by Anna Hann
posted on June 10, 2024
Moving home isn’t always easy, but getting organised early can help make things go as smoothly as possible. By booking a van on Turo to move as much as you can yourself, and following a handy moving house checklist, you can give yourself the best shot at a seamless transition to your new property.
Prepare for the move
It helps if you can begin planning well in advance, giving yourself a good few weeks. Planning, packing, and getting all the admin associated with moving to a new property can often take longer than you expect it to.
Try to push for an exact date for moving house as soon as possible so you know what you’re working towards, and give yourself time to do everything systematically.
Book services
Once you know your moving date, research removal companies and get a few quotes, paying close attention to whether things like packing materials are included. Remember to factor this cost in if they’re not. Consider all the options, from full-service removal companies to hiring your own van and doing as much of the move yourself.
If you book a van on Turo and enlist the help of friends and family, you’ll probably find you can save yourself some cash.
If your new home isn’t ready by the time you’re due to move out and you’re moving to temporary accommodation, you might need to book a storage unit for furniture and bulkier items. Research storage units near you to make it as convenient as possible.
You might want to consider booking cleaners to clean your existing property once you’ve packed up or arrange for them to blitz your new property before you unpack. More on that later.
Declutter and sort
Once you know what date or time frame you’re shooting for, you can start the big sort-out. Now’s the moment to unleash your inner Marie Kondo and declutter. You’ll come across stuff you may not have seen for a while.
For anything you’re not keeping and taking with you, you’ll need to decide whether to donate items or dispose of them. Either way, it can help to book a van to help with any runs to the charity shop or your local recycling centre.
Essential admin
Don’t put off all the administrative tasks involved with moving home. Even if you feel weary after all the legal side of moving house, it’s worth making sure everyone who needs to know your new address is informed to avoid any necessary headaches down the road.
Change of address
Set aside some time to systematically go through all the people and companies you need to tell about your new address. If you’re moving to an overseas address, this might include closing or cancelling accounts.
As part of your moving house checklist, here’s a rundown of the people and places you’ll want to tell about your change of address:
- Financial institutions: current accounts, savings accounts, building societies, pensions, investments, credit cards, and hire purchase agreements.
- DVLA: driving license, V5C logbook, vehicle tax direct debit
- HMRC: Income Tax, National Insurance, State Pension, tax credits and Child Benefit
- TV Licence
- Insurance providers: home insurance, life insurance, health insurance, car insurance, travel insurance
- Utility providers: gas, electricity, TV, internet providers, landline, water, mobile phone
- Local council: electoral roll, council tax
- Educational institutions: transfer school records, colleges, and universities
- Employer
- Medical: doctor, dentist, optician, vet
- Subscription boxes
- Friends and family
If there are some changes you can’t make until you’ve physically moved, make a note of these and set a reminder to revisit them once you’ve moved into your new address.
Book time off work
Aside from moving day itself, be practical about how much time you’ll need to take off work. Friday is the most popular day of the week for moving house, so if you work Monday to Friday, you might only need to take the moving day off, as you’ll have the weekend to settle in.
If you’re moving house during the school holidays or have pre-schoolers, think about childcare for moving day. Also, consider your pets, booking them into a pet care facility or asking friends or family to help out.
Redirect your post
To catch any stragglers you forget to tell about your change of address, and so important mail doesn’t go missing at the Post Office in the weeks following your move, redirect post heading to your old address using Royal Mail’s redirection service.
Organise and pack
An essential part of the moving house checklist is the packing itself. If you’re self-moving, you’ll need to buy or borrow all the packing materials you need. Taking the time to gather boxes, tape, and other supplies in advance will help ensure a smoother transition to your new home.
Gather packing materials
The next job on your moving house checklist is working out how many moving boxes you’ll need (it might be more than you think). Bear in mind that you’ll need to order a variety of sizes to accommodate different items. Specialist boxes like hanging rail boxes are real time-savers so that you can easily move hangers from wardrobe to box, then straight back to the wardrobe in your new home.
You’ll also need plenty of strong packing tape, paper, and bubble wrap for fragile items and extra protection for screens and TVs so you have everything to hand when you start packing.
Label and list
Once your boxes arrive, it’s time to start packing. Distribute them among your rooms to ensure you have enough boxes, and order more if you think you’ll need them. In the meantime, you can always pile items up ready to box up.
Approach packing systematically, thinking about the rooms you’ll have in your new house and where you’ll want things there, rather than where items are in your existing house. For example, if you’ve got more rooms in your new house, label the boxes for the new rooms.
Labelling or numbering boxes is absolutely essential to make sure you unpack things in a logical order. If you’re moving in the summer, you don’t need to unpack winter jumpers and skiwear first! Create an inventory – ideally as a shared document with others you’re moving with – so you know what’s inside every box you pack. It might seem laborious, but it’ll be worth it at the other end.
Pack well
Pack heavy things like books in smaller boxes so they’re still easily transportable, and lighter items like bedding and cushions in bigger boxes. Take extra care when packing TVs, screens, and other breakables—it’s ideal if you’ve kept the original boxes.
You might want to consider clearly labelling boxes containing fragile items so that anyone else handling the boxes also knows to treat them extra carefully.
The VIP Boxes
VIP Boxes are essential boxes that you won’t want to lose track of at any point in the move. Pack all your important documents and valuables separately in one VIP Box—anything that you really treasure or that would cause a problem if they went missing. This could include important documents, passports, valuable watches, or jewellery.
If you’re booking a van on Turo for your move, you’ll need your driver’s license to hand when you pick up the van, so keep that somewhere safe.
