Five Things To Put On Your Moving Checklist
Moving house is a cumbersome process; there is so much to do before and after the move that it is easy to lose track of some important things that should have been taken care of. Here is a checklist for your moving day. Tick against them as you get them done and you’ll be organized half way through your move before you know it. 1. Notify companies and insurance providersBefore you shift, you need to cancel all the services you receive at your old address. Make sure you notify the utilities company of the date to discontinue your service and give them the new address at which to forward the bill. Make sure you take a meter reading wherever applicable, so that you can confirm the charge when you receive the bill. Also make sure your insurance providers know of your relocation date as well, in case you need to cash in on your home insurance.2. Forward postEven if you have notified all the services you use of your address change, it is always advisable to go to the Royal Mail post office and ask them to redirect your mail. This service may be chargeable in some areas. For the first few weeks of the move, you may want to arrange to pick up mail from your old house at a specific time in the week or request the new owners to forward them to your new address.3. Plan the transit routeIf you are hiring a man and a van or even a removal company that is not local to the area you are moving to, it would be a good idea to plan your journey beforehand. You might want to consider parking facilities, routing along less traffic roads and calculating the time it would take to complete the journey. Depending on the kind of removals van you use to transport your goods, you might be restricted in your choice of routes. For examples, some roads may not allow heavy vehicles at all times, large trucks might want to avoid sharp corners or low bridges. Some house movers will take care of this aspect for you.4. Pack an overnight bagYou will probably not have unpacked entirely on the day you move but you will need to use some things on the first night in the new home. Pack an overnight bag for each member of the family containing some essentials such as clothes, medication, tooth brushes, towels, toiletries etc. Pack some essentials such as food, plates and cutlery, toilet paper etc. in a separate bag and keep them separate in your car, do not pack them away with the boxes into the van. You may also add valuables and important documents to the list of things that go with you in your car.5. Organize boxes for loadingWhen packing stuff in boxes, you will preferably want to pack the stuff in boxes according to which room they are going to be in your new house rather than where they were in your old house. Maintain a list of items that you packed into a box and label it according to which room it will be going in your new home. Ask the movers to pack boxes that belong the same room together, this way it will be easy for you to unload and unpack. When loading the boxes in the van, make sure that you put the boxes that you are not likely to require urgently in first. This way, they’ll be the last ones to be unloaded while you get on with the unpacking process.