Moving Countdown Series 2 weeks
Setting up your utilities. Lights, Camera, Action!
• Make a schedule and budget for utilities in your new home.
• Ask your Realtor® or landlord for contact info for utilities companies in your new location.
• Call your new electricity, gas, oil, water, and trash collection companies to arrange service; also, if necessary, a reliable snow plow contractor. Save these phone numbers in your moving notebook and your mobile phone.
• Use your room layouts to decide how many cable outlets, phone jacks, and modems you will need; tell your providers so they can give you an accurate estimate of installation fees.
• Call a few providers for phone, TV, and Internet prices and compare rate packages for your new location; do price shopping for bundles of mobile home, phone, internet, and TV; beware that these bundle prices will increase after 6 or 12 months.
• If you use a satellite TV provider and you will be renting, check with the landlord or condominium association for rules and locations for satellite dishes.
• Inform your local utilities providers of your last service date and arrange for any final meter readings. Give them your forwarding address for final bills. Also, cancel local newspaper subscriptions.
Plan for moving pets
• If cats and dogs can be taken via car, remember to take along food, water, a leash, newspaper, or absorbent pads.
• Animals can get car-sick and will require frequent stops along the way. Also, if you plan a hotel stop, verify that the hotel allows pets.
• For moving pets long distances – learn more here.
Plan for moving house or garden plants
• Check with your local U.S. Department of Agriculture for regulations regarding moving plants from one state to another. Many states have restrictions on certain plants to prevent importing bugs or pests that can destroy valuable cash crops.
• Check out professional movers’ tips online – learn more here.
Plan for moving yard care and home maintenance items
• Empty used coals from backyard grills into safe containers for trash pickup.
• Return propane tanks to supplier; most professional movers will not transport propane.
• Drain water from garden hoses and sprinklers; clean dirt and mud from lawn and garden tools; pack them in heavy black yard bags sealed with duct tape.
• Call the Solid Waste Division in your county for disposal instructions for paint, motor oil, pesticides, dyes, andcoolants. Please do not just dump them in your sewer or trash can!
Your money and your mail
• Fill out change of address order form – learn more here.
• Fill out an IRS change of address form – learn more here.
• Make sure all your friends, family, and business associates have your new address: also, change your address for magazine subscriptions, national newspapers, alumni or political organizations, car insurance, etc. Here is a form to keep track – learn more here.
• Even if you manage bank accounts and credit cards online, you need to give them your new address for notifications and tax documents, and to avoid fraud alerts when you start charging in your new location.
• Compare banks in your new location. Decide whether to keep your current bank (if it has local branches) or open an account in a new bank.
• If you choose a new bank, have your funds wired to the new bank from your current bank. Before closing, be sure there are no outstanding checks or automatic payments that haven’t been processed. Enter instructions for automatic payments with your new bank.
• Collect valuables from your safe-deposit box. Make copies of any important documents and decide whether to hand carry them to your new address or ship by mail or express shipping service (insured and with a tracking number).
• Check with your insurance agent to ensure you’ll be covered through your homeowner’s or renter’s policy during the move. Get policies for your new location.