Your second VIP Box is a moving-day survival kit. For many people, this includes a kettle, mugs, teabags, coffee, phone chargers, medicines, bedsheets, and towels. Perhaps it’s a bottle of celebratory champagne to put straight into the fridge of your new home.
It also helps to pack an overnight suitcase of nightwear, essential toiletries, and sets of fresh clothes so these are all in one place – moving day can be a long and tiring day, so it helps to have everything you need easily to hand.
On your moving day, take your VIP Boxes and overnight case in the car with you so you always know exactly where they are. If you think there’s a chance of them being out of sight, you could pop an AirTag inside so you can track them.
The final week
In your final week before moving to your new house, you may feel like there’s still a lot to do. Take your time to make lists so you know exactly what you’ve done and what you’ve still got to do.
Confirm your arrangements
Double-check your van pick-up or delivery arrangements with your Turo host if you’re self-moving. If you’ve roped in help from family members, now’s a good moment to remind them that they offered to roll their sleeves up and get stuck in! Double-check your pet care and childcare arrangements are confirmed, too.
In the week before the move, it’s worth making sure you’re aware of any parking restrictions at your new home (and giving a heads-up to the people moving into your current property if there are restrictions that will apply to them).
Now’s a good moment to check-in with your estate agent to make sure that everything is in hand from their side, too.
Prepare handover help
Preparing a home checklist or binder of handover tips for the new owners puts everything in one place. It can include original instructions for appliances (if you still have them) and advice like:
- Key locations – fuse box, gas and electricity metres, stopcock, inspection points
- How things work – thermostats, security system (including codes), boiler, oven, hob, washing machine and dryer
- Detail of bin days and recycling rules
Label any spare keys and remove house keys from your keyring ready to hand over to the new owner. It’s also helpful for the new owners to know if there are any knacks they’ll need to master—whether the key needs a wiggle in the backdoor or if the loft hatch needs a firm push to open.
It’s all helpful advice when they’re getting to know their new home. Who knows, maybe the previous occupant of the property you’re buying or renting will do you the same favour!
Clean the house
After all the packing, a deep clean of your old home might not be top of your mind. If time allows, you might want to arrange to have it professionally cleaned after you’ve left — some rental agreements stipulate this must be done, too.
It’s worth liaising with your chain to know if they’re planning to leave the property professionally cleaned. If not, you might want to schedule this before you unpack. Houses can be incredibly dirty once all the furniture has been cleared away.
Final preparations
There are some jobs that can’t be done until the days before moving day. These tasks include:
- Throw away any leftover or expired food. Pack all of your long-lasting foods carefully and tightly so they won’t spill.
- Defrost the freezer.
- Disconnect appliances. It’s worth digging out the instructions for advice on how to drain and pack them properly.
- Take pictures of the back of your electronics before disconnecting them so you can set them up easily in your new house.
- Book a food delivery for the day after you move in so you can stock your new fridge and cupboards with essentials.
- Think about what you’ll eat on your moving day. Research a local takeaway or food delivery service for your first night.
- Keep a couple of empty boxes for items you’ll want to pack at the last minute, including the hoover and breakfast items.
Moving day
If you’ve followed a moving house checklist, you should be in pretty good shape by the day you move.
Loading the van
If you’ve booked a van on Turo, collect it from your host. Or perhaps you’ve decided to have it delivered to your address.
Pack heavy items at the bottom and make sure everything feels secure. You don’t want everything to go sliding sideways when the van goes around a roundabout. A professional removal company will be experienced at loading vans, but if you’re not an expert, just slow down and take your time to avoid any damage.
Efficiently load the moving van to maximise the space — having things in stackable boxes helps. It can also help to load by room, saving time when you’re unloading. Try not to overpack. It’s better to do an extra couple of runs back and forth than overcramming the van.
Remember to keep track of where your VIP boxes are and make sure they don’t get swept up with the other boxes of non-essential items.
Say goodbye
Once the van’s loaded up, you’ll need to do a final walk-through of the old house. Remember to:
- Take final meter readings
- Put any final keys with the others
- Switch everything off
Say hello
Once you’ve received all the keys from the estate agent and completed your purchase or rental, inspect the new home and locate essential features. Your well-packed, clearly labelled boxes can now be distributed to the rooms — just make sure everyone knows which bedroom is which in your new property!
Unpacking and organising
Chances are, it’s been a long day but there are some essentials you’ll want to do in the first few hours in your new home so you’re ready for your first night.
- Switch the fridge and freezer on
- Locate your gas and electricity meters
- Take your meter readings
- Check all the keys and locks work
- Flatten empty boxes to use as window screens if there are no curtains or blinds
- Order a takeaway
- Make the beds
Settling into your new address
The first full day in your new home can be as busy as moving day itself, especially if you’ve only managed the essential unpacking.
Sorting out the essentials
Today, you’ll want to check everything’s in hand with your utility suppliers and internet connection with your broadband provider.
If there are some tasks that you couldn’t complete until you’d physically moved, now’s the time to tie up any loose ends. Depending on how the previous owners left the house, you might want to clean as you unpack, giving cupboards and drawers a thorough clean before loading them up with your possessions.
Meet your neighbours
Although your first day is busy, take the time to knock on the doors of your new neighbours to introduce yourself. If you’ve got kids joining a new school, this can be a great way to find out whether there are any classmates in the neighbourhood.
Ongoing tasks
As you slowly settle into your new property, continue to monitor utility bills and meter readings, making a note of anything you don’t get around to as a reminder to address. Refer back to your moving house checklist for any forgotten tasks.
Moving home soon?
If you don’t want to use a moving company, you can book a van on Turo and move everything yourself. It’s a great solution for smaller house moves, or if you’re not going far and can do several runs between your old address and your new home on moving day.
