You’ll probably have a number of tough days during the pre-move preparation period when you’ll be thinking you’ve reached the highest difficulty level your move has to offer.
However, nothing compares to the Big day – the most difficult phase of the entire relocation when a single wrong move could doom the success of your home moving adventure.
To prevent potentially catastrophic results on the day of your move, you’ll need to know what to expect on Moving day, and more importantly – what to do on Moving day so that things go smoothly from start to finish.
The truth is that there are so many things to do on Moving day that you may soon find yourself rather confused about your specific role. Fear not, for this moving day checklist will help you stay a few steps ahead of trouble.
Knowledge is power. But when it comes to the most unpredictable and dangerous stage of your residential move, KNOWLEDGE suddenly becomes SURVIVAL too.
So, how to survive MOVING DAY?
Follow this 20-STEP MOVING DAY CHECKLIST.
Step 1. Secure PROFESSIONAL moving day help
First things first – to have a smooth moving day, you’ll have to find and hire the services of one of the best professional moving companies in your area. That’s especially important when you’re getting ready for a long-distance move.
Organizing a DIY move is a bad idea when you’re moving hundreds or thousands of miles through multiple states until you reach the new home. Bad as in risky, dangerous, stressful and costly.
Ensure a successful moving day by hiring reputable and experienced movers – professionals who’ll know exactly what to do to complete a house move quickly and safely.
10 Tips for hiring professional movers
Step 2. Ensure NON-PROFESSIONAL moving day help
When moving just a short distance away, you may choose to handle your local move without hiring professional moving services. And if that is the case, then you’re going to have to make sure you have enough friends to give you a hand on the day of the move.
One of the things to remember on Moving day is that you can’t pull it off entirely on your own – not when you’ll have huge and heavy furniture pieces to lift and carry to the moving truck. Ultimately, the more friendly hands you secure for Moving day, the better.
How to get friends to help you move
Step 3. Keep moving day stress under control
How does Moving day work? That’s easy to answer – that day definitely brings a lot of stress and tension in the house.
Moving day happens to offer an unhealthy combination of too many stressful factors at once – complete strangers in the house, dangers lurking around each corner, property damage just waiting to happen, and personal injuries just a slip away.
And stress can be really bad for you, you know. So, one of the best moving day tips you can ever take is to reduce moving day stress as much as you possibly can.
10 Ways to reduce stress during a move
Step 4. Keep up your energy throughout the Big day
It’s important to have enough energy to handle the numerous challenges of Moving day.
Speaking of tip for surviving Moving day, it’s only fair to emphasize just how exhausting that single day can for everyone involved. This is why, it’s important that you manage to maintain a high energy level from early in the morning till late in the evening or night. At times, the actual move period can take more than one days to complete.
To have the stamina to make it through the toughest day of your move, you’ll need to go to bed earlier than usual the previous day.
Also, don’t forget to provide your body with enough food and water throughout the Big day prevent your energy from dropping.
Step 5. Wake up early
One universal rule is that time is never enough on the day of the move. And indeed, with so many things happening on Moving day, it’s somewhat surprising that things do find to work out in the end, at least in the majority of relocation cases.
During the most chaotic day of them all, time management is crucial for the success of your house moving project. So, in addition to following a good moving day checklist, there’s one trick you should not underestimate – WAKE UP EARLY on the day of the move to give yourself more time.
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Step 6. Mind what you wear on Moving day
Sometimes it’s the little things that can do the most damage, especially if you lower your guard during the wildest stage of your home move. You wake up in the morning and dress up for the day without giving it another thought. Did you miss something important?
Funny enough, how you dress for Moving day can make a huge difference in the end. Make sure you wear your most comfortable clothes – non-baggy pieces of clothing that you won’t mind dirtying a bit. Also, wear closed shoes with anti-slip soles and good ankle protection – a good pair of sports shoes in most cases.
Step 7. Finish any remaining packing jobs
Waking up early on the day of the move should give you enough time to finish some quick last-minute tasks before your movers arrive and the real action begins. Most of the times, such finishing jobs include packing up a few last boxes, possibly in the kitchen or bathroom.
Unless you’ve hired professional packers, make it a priority to conclude the packing task prior to Moving day. And of course, following a packing checklist is the guarantee that you’ll be done with packing ahead of schedule. If not, then pack those boxes before your movers knock on the door.
Packing checklist: Packing timeline for moving
Step 8. Check in on your essentials boxes
Your survival box will help you survive your Moving day and the first day in your new home.
Another good advice on what to do on Moving day is to check if your essentials boxes are ready to make the journey between the two homes.
Also known as an Open First box, an essentials box should contain nothing but vital items that should help you survive the period when your ordinary belongings are not accessible – that is, are not by your side.
Check to see whether all the essential items have been packed in those survival kits and remember that those boxes, ideally one for each family member, must stay with you during the haul.
Do not let movers load any of your essentials boxes in their truck!
How to pack an essentials box when moving
Step 9. Keep an eye on your valuables
Moving day is not a good time to make any costly mistakes. Of course, there isn’t a good time for making mistakes but the repercussions of judgment errors during the move day can be much greater.
You are to make sure that your valuable items – jewelry, small electronic devices, documents, cash, etc. – stay by your side at all times. You yourself are responsible for moving your valuables so watch them closely from the start and keep them separated from the rest of your belongings.
No matter how trustworthy your movers are, you should never entrust them with your valuables.
