THREE weeks before Move day
Your preparations for the upcoming local move must be well underway by now. With roughly 20 days until the move-out date, these are the most critical tasks you should take care of.
Ask your friends to help you move
You may find it a bit odd to ask your good friends to help you move one full month before the move-out date. However, the thing you should keep in mind before you decide to ask your pals for a favor is that the sooner you ask them for assistance, the less disruptive your call for help will be for their own plans.
Remember to be completely honest with your buddies about why exactly you need their help. After all, they’re entitled to know if you need their muscle power for lifting and carrying heavy pieces of furniture.
How to Get Friends to Help You Move
Discuss the move with your children
Moving with children can be tough, especially when you inform them that they will need to change the school they go to.
Be aware that changing schools is a serious matter for kids because they are likely to have tons of good friends at their current school and won’t be too thrilled about the idea of having to leave behind their school buddies.
Find time to discuss the upcoming move with your children and be sure to focus on all the positives that the relocation will bring for them.
Moving With Children: Complete Guide
Transfer your kids’ school records
If you’re moving just across town, you may arrange for your children to continue to attend the same school. Regrettably, you can’t possibly keep the same school when moving locally to a new town or city within the same state.
Therefore, you’re going to have to find a new school for your kids and arrange the transfer of their school records directly to the new educational institution. Make sure you visit the schools in the destination place in person (schedule a school tour) before you make the final decision.
How to Find a Good School When Moving
Get your medical records
Your checklist when moving locally should remind you to visit your family physician prior to moving out so that you can get your medical records, including the immunization records for each family member, from him or her.
Also, since you’ll need to register with a new healthcare provider in the destination place, you might as well ask your current doctor for recommendations about good doctors in the town or city you’re moving to.
Cancel all subscriptions
Your moving out-of-town checklist should also remind you to cancel all subscriptions prior to move day and now is a good time to do it.
First of all, make sure you cancel any home-delivery services you’re subscribed to before you have to move away. Secondly, you’re going to need to cancel all types of memberships to clubs, gyms, or hobby groups. Whenever possible, ask for refunds for the remainder of the time you won’t use your memberships.
Pack carefully your fragile items
Pay special attention when you’re packing fragile items such as china plates, glassware, pictures and mirrors, art pieces, electronic devices, and so on.
To protect your breakables safely for transport, make sure you use enough soft packing paper to create an initial layer of protection around the fragile items. Then, add another layer of bubble wrap over the paper one for increased safety and peace of mind that your delicate possessions will reach the new home safe and sound.
How to Pack Fragile Items for Moving
TWO weeks before Move day
The list of what to do when moving locally continues with important tasks that you have to complete approximately 2 weeks prior to moving out. Time is running out fast – make sure you’re on the right track so that your local move goes as smoothly as possible.
Change your address with the USPS
The fact that you’re moving to a new place within the same state means that your postal address is going to change too. Even if you happen to be moving just across the street or someplace across the town, you’re still going to live at a new address after the move.
Your local moving checklist advises you to change your address roughly a couple of weeks before moving out so that no important piece of mail gets lost in the meantime. Luckily, you’ve got 3 options to change your address: 1) online, 2) in person), 3) by phone, and 4) by mail.
How to Change Your Address When Moving
Arrange the transfer of your utilities
Since you’ll be moving within the same state, you’re going to have to transfer your home utilities (as opposed to changing the utilities in case you were moving to another state).
You’ll want to ensure that all utilities such as electricity, water, gas, cable TV, Internet, etc. are running properly when you arrive in the new home. And this is exactly why you have to transfer your current utilities to the new place before you move out of the old one.
Get in touch with your current utility companies to schedule the transfer.
How to Transfer Utilities When Moving
Consider organizing a moving sale
Once you declutter your home, you’re likely to get a bunch of household items that you won’t move with you to the new place but you can’t just throw them away because they are still in decent condition and can still be useful to somebody else.
With enough time on your local moving checklist, feel free to organize a profitable moving sale where you can try to sell the items you don’t need anymore. It’s a win-win scenario and the cash you earn from the sale will help you cover some of the local moving costs.
How to Organize a Garage Sale Before Moving
Make a decision about your house plants
House plants will not usually survive a cross-country move and professional movers are not allowed to transport plants between homes. The good news in your case is that you’re moving locally so you can still choose to transport some of your favorite house plants in your car.
After hand-picking a few treasured plants to move with you, you can gift the rest to friends, neighbors, or work colleagues. Also, see if you can donate some of your plants to local schools, hospitals, kindergartens, and such.
How to Move Plants to a New Home
Take your pets to see the vet
Even though you’re not expected to spend too much time on the road while driving to the new address with your car, having a CAT, a DOG, or a BIRD with you on the relocation trip can be trickier than you think.
To avoid possible issues while transporting your pet in the car, take your pet animal to the vet for a complete checkup and maybe advice on how to make the car trip more enjoyable for everyone. While there, ask the vet for the vaccination records of your pet so that you can register with another animal doctor after the relocation.
ONE WEEK before Move day
You must be feeling the pressure of moving with only a handful of days before you have to move out. The truth is that the last week of preparation is critical for the successful end of your local relocation.
