The best way to ensure a smooth move and put your mind at rest is to make a plan and back it up with a comprehensive checklist.
Four to six weeks to moving day
- Get your garage and garden shed into order.
- Start using up frozen and perishable food and stop buying bulk items.
- Dispose of unwanted items (hold a garage sale, put them on the verge or give them to family and friends).
- Organise important documents into a single folder that can be easily accessed at any point during the move.
- Change your address, both for traditional mail and for online accounts (Amazon, Ebay etc.).
- Schedule any necessary repairs for your existing home and your new one.
- Arrange time off from work.
- Book a removalist if you intend using one.
Two weeks to moving day
- Change your address for your internet, gas, electricity, water and any other utilities.
- Arrange for family, friends or a professional service to look after pets on moving day (the upheaval can cause them distress).
One week to moving day
- Arrange for packing boxes, wrapping materials such as bubble wrap or padding for delicate items and tape.
- Back up all your computers to a hard drive or to the cloud.
The packing process
- Do one room at a time so as not get yourself in a mess.
- Try to keep similar items in the same boxes and label them (it will help at the other end).
- Put lighter things in bigger boxes, heavier items in smaller.
- When you dismantle furniture tape the nuts, bolts, screws and any other bits and pieces to the parts where they belong.
- Put essential toiletries in a bag or box that can be easily accessed during the move and at the other end.
The night before
- Defrost the freezer (use an esky and ice to keep essentials cool and transport them to the new place).
- Arrange the boxes so they are easily accessible for the removalists or whoever is doing the job.
- Farewell the neighbours.
Moving day
- Get up and get moving early, especially if you have to pack the kids off to school.
- Keep special items and important documents with you.
- Switch off gas, taps, lights and electrical switches (in other words, turn off the house).
- Lock up (an empty house is a target for thieves and vandals).
- Tick one thing off your checklist by moving home with Alinta Energy. We’ll sort your connection, so you have less to worry about.