Moving to a new home? We know how stressful of an experience that can be so we’re here to guide you through it. And, at c2s right now, we’ve got two team members moving into new spots – Kayla and Haley!
Kayla just sold her first home after a few years of renovating small spaces in it, and is ready for a bigger fixer upper. You know she’ll be documenting that journey here on c2s.
Haley recently got engaged and is starting this new phase of life with her fiancé Cooper, and they are getting ready to move in together into an apartment after the wedding, and with that comes a lot of prep work.
Moving On
There is so much excitement bubbling up at the prospect of a new neighborhood, new friends, and a new environment. Packing your stuff may sound easy and simple, but there are many things to consider and arrange when you move from one place to another.
When you move, you relocate almost everything in your life – from the smallest furniture to your personal attachments. The last thing you need is an unorganized relocation that can mess up your head. We have listed down a checklist that you can refer to before you’re moving, as well as helping you during the move, and the aftermath of the move, and transitioning into a new home.
1. Research moving companies
First things first, research movers and hire them as soon as you can. This will give you more time to go through your items and decide what valuable items you want to keep with you or what you’re fine with the movers handling.
When looking for movers, we recommend asking for recommendations from family and friends. Your items are important, so it’s important to make sure everything is taken care of with the utmost respect.
Once you get some recommendations, do your own research and find three companies to get quotes from. Make sure they do in-home assessments so you can make sure there are no hidden fees and your quote can be as accurate as possible. Ask questions such as what their responsibilities are for damages that could occur.
2. Separate items out into categories
Once you secure a moving company, this is when you’ll start the process with your items. We recommend first creating categories of items you want to sell/get rid of, let the movers handle, or items you would like to take with you yourself.
The items we would recommend handling yourself would be:
- Items you find to be valuable and wouldn’t want to get lost, stolen, or damaged.
- Important documents such as passports, legal documents, and documents for the house.
Once you have these categories figured out, create smaller subcategories for the items you are going to have the movers take care of. The items you’re getting rid of don’t need to have sub-categories because you’ll be able to move those or sell them as the process continues.
For the subcategories, think of each room of your current house and the spaces available in your next home. Make sure to label boxes and items for each room/subcategory to streamline the move even more.
For example, create a category for the kitchen, living room, bedroom(s), bathroom(s), etc. This will then help you and the movers out when moving from one location to the other to.
Once you have items in each subcategory, begin to assess the number of boxes, bubble wrap, and tape you will need.
If you’re having a moving company, it might be helpful to make a packet or inventory list of items from each category and subcategory for both you and the movers to reference.
3. Transfer utilities
When moving to a new place, you’re going to need to transfer your wifi, gas, water, and electricity. Research your area to see what companies are most used in your area. The sooner you can notify them of your move-in date, the higher and better chance you’ll have of getting on their schedule once you move in.
4. Update your address
Your address is connected to so many aspects of your life that you may not even realize. This is such an important step of the moving process. If you have subscriptions or even bank and credit card information, all of those need to be transferred to your new address. Here is a list of items you might need to transfer over to your new address:
- Forwarding your mail
- Subscriptions
- Banks and Credit cards
- Insurance
- Checkbooks
- Car Registration
- Driver’s License
5. Schedule a cleaning
When moving from one place to the other, we recommend scheduling a cleaning service to come out for both places. That way once you’re out of your current home, they can clean for the next owners, and you can move into a clean place as well.
6. Change the locks & update the security system
If you live in a house, we always suggest changing out the locks to make sure that no one has the same key as you do. It’s also helpful to install security measures, such as a Ring doorbell which can also be used in an apartment to know who is at your door.
7. Create a checklist for moving in
This is when the move can be really stressful and overwhelming. You just walked into your new place with all of the boxes everywhere and the furniture isn’t in the right place. Take your binder with all of the items you have and begin walking through the house to make sure everything made it over. From there, create a list of each room you have and begin putting the boxes in each of those rooms to be unpacked.
8. Delegate
Delegate family members and friends to take a room and begin moving boxes into their specific rooms and determine which rooms take the highest priority to be unpacked. To us at c2s, that’s the kitchen, which is the heart of the home, and the bedrooms. It’s helpful to have a system of organization for each room to make sure everything gets unpacked and stays in its rightful place. We have a helpful blog post talking about specific kitchen organization here.
9. Relax & enjoy
You’re all moved in! Sit back, relax, and enjoy your new home.
Here’s a visual look at this checklist to help you.
Click here for a downloadable version of our moving checklist to help you with your big move!
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