Moving Checklist to Help Make Your Move Easy Breezy

Everyone moves for a reason. One of these situations may be familiar to you:

• relocation for a change of job
• moving into a children friendly neighbourhood
• downsizing into a smaller home

We know moving is not an easy task, and doing it with a plan in mind will make the transition easier on you and your loved ones. You can plan an organized move with some help from this simple moving checklist.

The first step in everything is to prepare. Moving is stressful and preparing can help relieve some of the stress associated with your move. Take a step back and plan your move strategically. Before packing:

• plan how you will pack things in a way that makes sense
• come up with a list of tasks you will need to do including how your move will happen.
• Ask yourself the question: will you be hiring a moving company or will you be moving on your own?

For information on recommended moving companies in the GTA check out this blog post. 

If you have a lot of stuff, have a garage sale or donate. Possessions that pile up are things you no longer use or even have a need for. You want to clear these items because you do not want to take them with you on your move as it will just take up unnecessary space. When you are holding your garage sale, make sure that everything is labeled with a price to avoid situations where you are constantly asked “how much does this cost?” This will also give people an idea of what to expect when they approach you. Alternatively you can look into donating to a charity if you do not want to hold a garage sale or have items you are unable to sell. Before donating, ensure that the items are still in good condition and that they acceptable items. It will help someone in need, avoid putting waste into the landfill and change a life. For information on recommended charities and nonprofits to donate your old stuff to in the GTA check out this blog post.

It is important to communicate and report your change of address prior to your move. Some important people and services you may want notify include:

• bank
• service providers
• friends and family

A lot of banks and service providers use mail as their main form of communication and not notifying them of your address change can lead to future problems. Do not forget to notify friends and family of your move. You can easily notify them through text or email with your new address and phone number.

Once all the preparation work is done, it is time to find the right supplies. If you hired a moving company, you can see if they provide clients with moving boxes and obtain boxes from them instead of buying new ones. Also consider approaching businesses to see if they have extra recycled boxes. If you are moving by yourself, you will need a truck, furniture dolly, and lots of boxes and labels. Use your resources and ask family and friends if they have supplies you need. As well, use your larger pieces of furniture as a guideline when choosing the appropriate truck size to rent.

When you are moving, there will be lots of things to do so it will be nice to have some extra hands to help out. Ask family and friends to support you with your moving tasks and treat them to a meal for lending their time and energy. Moving will be much easier and quicker with more hands on deck.

Prior to packing, you want to sort and organize your stuff for an easy move-in. Sort your items by room to make it easier for unpacking when you arrive at your new home. There are some apps that are great for moving which allows you to record what exactly is in each box so you will not lose or misplace anything. Have a binder to store all important records and moving information. This will be your go to resource when you are lost. It should contain receipts, moving confirmation, floor plan, etc., related to your move.

After sorting and organizing your stuff, packing should become a lot easier. You can use towels, bed sheets, pillows and to protect fragile items. Many think that large boxes are for heavy items but that is wrong. Light stuff should go in the larger boxes and heavier stuff in smaller boxes. This ensures that they are easier to carry.

Labeling your boxes makes your move simpler as you can easily identify what room it should go in and possibly what items are in the box. With the help of a moving app, you will be able to locate that iPad charger in no time! Moving apps to help with your move:

• Moving planner: your essential “checklist” for your move
• Moving day: track contents in boxes easily with bar codes (free iPhone App)
• Move advisor: customize to your home inventory and moving timeline

Before moving in, you will want to make sure that it is clean. Hire a cleaning service to do a deep cleaning and dusting to ensure that all dirt and grime is rid of. If there are any home improvements or repairs needed, try to get it done before moving in. It will make it easier for you to arrange for the fixes to happen before your furniture is in place.

This is it! All that you have prepared for should make this move a breeze for you. If you have followed the steps above correctly, unloading should be easy. Just carry each box to the room it belongs to and drop it off. You can worry about unpacking later, once everything is placed in your new home.

Now that you have gone through this moving checklist, moving is not as hard as you think it is. Let us help you make your move simpler!