Guides · Checklist · 6 min
The moving house checklist, eight weeks out to the first night
What to do and when, week by week, from booking the survey to finding the kettle on the first night. Print it, stick it on the fridge.
Most of the stress of moving comes from doing everything in the last week. The list below spreads it out. Tick things off as you go, and if a week is empty for you, skip it.
Eight weeks out
- Book a removals survey. A video survey takes 20 minutes and you get a fixed price in writing.
- Decide what is not coming. Every wardrobe you sell now is one you do not pay to move.
- If you rent, check your notice period and book the end-of-tenancy clean.
Six weeks out
- Confirm the moving date with your solicitor or landlord and book the removal.
- Ask the council about a parking suspension if the street is narrow or residents-only. It can take three weeks.
- Start using up the freezer and the cupboards.
Four weeks out
- Collect your free boxes if you are self-packing and start on the rooms you use least: loft, spare room, books.
- Pack heavy things in small boxes and light things in large ones.
- Tell the people who need your new address: bank, employer, GP, DVLA, electoral roll.
Two weeks out
- Book time off for moving day and the day after.
- Arrange redirection of post.
- Measure large furniture and the doors at the new place. Tell us if anything looks tight.
The week of the move
- Defrost the freezer 24 hours before.
- Take beds apart the night before, or leave them to us.
- Label every box with the room it goes to at the new place, not the room it came from.
- Pack the first-night box.
Moving day
- Keep phones charged and keys, documents and medicines with you.
- Walk round with the supervisor before loading starts, and again at the end.
- Take meter readings at both ends and photograph them.
The first night
Make the beds first. Everything else can wait until the morning.
Quick answers
- When should I book a removals company?
- Book the survey as soon as you have an offer accepted, and the move once you have a likely completion date. Four to six weeks ahead is normal; eight for a Friday or the end of a month.
- What should I pack last?
- A single "first night" box with the kettle, mugs, tea, phone chargers, toilet roll, a towel each, bedding and whatever the children cannot sleep without. Travel with it in the car.
