What To Do One Month Before Moving House
By now, your moving date should be set, but after that, what's next? The month before you move is an important time to set yourself up for the big day and smooth that process as much as possible. Find out what to do one month before moving into your new house in this blog post.
So you’ve got a moving date, done a clear-out and booked a removals company. Now let’s talk about your next steps. The month before you move is an important time to set yourself up for a smooth ride over the course of the actual allotted moving days, so allow us to walk you through this stage of the moving process and share our expert tips.
First of all, here’s a word of advice. Leave all non-essential tasks (i.e. the things that can wait) until after you’ve moved. The days leading up to the big moving day will be stressful enough as it is, especially if you’re not using a Home Setup Service. The following checklist covers things that you can do during the month before moving - ideally no sooner, and no later. Follow this, and you're golden.
Start packing (and get packing supplies)
It’s time to start packing, people. This needs to be planned carefully, so create a list of everything you’d like to take with you and make sure you have enough packing supplies. If you're keen to save money on boxes and tape, you can ask friends, family members or even local supermarkets for any spare packing materials.
When it comes to the actual packing process, make sure to pack up the rooms you use the least first – think the spare room, garage or attic. Label each box carefully so you know what’s inside it. You don’t want to lose track of where your essential items or important documents are.
You may also want to consider whether your new pad will have room for all your belongings. This is a big question for downsizers. You’ll need to organise some storage (buy a new storage unit, maybe), or purchase a Tardis, if space is tight. If you realise you've underestimated how much stuff you actually have, it might be worth revisiting that clear-out you thought you'd already done. Perhaps be a little more brutal this time.
Cancel subscriptions
Start thinking about your subscriptions and memberships, and whether or not you want to transfer them over to your new address. A few companies, or places like gyms, will require one month’s notice if you’re leaving. Cancellation fees can sting like your hamstrings after twenty minutes on the cross-trainer, so keep the exact date for your move in mind so you know when to cancel.
Now is also the time to start contacting your utility companies and broadband providers. Tell them in advance about your move. Can you simply transfer your account to a new address? Will their service even be available in your area if you're moving long distance? If not, then you’ll have to give notice.
Book a TV engineer
You don’t want to be staring at a blank screen for days when you move into your new home, so book engineers to set up your satellite TV and broadband well in advance. Arrange for an installation the day after you move in. Of course, you can do this yourself if it's a simple set up, but remember you might be quite preoccupied with your unpacking to be messing around with cables.
Redirect your mail
With one month to go before you move, this is also a good time to organise your Royal Mail redirect. Although this can be set up within a week, it’s better to do it a month in advance so you can be sure you're getting all your important stuff sent to your new location.
Make sure your bank knows you are moving - you don't want bank account information being sent to your old property
If you have children and they get school records sent home, make sure you update your address there, too - unless you're doing a long distance move and changing schools.
Inform the local council of your move (on both sides) if you receive mail from them
The main goal here is to get as much as you can out of the way early, because you’ll have enough on your plate later on. Our Home Setup Service can lighten the load even further.
Book a moving company (and additional elbow grease)
Any help you can get during your moving period will be worth it, trust us. We would first of all recommend getting started with our Home Setup Service, but you'll also want to look at some prospective moving companies (or your own moving van) and maybe even consider booking a cleaner to help you on moving day. Leaving your old home clean and tidy can be exhausting when you’ve got last minute packing to do, so having an extra pair of hands on tap can be a lifesaver.
A few extra top tips
Before you go and start preparing for your busy month ahead, browse these final tips:
Start guzzling the contents of your freezer. Leave it any longer and you’ll have to throw things out before you move, and we all know that wasting food is hard to swallow.
Organise all your important documents in one box or folder - it's an arduous task, but you'll be thankful one day that you did it.
Purchase moving insurance now so that all your belongings are covered during the moving process. Even packed boxes handled by professional services aren't always safe from harm.
This was a snippet taken from our Moving Made Manageable home move guide, so there's plenty more where that came from. If you enjoyed this post or found it useful, consider downloading the full version for free, which explains all of this and more in nicely designed detail.
You can download the full guide here: https://justmovein.com/home-moving-services/guides