Moving day checklist: Tips for stress-free moving
From colour-coded boxes to last-minute reminders, we’ve compiled a few expert tips and strategies for getting through moving day with all your stuff – and your sanity – intact.
At the old place:
Pack a moving day “survival kit"
Have a box or backpack with everything you’ll need the day of the move, and the night and morning after, and bring it with you in the car or as checked luggage on the plane. Include items like toiletries, a change of clothes, sheets, towels, shampoo, soap, paper towels, coffee mugs and paper plates. Include important papers like insurance policies, birth certificates, etc. And don’t forget a big blanket or sheet to sit on so you can have a “picnic” and not worry about dirty floors.
Set aside special boxes for your kids’ important stuff, too.
Clothes, special toys and blankets, books, photos, toothbrushes and pyjamas – ensure they have easy access to everything they need to feel at home in their new space.
Colour code boxes
Assign each room in your new place a colour. (Red for the kitchen, blue for the master bedroom, etc.) Put a sticker of the appropriate colour on each box – and a corresponding sticker on the door of each room. It’s a great way to avoid confusion, especially if movers can’t tell which is “Max’s room” and which is “Emily’s room.”
Assign boxes “load last”
Get a sitter
Clear a path
Get rid of last-minute garbage
Check the meters
Do a final check
Turn the furnace/AC off
Turn off all the lights, shut all the windows and lock the doors.
Hand over the keys
At your new home:
Unload the “load last/unload first” boxes
Supervise the rest of the unloading
See that the right boxes are going to the right rooms.
Set up beds first
Kitchen essentials next
Enjoy your new home!