Make the Perfect Moving List in 6 Easy Steps

Moving is all about organization, and nothing is more organized than building a list of what to do and when to do it. Not only does it give you a tangible resource to plan your move by, it also lets you know how things are moving along as each step gets done. Anybody can write a list, but at Coffey Bros Moving, we like our customers to have the best possible tools at their disposal. Therefore, we’ve designed this method of preparing your list in 6 easy to follow steps.

1. Build Your List Chronologically: It’s no help to create a list, if you have to jump all over it to get anything done. By building your list in the order of what needs to be done when, you’ll have a far easier time checking everything off. Start with the prep items, such as booking a moving company, taking time off work for the move, finding a babysitter, putting aside money for the move. Then you can move onto more meaty topics, such as organizing packing materials, wrapping dishes, sorting books, and finally, the packing process.

2. Don’t Forget Your Service Providers: When making your list of what to do, don’t forget all the services you’ll need to cancel or move to your new home. These are things that should be done well in advance to avoid confusion and periods without heat, power, or water. Services to include are power, cable, heat, water, and internet. You should also include mail, and any subscription services currently being delivered to your home. If you want to keep getting that monthly issue of Good Housekeeping, contact the company about a month in advance and have your new address added to the file.

3. Write Dates and Deadlines by Each Point: It isn’t always enough to include all the things you need to get done in one handy list, you also need to know when things should be completed by. To make your list the best possible moving list, include deadlines and dates by each note. If the water needs to be shut off by a certain day, list it beside that service provider. Similarly, if there’s a time to book a babysitter, or you have to return your mail key by a certain date, write it all down.

Having one organized list with everything in one place will keep you from flipping back and forth between day planners, journals, online planners, and the list.

4. Create Sections for Each Category: To better navigate your list, sort each note into its own category. For example: packing supplies, things to buy, things to sell, services to call, etc. Under each heading, you can have a separate list, all combined into one master list. Think of this like those organizational tabs you used to put in binders at school to keep subjects organized, except these headings are for your moving plans.

5. Include Notes on Level of Completion: Knowing when to complete a task by is great, but you also need to know what’s been done so far. Sometimes a simple check mark is too much, and leaving a blank is too little. For example, perhaps you’ve already sorted and cleaned the garage, but you didn’t pack everything from inside of it yet. You would note this next to “garage”, so you know exactly where you are with that room, and what’s left to be done.

6. Synch Your List with All Calendars: Finally, don’t leave yourself wishing you’d make a digital copy of your list and emailed it to your work account, synch your list everywhere. You can add your list, and important dates on your list to your online calendar, your work schedule, your day planner, and your online accounts. This can be extremely convenient, especially if you schedule popup reminders for important things you still need to get done.

By synching all of your electronic devices and tools to include your master list, you’ll never lose it, or wind up wishing you’d brought it with you somewhere.