If you are relocating, you have a lot to think about and a lot to accomplish. Use this handy moving checklist to help you avoid forgetting any of the following 10 things.
1. Return Borrowed Items and Retrieve Ones That Belong to You
If you are like many people, you’ve loaned out a few tools or dishes or borrowed a couple of items from neighbors. Try and return these things or retrieve your items before you move. Do so the week before you move, so you have plenty of time.
2. Contact the Local Government
Depending on which state you live in, you might need to get a permit to park a moving van or pod on the street outside of your new home. If you have a driveway that you can use, then a permit isn’t necessary.
3. Change Your Address
Unless you want your mail being delivered at your old address, put in for a change of address with the United States Postal Service (USPS) at least two weeks before your move.
4. Obtain Medical and Dental Records
Unless you plan to continue using the same medical and dental providers, ask for copies of your records so that you can take them with you.
5. Obtain School Records
If your child is going to a new school, you might want to get copies from the old one. While it is possible to send some of these records electronically, it is often easier to do so the old-fashioned way.
6. Handling Insurance
Mortgage companies require homeowners to obtain insurance on their properties when they purchase them and take out a loan. Make sure that you not only have insurance on your new home, but that you cancel your old homeowner’s insurance as well. You should also check your coverage to see if it protects your possessions while they are in transport.
7. Contact Your Utilities and Service Companies
Unless you want to receive a bill for services that you aren’t using, contact all of the services (cable or satellite TV, Internet, and home phone) and utility companies (gas, electric, and water) and provide them with your last day of service. Don’t forget to contact the newspaper delivery person, trash service, and any other service (pool, lawn, or landscaping) that you receive.
8. Clean Up
Unless you leave your old home in the condition it was in when you sold it, your risk the sale. Make sure that you clean up!
9. Check the House One Final Time
Since you aren’t the only one taking belongings from your home to a pod, car, van, or moving truck, it is easy to leave something behind. Take a final sweep around your home to make sure that you have everything. Be sure to look in the attic, garage, and crawlspace.
10. Pay the Movers
Although some movers require payment in full up front, just as many are willing to take a percentage before the job and the remaining balance once it is completed. If your movers have done an exceptional job, tipping them is a nice gesture that shoes your appreciation for all of their hard work.