The Ultimate Moving Checklist

Every project has a better chance to succeed if it comes with a good and nicely elaborated checklist of what needs to be done. The same applies to moving. Turning your life inside out while changing the address of living is one of the most difficult things. Some researchers say that moving falls under the top three stressors in adult life. Even when you hire packers and movers nearby – it can still be a tough situation to overcome.

If you moved in the past, you already experienced it, but If you haven’t – a checklist will bring some order in the chaos that you will encounter. 

Having a Moving Checklist is of Utmost Importance For Your Packers and Movers

There are so many things to be done, even the ones with the best memory capabilities will probably forget something, just hope that it wasn’t too important. Because if it was, it could mess up the whole plan. Even If you are hiring movers and packers in Redondo Beach, they won’t keep track of everything on your behalf. 

That’s why a pen and a piece of paper will be enough to prevent these things from happening. Do the research on the subject. Write everything down. Adjust the list to your moving needs and lifestyle. Start from scratch and once you are finished with the planning stages, take a list and check If you did everything that you were supposed to, at least the most important parts!

Let’s see what are the ultimate checkpoints!

Rule Number One

There is no perfect order! 

Remember that no one can tell you in which order to address things. For some of you, the date will be of the utmost importance, for others those will be local packers and movers that you already hired and had a great experience with.

Act in a way that suits you. Take care of your needs and priorities first, and then handle the rest!

“Most of us spend too much time on what is urgent and not enough time on what is important.”

Now that we pointed out what is essential, let’s point out what should be on that checklist.

A Checklist to Use Before Your Move

Obviously, there are things to take care of before you move, and then there are those that happen after you move. Both are equally relevant.

Coordinate the dates with the old landlord and the new one

This will be one of the first things to do. Because, you can’t plan packing, moving, hiring movers, cleaning the place before you don’t know for sure what is the time span that you are working with. You can’t choose a moving date If you don’t know when your new place is going to be ready.

Choose a moving date

Now that you sorted out what is your time span for move out and move in, you will need to choose the date. 

This step is not an easy one. There are so many factors that are affecting availability and prices for certain dates If you are hiring a company to handle your move.

Create a budget 

The budget will be a determining factor for many things. It will affect your decision about moving alone or hiring a company. 

In both cases, you should choose how high you can go about moving expenses in total. Budget movers in Redondo Beach can push you to move on weekdays for example. If you can’t do that, you will probably have to pay more in order to move during the weekend. 

If you are thinking about hiring packers and movers near you as well, your budget will need to be wider and more flexible because it is difficult to estimate the total moving expense in this case. 

Decide if you are moving on your own or hiring packers and movers in LA

Moving on your own

If you figured out the date, now you will need to think about how to pack, when to do it, how to transport the items, etc. Here are some things that you shouldn’t forget:

• Declutter your home (it will help so you can pack easily)
• Take a day off, or choose a day when you’re not working so you can start packing
• Rent a truck ( If you don’t have one)
• Go shopping for packing and moving materials (boxes, shrink wrap, moving blankets, etc)
• Label the boxes so you can unpack them easily
• Be careful with the fragile items and how you pack them
• Grab tools for disassembling the furniture (leave them somewhere in the open, you will need them again the same day)
• Take a day off, or choose a day when you’re not working for the actual moving day
• Get a parking permit for the vehicle ( If there is no free parking space)
• Think about kids If you are a family ( they shouldn’t be around for something like this)
• Find help for loading the truck
• Find help for unloading the truck
• Grab the tools for reassembling the furniture etc

Hiring a company 

If you decide to hire movers and packers near you, you can ease yourself from a lot of trouble. Especially the physical effort. However, there are some guidelines to follow in this case too:

