A good moving checklist is a must-have, if you want your move to be smooth and with no major incidents or flaws. This applies to all sort of relocation situations, be it you’re moving house, office or apartment. It also concerns people who move inside the same country as well as those who have to go through an international move. This article is going to offer you a brief moving checklist for several relocation situations such as home moving, apartment moving and office moving. Depending on your specific case, you may want to add items to the list or to delete those ones which are not applicable.

Home Moving Checklist

• Get moving truck rental quotes: try to do this as soon as you know your moving date, because last minute truck reservations may not be available and you want to make sure there will be a vehicle available for you on the move date. If you decide to hire a company to help you move, then you’ll have to ask for quotes on the complete relocation services, including people to load your boxes and your furniture in the truck, moving boxes, labels and all other required supplies. 
• Give away or sell old items you won’t use anymore: there’s no explanation for why we are storing so much things in our lives, but it’s a common habit for many people. Moves are the greatest opportunities to get rid of useless possessions. As a rule of the thumb, you can consider that if you haven’t used an item for two years, then you can give it away, as it’s probably not necessary for you. If you want, you can organize a garage sale.
• Make inventory sheets: take the rooms one by one and write down on a list all items contained in each room. You could also use these sheets to make observations about the furniture condition before the move: scratches, damages, cracks and other similar things. Make sure to confront your lists with the movers, so you all agree on the furniture condition. That will be your insurance for the case your things would get damaged during the transportation.
• Get moving supplies: if you’re only renting a truck, you’ll have to buy your own cardboard boxes, plastic bags, duct tape, labels, markers and rope strings. Make sure your boxes aren’t too big, or in case they are, don’t fill them completely, otherwise it will be really difficult to move them. If you need to pack books, you’d better remember this piece of advice, because paper is very heavy.
• Announce insurance companies you’re moving: in case you’re changing the state or the country, you’ll have to transfer or even to cancel your insurance policies. Contact your agents, let them know you’re moving, and they’d give you advice how to proceed.
• See if you can obtain employer benefits: this applies only in the case you’re relocating because of your job. Ask your HR people if you qualify for getting some funding for your move expenses.
• Get your medical records: your doctors would either hand those records to you, or they could send them directly to medical services at your destination place.
• Cancel utilities and services agreements: be sure to do this at least one month prior to the moving date, as some companies usually require 30 days notice.
• Preorder items for your new home: there are department stores such as Walmart which would take your order and deliver your ordered items at the desired date, directly at your new place.
• Return borrowed items: if you borrowed library books, movies, tools or anything else, make sure to return them before you go.
• Review the house on the move day: after everything is loaded in the truck, don’t forget to take a look in all rooms to see if there are any items left behind. Also make sure the water, gas and electricity are switched off. Give the keys to your real estate agent, if that’s the case.

Office Moving Checklist

• Delegate one of your employees to coordinate the move: choose somebody who’s used to supervise projects and who’s detail oriented and focused.
• Check with the new owners when they’d be ready to let you in: an office move is different than a home move, because you have to be connected and wired from the very first day of your arrival. Phones need to be working, internet connection needs to be available, all offices need to be wired to the network. It would be best if you visited the new place by yourself in the week before the move, so you can make sure everything is settled and your business won’t have to suffer from lack of communication means.
• Obtain office moving quotes from moving companies. It’s better to pay a bit more but have professionals to handle the move for you. Before contacting them, make sure you prepare a rough budget allocated for the operation.
• Order new stationery and business cards: these should reflect your address change and also your phone numbers change, if that’s the case.
• Make computer backups: your IT manager should make backups of all office computers, because hard disks might get damaged during the move, causing losses of important data.
• Hire a cleaning service to clean up your old office: most probably, your agreement with the building owner requires that you leave the space clean, just as it was when you moved in. Your employees would surely leave behind a lot of stuff they don’t need anymore, so the whole place would be a big mess. That’s why it’s better to have professional cleaning services instead of asking your own people to do it.
• Announce all employees in time: this is important, because people need to be prepared for the moving day, without causing troubles to the business. They should have their work done for that day just one day before, and they should not set important meetings a few days before and after the move. All deadlines of projects need to be reconsidered in order to accommodate the moving interval.

Last but not least, in all situations, don’t forget to make a moving checklist!