Step 10. Keep children and pets away from the action
It won’t take much to learn first-hand that you move day can prove to be more dangerous than you ever suspected. In fact, to have a successful moving day practically means to have a safe moving day.
Make SAFETY your top priority to keep personal injuries at bay. Keep small children and pets away from the packing and moving action simply because their small running feet can cause all sorts of trouble.
Ask a responsible person to take care of your little ones in a safe room while you concentrate on the tasks at hand.
Moving with dogs ; Moving with cats
Step 11. Check if all exit paths are clear
It takes a lot of time to prepare for moving day so you should be ready for that important moment when it comes. Another safety measure to prevent moving day accidents is to take a walk along the intended exit paths and make sure those pathways are clear of any obstacles such as packed boxes or randomly scattered household items.
Remember that large and heavy furniture pieces, together with many overfilled cardboard boxes, will be carried out of your home on that day so everything should be as safe as possible. Areas with rain, mud, snow or ice on those pathways can also easily create dangerous situations.
Safety tips for moving furniture
Step 12. Be a good host on Moving day
Moving day will be all work, work, and more work. Still, it’s your duty to show your guests that you’re a good host.
One way to make Moving day easier for everyone is to show consideration towards the movers who will come to help you pack and move.
Regardless of whether those helpers are professional movers or friends of yours, it’s important to present yourself as a good host.
Be there when your movers show up and give them a quick tour. Prepare various non-alcoholic beverages and tasty snacks to keep their energy levels elevated. Provide them with easy access to the bathroom, prepare liquid soap and paper towels to keep things clean and hygienic.
What to look for in a professional mover
Step 13. Stick around but let the pros do their job
One good way to make moving day less stressful is to try hard not to bring an extra dose of tension when professional movers are working in your home. It’s easy to see that the moving experts have more experience than you do, so you may as well choose to trust their skills and judgment.
Once you’ve shown the movers around the home, share with them any requirements or concerns you may have, and then leave them to their work. Of course, you should stick around and keep the communication channel open in case of any problems or misunderstandings.
Step 14. Be careful where you put your signature
A residential move usually generates an excessive amount of paperwork – cost estimates, inventory lists, bills of lading, insurance policies, etc. On the day of your move, you’ll most likely be asked by your moving company to sign a few documents so that they can proceed with the move as planned.
Here’s a valuable piece of moving day advice: always be vigilant about what you sign on that hectic day even if you trust your movers to be the best ones in the country. Take the time to read what you’re about to sign, and if you fail to understand something, ask for clarification.
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Step 15. Be vigilant when movers are loading up your things
One of the things to do on Moving day is to be there when the professional movers are loading your household items – furniture, appliances, boxes, etc. – on their truck. And not only to be there, but to pay close attention to what things the pros are taking into the moving vehicle.
Due to the chaotic nature of the move day, mistakes do tend to happen. And to avoid trouble, you don’t want the movers to load up something that they are not supposed to – like any of the essentials boxes, any boxes with valuables in them, or just about anything that you plan to move in your car.
Step 16. Prepare tipping money, just in case
Prepare some tipping money in case you’re really happy with your movers’ work.
When your movers have loaded up your belongings in their truck and are ready to leave, it’s about the right time for you to offer them some money in the form of tips.
Now, tipping movers is a delicate moment in terms of WHEN, HOW MUCH and HOW, but the most important question is whether you should do it at all.
Tip your movers ONLY if you think they’ve done a great job packing, handling and loading up your items. If they have, hand each worker what you think they deserve ($4-$7 per hour per mover is standard) just before they depart.
What to expect from full-service movers
Step 17. Clean the place before you move out
The professional movers may have departed, but your role on moving day is not yet over. A quick look in your personal MOVING DAY CHECKLIST reveals that your next task is to clean the place before you move out.
If you’re a renter, you’ll need to make sure the house or apartment you’re moving out of is clean enough to get your security back from the landlord. If you’re an owner and you’re selling the place, you’ll also want to leave that home in decent shape before you move out.
If you can afford it, your best option is to hire professional cleaning services.
Step 18. Take photos of the home you’re leaving
Whatever happens on Moving day, it’s important that you have proof about the condition of the place you’re leaving – proof that, hopefully, you won’t need but if you do, then you’ll be thankful that spared some time to get the place photographed before you leave it for good.
Take as many photos of the house or apartment as you can. Go into each room and use your smartphone camera or standalone digital camera to snap some pictures of the home’s current condition. If possible, turn on the date stamp feature to be able to prove the date on which those photos were taken.
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Step 19. Do one final inspection of the home
Do a final walkthrough around your soon-to-be-old home to make sure you haven’t forgotten to take anything. Check every space – each room, closet, cabinet, shelf, garage, attic, etc. Open all drawers of the furniture pieces you’ve left behind. All in all, this final home inspection is important as it may save from the trouble and expenses of having to retrieve something from that home after you’ve moved away.
Also, check if all windows and doors are well-secured, closed and locked before you move away. Turn off any power consumers that you’re leaving behind. Write down or take photos of the readings of all utility meters.
Step 20. Start your own relocation journey
Bon voyage!
The final step in your move day checklist is to start the journey that will take you to your new home. We wish you a safe relocation trip!
And regardless of whether you’ve chosen to drive to the new residence in your own car, or to fly to the destination town and city and have your car transported by a top-rated car shipping company, remember that there are a number of super-important tasks you have to do right after moving into the new home.