• Do the research about the company. You should be careful when choosing the company for your moving project. The research should include:
  • Confirm that your moving company is licensed 
  • Check their rates for different dates (some are budget-friendly, some not)
  • Ask about their insurance policy
  • Ask If they provide packers and movers as well (if you are interested in a full service)
  • Make sure that they have a truck for your needs
  • Ask about the parking permit and who is in charge of it
  • Check If they have some hidden fees or extra costs 
  • What are the services that they include in the price
  • What is their flexibility with rescheduling or canceling
  • Read over documents from your movers to make sure that you are getting what was promised etc.
• Decide If you are hiring them for the full service or only for moving part
• Take a day for packing If you are doing that on your own
• Decide If you will hire them only for labor services (loading or unloading)
• Take a requested leave from work for the moving purposes
• Make sure that your kids are not around
• Let your movers know about your delicate belongings 
• Take your valuables with you (money, jewelry, watches, identification documents).

*Pro Tip

Talk to your packers and movers about fragile items and out-of-the-ordinary belongings. Make sure that you know what your movers will and won’t move. There are certain items that might need special handling and specialty movers. With this being said, you might need to hire another specialty movers for these items only (piano for example).

Make a plan about what to do with the excess items 

What happens quite often is that when you’re packing, there are certain things that you can’t take into your new place. This happens for various reasons. One of them is that your new place is smaller in size and can’t fit everything that you have, the other is that after decluttering you figured out that there are so many things that you don’t need anymore, for now, or at all.

Here are some suggestions on what to do in that case (If one of these situations is likely to happen to you, put them on your ultimate moving checklist):

• Sell, donate, recycle or trash the items that you don’t need anymore. You can post them on Craigslist, donate to Salvation Army or trash them in the dumpster If they’re not for usage in the future.
• Find storage for the excess items that you want to keep for the future.

If you are moving into an apartment – find out about requirements

Some buildings in Redondo Beach have strict requirements for move out or move in. They allow moving only during certain time frames and request a Certificate Of Insurance from a moving company. That is something that you will need to coordinate between your HOA (HomeOwners Association) and the apartment movers that you chose. 

How it usually goes is that the building requires some certain coverage from a moving company so they can allow them to enter the premises on the day of the move. They send you a document that the company needs to fill out and send back to the building’s management. 

This can be resolved in a blink of an eye but is something that can slip and be forgotten amongst other things that need to be planned.

So chin up and ask around!

Reserve the elevator 

The elevator reservation usually comes with the request for the Certificate Of Insurance. This also needs to be coordinated with the movers and the building’s management. Choose the elevator time carefully. Pick a good window and ask your moving company what is the best option. 

After Your Move Checklist

Clearly, this comes after all of the checkpoints that we mentioned. This happens after you move into your new place and the moving date has passed. 

So let’s see what those steps are!

Unpacking!

This needs to be done as soon as you have a chance because it happens that items get damaged. If that’s the case you would want to know and file a claim with a moving company and start the reimbursement process. 

Take care of the cleanup

Cleanup has to happen on both ends, the move-out and move-in location. There are companies that are dealing with the trash removal and the boxes, plastic wrap that stays after you unpack the furniture. In case that you don’t want to do this on your own, you can consider booking them and putting that on the checklist because it will be date-related. 

Follow your checklist!

There are too many things stated here, some you will find important and useful, some not. Every move is different as is every person and their needs. We can’t tell you what should be on your checklist, but we can lead you through a few different moving situations and what shouldn’t be missed. 

Those things that you can’t miss to do are the ones that have to be on your ultimate moving checklist. It doesn’t matter If you are hiring packers and movers, only local movers, or doing everything on your own. You will need some guidelines, especially If you are moving for the first time in your life. 

If you choose to rely on professional movers and packers near you, you will need to do good research and investigate the market. You will need to decide what your priorities are. If you will be looking for budget movers you will have to make compromises about certain things like the variety of services that they include.

On the other hand, If you want to hire professional movers and packers, you must know that quality comes with higher prices. 

Whatever you decide and put under your priorities, our qualified personnel will be happy to walk you through the process over the phone. Ask all the questions that you, maybe, forgot to ask. Remind you to book the elevator or label fragile contents. 

The questions that you’re asked are usually the answers that you need.