Packing for Your Move? Wondering What to Pack When?

You should never leave things until the last minute.

This is a concept most of us are very familiar with, but of course, being human we don’t always follow it. When it comes to moving, however, leaving packing until the last minute is not only inconvenient, but causes an enormous amount of additional stress and can seriously mess things up later on. Whether you’re leaving a rental behind to purchase a new single family home, or are changing things up for whatever reason, here is a timeline of the weeks leading up to your move and what you should pack and when.

One Month Before

• If you haven’t done so already, this is when you’ll want to start organizing things with moving companies.

• Be sure to prepare a list of your biggest furniture that that moving services may need to handle, as they may ask for this ahead of time.

• Ask friends (nicely) to set aside time to help you out on moving day.

• Make copies of all of your most important documents and store them separately, just in case the originals get lost during the move or while you’re packing up.

• If you need to buy anything for your new home, start looking. After all, you don’t want to move there and end up going for a while without a bed or somewhere to sit down. Additionally, you may also want to buy and store cleaning supplies that you may need upon arrival.

Three Weeks Before

• Sort through your belongings and pull out anything you don’t need or don’t want. If you want to sell them, now is the time to have a yard sale. Donate and give away anything that doesn’t sell.

• Start packing up anything you know you won’t need in the next few weeks, such as books, DVDs, games, seasonal clothes, etc.

• For items you can’t pack right away, start labeling boxes and getting them organized into categories. This will make it easier for you to pack up the rest of your belongings quickly and efficiently over the next two weeks.

• If you are close enough to your new home and the landlord or realtor permits it, visit it to take photos. Or find ones online. This will help you start to organize in your mind where you want everything to go, as well as give you an idea of what kind of cleaning and basic repair supplies you may need to bring.

Two Weeks Before

• Now is when you need to really start packing if you haven’t done so already. Start packing up all of your belongings (save from the clothes and basic necessities you will need during the final week) into the boxes you set up the week before.

• If your move is a long distance and you haven’t done so already, make travel arrangements for yourself and your pets. This means making hotel reservations, letting airlines know you will have a pet traveling, budgeting for gas expenses, planning meals, etc.

One Week Before

• Call the moving company or whatever services you may be using to confirm your plans for the move date. If you have any questions about transporting certain items, ask them now to avoid any unpleasant surprises the day of.

• Write down where necessities are packed, if not obvious from the boxes.

Move Day

• Pack heavier boxes and furniture on the bottom of the moving truck (if doing it yourself). Make sure everything is secure, with nothing loose or rolling around.

• Go through your house one last time, checking every room and closet to make sure nothing is left behind.

• When you get to your new home, unpack one room at a time, going in order of importance.

Moving is stressful, but it doesn’t have to be that bad if you plan everything out and give plenty of time to take care of each step.

Kurt Jacobson is a surfing enthusiast with a background in real estate. Having moved 10 times in the past 7 years, he thrives on helping others learn from his experiences. When he’s not out shredding waves he writes about rental apartments for RentFinder.