30 Days Before You Move
 

Your Move

• By this point you should have already received estimates and hired a mover. Check with you mover to confirm all the details of the move are set. If you are packing on your own, make the proper arrangements and get the right supplies.

• Make the arrangements to connect and disconnect your cable, internet, electric and any other services you currently use and arranged for service at your new home. Dealing with this at an earlier date will prevent any date and time conflicts you may incur.

• If you need new blinds, curtains or furniture for your new home, buy them now and arrange it so they arrive at your new home when your things do.

• Start planning where things will go in your new home.

• Create an inventory of your stuff so that you can compare against the moving company’s list to ensure you don’t lose anything in the move. It’s also a good aid in determining how much moving insurance you need.

• Are you taking appliances? If so, draw up a plan for how to handle them.

• Get a head start on your packing by packing things that you won’t need before the move, like seasonal items such as summer sporting gear.

• Arrange childcare and pet care for the day of your move, or think about a "safe" room they can be during the move itself so they’re out of the way.

• Make a packing plan -- assign everyone a task and involve the kids.

• Make an unpacking plan for the new home -- who does what and diagram where the furniture goes. The movers will not rearrange your furniture for you, so think this through.
   

Your Records

• Contact or visit your local Post Office to obtain a Change of Address form. You can also obtain this form online at the Postal Service website.

• Give a change of address to the following: Banks, schools, friends and family, insurance company, doctors and specialists, cell phone company, credit card companies, and magazine and newspaper subscriptions.

• You may have to switch banks because your current bank doesn’t have branches in your new town. Investigate the popular banks in the area you will be living in so that you can close and open new bank accounts as needed.

• Check the requirements for a new driver’s license and complete auto registration at your new motor vehicle location.

• If you will be making an international move, make sure your passport is up to date and has not expired. Passports generally take three weeks to process.

• Let service providers -- landscapers, cleaning services -- know you’re moving, and look for new ones in your new hometown.
   

Your Family and Pets

• If time permits, you may also want to take you and your family to your dentist and/or eye doctor to get your routine check ups done. It may take a while for you to find new family dentists and doctors in your new city that you are comfortable with so it can be a good idea to take care of these things while you still have access to professionals that you know.

• Encourage children to make an address book of friends.
   

Quick Tips

• Driving to your new house? Make sure your car’s ready for the trip, and that you have all the proper maps -- make extra maps for the movers, just in case.