Confirm the move details with the local mover
When using professional moving services for your local move, remember to call up the local moving company and confirm that everything is going according to plan. Let the movers reassure you that they are coming on the pre-arranged day at the pre-arranged time.
Such a reassurance call is important because you may be thinking that things are just fine whereas something could be wrong but nobody cared enough to let you know.
So, contact the local moving company you’ve chosen for peace of mind that you won’t have to go through a nightmare scenario of your movers not showing up on Moving day.
Pack an essentials box for each family member
Armed with a detailed checklist for moving locally, you should be able to prepare for a local move in the best possible way. The great news is that you won’t forget to do an important task.
Next in your moving out of house checklist is to prepare an essentials box for each family member. Those essentials boxes will be with you in the car and will make the entire relocation more bearable until you get access to your things once more.
The number of essential items you pack in each box will depend primarily on how many hours you will spend on the road until you reach the new home.
How to Prepare an Essentials Box for Moving
Plan the car trip
One of the best local moving tips you can get is about the relocation trip itself. As a rule of thumb, a local move will give you more options than a long-distance one. And if you’ve opted for local movers to transport your belongings while you yourself drive to the new place, then you should really think about making the car trip a memorable one.
If possible, plan the relocation trip with your car in such a way as to be something more than just driving. For example, you can include various places of interest along your route.
Consult your packing timeline
With only a few days left before the date of the move, you should already be finishing the packing job. Consult your packing timeline to make sure it is so.
If you determine that your chances of completing the packing task on time are too slim, then you should ask a few of your best friends to give you a hand so that you can manage it faster.
As a rule, you shouldn’t leave any packing tasks for the day of the move unless you know that you can get them done really quickly.
Packing Timeline: What to Pack When for Moving
Think about organizing a farewell party
Luckily, your local moving checklist doesn’t have to be all work, work, and work again.
Basically, you can choose to gather up your friends in the soon-to-be old home and organize an informal get-together a few days before having to move out. In its essence, it’s a moving away party where you will have the chance to spend quality time with your best pals one more time before you go away.
Organizing a farewell party can be fun despite the fact that you’re moving away. The thing is that since you’re only moving locally, you can always come back and visit your pals whenever possible.
How to Organize a Memorable Moving Away Party in 10 Steps
Move day
The day of the move is the moment when you have to prove that you’re ready for the Big day. All the busy moving preparation leads up to that single day when things should go smoothly as long as you’ve worked hard on your local moving checklist.
Moving locally is supposed to be easier and cheaper than moving across the country, but Moving day still remains as dangerous and unpredictable as ever.
Start your move day early
It’s a good idea to wake up early on your Move day in order to give yourself more time to finish up any last-minute tasks. A good head start is always a big bonus, especially when you know that things are likely to get somewhat chaotic later on during the day.
Make a mental note to go to bed relatively early the day before (if that’s even possible) so that you have the concentration and stamina to overcome the challenges that Move day is sure to throw at you.
Moving Day Checklist: Tips to Survive the Big Day
Keep Moving day safe for everyone
Safety is a big concern during a day when large and heavy household items (cardboard boxes and especially furniture pieces) are being taken out of the home and loaded onto a moving vehicle.
Make sure your children and pets are safe. Ask a person you can trust to look after them, preferably in a room away from the packing and moving zones. Also, mind what you wear on Move day – pick your most comfortable pair of closed shoes that have anti-slip rubber soles to prevent any types of personal injuries.
10 Moving Safety Tips to Avoid Injuries When Moving
Get your truck from the truck rental company
If you’ve made an informed decision to move by yourself and not use the services of a local mover, then you’re going to need to rent a truck to load and transport your belongings on your own.
You should have arranged the rental truck long before but it’s on Moving day (or the day before) when you actually have to go and get the vehicle from the truck rental company of your choice.
Make sure you understand fully the truck rental conditions before you sign the rental agreement. After all, you won’t want to be fined for failing to observe one of the contractual terms.
Moving Truck Rental Guide
Load the moving vehicle properly
Your checklist when moving locally is at its end – you only need to complete a few more major moving tasks to secure the success of the local relocation adventure.
Next up is to load the truck you’ve rented from a truck rental agency (or maybe even borrowed from a friend). What you need to understand is that how you load the moving vehicle is of enormous importance – not only will you be able to fit more items inside it when done correctly, but you’ll also ensure that your possessions don’t get damaged on the road due to improper arrangement inside the truck.
How to Load a Moving Truck the Right Way
Greet your local movers
Using the services of a top-rated local moving company is a great option when you don’t have enough time to prepare on your own, when you can’t rely on your friends to help you move, and when you have numerous specialty items that you just can’t move on your own.
Be there to greet your local movers when they arrive, show them around the house, and let them do what they do best. You should still hang around in case there are issues of some sort or in case they have important questions that need adequate answers.
Begin the local relocation journey
Once the movers have loaded up your things and left in the direction of your new home, it’s time for you to start your own relocation journey in your car. On the other hand, if you’ve already loaded up the truck you’ve rented, then you should start thinking about driving the moving vehicle all the way to the destination place.
Do a final walk around the house before you drive away to make sure nothing is left behind. Also, think about the safety of the place you’re leaving – secure and lock all windows and doors, and switch off the power, water, and gas (if needed).
Finally, lock the front door and have a safe trip to your new home.
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