new city and don’t know anyone there or have a home there yet, you may be able to mail your items to your new office or leave the items with a trusted friend to be mailed to you once you get settled.

Ø      Contact your pets´ vet and get their records along with any necessary shots and health records required for states you may be traveling through.  On moving day, arrange to have your pets someplace else.  If they must be in the home, keep them in travel cages or in an empty room with the door shut and a large sign on the door telling everyone to stay out.

Ø      Check through your items and make sure that the small accessories for your old appliances that are staying with the house are left behind.  Items that commonly get moved include broiler trays and extra racks for the oven and butter and other specialty containers for the refrigerator.
 

Ø      If possible, get items you don’t want the movers to take out of the house before they come.  If you can’t do that, then put them in a closet or bathroom and mark the door with a large sign telling them to leave those items alone.  (Many moving companies use employees who don’t speak English, so a visual sign or caution tape (the 2-3 inch plastic “tape” that is available at the hardware store) can be invaluable).

Ø  If you are moving yourself, stop by the local grocery store and liquor stores and ask if you can have their boxes.  Produce boxes are great!  They are very sturdy and strong and often have built in handles.  Liquor boxes are designed to protect heavy breakable items and will protect your belongings very well.

Ø  Mark the boxes as they are packed with what is in them and the room at the new house that you want them to go to, not just the room they are coming out of.  Make sure to keep the items that you will need right away together, and clearly label that box so you can find it when you arrive (a telephone, basic cookware and dishes, etc).  Make sure that all of your boxes and items are listed on your moving inventory and that the condition of all items is noted on the inventory.  If possible, take pictures of your belongings (better yet, walk through your home with a video camera) to record the condition of your items prior to moving.  If you have to file a claim due to damage, it will be much easier to prove the condition before moving if you do this.

Ø   Use Zip Lock bags to keep the pieces from anything that has to be disassembled together for the move.  Use Duct tape to tape the bags to the piece of furniture that they go with.  Keep another plastic bag for all the small screws and picture hangers and other items that are found when you do the final walk through the house.  A cordless screwdriver is a great tool the day of your move, but watch that the recharger doesn’t get packed up before you are done using the screwdriver and the movers don’t accidentally take it with them!

Ø      Empty the trash cans and ashtrays prior to the move and wash them if at all possible (whether you are taking them with you or leaving them behind for the new owner).  Use disposable trash bags on the day of the move, rather than cans.

Ø      Get your children involved if they are grade school age or older.  Let them help to decide what items they will want right away at their new home.  Help them to gather the addresses of their friends so they can stay in touch.  Let them pack a tote bag of toys and books for the trip.

Ø      Arrange for someone to care for small children and pets on moving day.

Ø      Arrange for someone to bring in sandwiches and drinks for lunch on the day that you’re moving so you don’t have to stop and worry about fixing a meal.  Providing lunch or refreshments for the movers during the day can help to ensure a more pleasant move as well.  Make sure to use all disposable items and have trash bags available along with paper towels at both your old home and your new home.

Ø      Make up a “ditty bag” for your new home with items that you may need right away.  Items that should be included are light bulbs, hand soap, paper towels, toilet paper, disposable cups, and electrical extension cords.  Know where a set of sheets is for each bed that will need to be slept in the first night, along with towels, soap, shampoo and any other toiletries that you will need for the first couple of days.

Ø      Before the movers leave with your belongings, walk through the house one last time, checking all the closet shelves, the garage, the corners of the basement under the stairs and the ATTIC for any last items that may have been missed.  It is quite common for new owners to find things in the attic that the previous owners left behind, because movers don’t bring ladders to crawl up in the attic to bring down the items stored up there and the old owners forgot to bring the items down prior to the movers coming.  Make sure when you are checking the attic and the basement corners that you have a large flashlight that will illuminate all the corners so things don’t get missed.

Ø      Remember to leave the house for the new owner in the same manner that you hope to find your new home, ie clean, floors swept or vacuumed, kitchen appliances clean and the trash removed.  If you need to (and have time) hire a cleaning service to come in after you move your items out.  If you don’t have time, borrow a neighbor’s broom and vacuum for a quick touch-up.

Ø  Moving clothes?  Try laying a sheet across the bed widthwise instead laying it out from head to toe.  Then lay your clothes, still on their hangers, across the sheet with all the hangers at one side of the bed.  Fold the sheet tightly in thirds (the middle third will be under the clothes, with the other two thirds being folded over on top of the clothes), like a letter.  You should have a “tail” at each end from the section of the sheet that fell over the side of the bed.  With 2 people, pick up the envelope of clothes (one person holding each tail) and carry the clothes to the car.  Lay the envelope of clothes across the back seat of the car keeping the sheet wrapped tightly around the clothes so that they don’t shift in their “envelope”.  You can lay several envelopes of clothes on top of each other on the back seat.  When you get to your new home have 2 people carry the envelopes of clothes into the house and lay them across the bed.  Unfold the sheet and hang them up.  As long as the sheet remains wrapped tightly around them the clothes will not shift and fall and will have minimal wrinkles.

Ø  When you take apart items like stereo systems and computer systems, make a diagram or chart with explicit instructions of what cords plug into what outlets on which pieces of equipment.  If possible put pieces of tape on the different cords and indicate what they plug into.  When possible use the original boxes and packing materials that the items came in to move them.

Ø      When moving a washer or portable dishwasher, make sure to drain all the water out of the tubs and the hoses.  Stabilize the washer tub following the directions in your owner’s manual.  If you no longer have an owner’s manual, contact an appliance store or repair person or the company to ask how to do this.

Ø      Get a new dryer vent hose, it’s not worth moving the dirt in the old one with you.

Ø      Get lots of electrical extension cords.  When you arrive at your new home, plug extension cords into all the outlets and stretch them out one to either side.  Then place your furniture.  The outlets that are behind large pieces of furniture are now usable through the extension cords, and you don’t have to move the furniture to find the outlets.  The outlets that don’t need extension cords in them, can have the extension cords unplugged and returned to the store that you bought them at.  You can also do this with phone jacks and cable jacks.

Ø  Drain all outside garden hoses thoroughly and do your best to wash all dirt off of outside garden, patio and yard items prior to the move (including outside toys and bikes).  Don’t move insects and dirt if you can avoid it.

Ø  Clean yard equipment and drain fuel out of items like lawnmowers, snow blowers, camping stoves and lanterns.  Depending on how far you are moving, the fuel may be a fire hazard and you may be better off disposing of it rather than trying to move it.  Also, some movers will not move items that have a lot of io them, or have fuel in them.

Ø      If you are moving plants, try to keep them at the same temperatures that they are normally kept at.  If you have to move them in winter, cover the crowns of the plants with plastic bags to avoid exposing them to freezing weather.  In all seasons, make sure to keep heavy plastic bags around them to catch any water drips or spilled soil.  While the plastic bags will form a temporary eco-system, make sure not to leave them sitting in the sun in the summer as the plastic will intensify the heat of the sun and can damage them.

Ø  Prior to the move, you have probably been eating “strange” meals as you work at emptying your kitchen cupboards rather than moving canned and boxed food items.  If you do have items left to move, make sure to put boxed or plastic wrapped items inside canisters or plastic bags to help prevent any spills if the packaging gets torn.  If you are moving overseas, you may not be able to take some items with you, due to Customs laws for different countries, so make sure to check that before you have items boxed up.  Most spices can be moved without any problem, though it is good to put them inside plastic bags or canisters to help with potential spillage.  Pepper (all colors) and other very “spicy” spices are sometimes alerted on by drug dogs when Customs checks household goods shipments, so you may not want to ship those items.

Ø  Other items that may require special precautions are candles (they can melt in shipment leaving wax on other items),  Wicker and rattan baskets (wash them in hot soapy water, rinse and let dry, then seal them with clear spray on shellac or varnish prior to moving them (I”ve actually used old fashioned hair spray to “lacquer” my baskets!), to prevent insects eggs that might be in the wicker and rattan from hatching out mid-move.

Ø  Before you leave your old home, collect up all the spare keys that you have left with neighbors and friends and leave them for the new owner.  When you reach your new home, don’t forget to have a locksmith come in as soon as possible to re-key the door locks on your new home.  Also, re-key/code the garage door openers.

Ø      If your new home doesn’t have any window treatments, consider putting a tension rod that you can place inside the window frame and a sheet to drape over it for privacy in bedrooms until you can get proper window treatments put up.  Unless your curtains match your bedspread of furniture, consider leaving them for the new owners, so they have privacy right away.

Ø      Eat out the night before the movers come and take a little time to relax, tomorrow will be hectic enough.  The first day in your new home, eat dinner out after the movers leave and take a few minutes to relax.

Ø      Remember that there is almost nothing that I haven’t dealt with on a move before, so call me at 314-660-4803, if you run into a problem and I’ll give you suggestions on how to deal with it.