Home Shifting Checklist: How to Prepare and Move Furniture

Shifting your home not only means transferring your belongings from one place to another but also includes many other things. You need to have exact planning and take care of each tiny detail to make this task much easier.

Nowadays, companies are available to help you out with your home-shifting tasks, but you’ll be in charge of tracking their tasks and ensuring all your belongings are transferred properly.

Still, finding it stressful and tough? Just read our blog- “Home Shifting Checklist: How to Prepare and Move Furniture” and get relaxed.

Things to Consider Before You Start Packing and Shifting Your Things

Start your packing at least one month ahead of your shifting date but before you start the process answer the following questions:

• Do you need to give your current landlord a notice for one month before shifting?
• Are you able to pack the things yourself? Or, Do you want to hire an agency to do this shifting task?
• Which furniture or electrical appliances will you move to the new house?
• Is the new house adjacent to your kids’ school or do you need to search for a school in that area?
• Have you informed your cable operator, internet service provider, garbage man, milkman, newspaper hawker, and the like?
• Do you need to sell some items you are unable to take to the new house?
• Who will be your utility service providers?
• Who will clean the old house after vacating it, or will you hire anyone for this task?
• What number of boxes you’ll need to pack the staff?
• When will you begin packing necessary and unnecessary things? 

After answering these questions, things will become a bit easier.

Packing Checklist for Moving/ Moving Checklist

The total checklist is divided into five parts and those five parts are subdivided into several parts. Let’s start knowing all the things.

1. Preparation Before One Month of Your Shifting Date

Know well about the following things first:

a) General Guidelines:

◈ Pack the items well together. Place towels, newspapers, and different small things in a box and then place heavier things over them. 
◈ Label each box by room and by content.
◈ Keep your necessary tools like hammers, screwdrivers, plus, scissors, and the like in a box.
◈ Keep paper plates, cups, utensils, and everyday wear in a box.
◈ Avoid overloading each box to prevent the dropping of any item during shifting.

b) Organize Your Packing Requirements:

◈ Boxes- You can get particular packing boxes of various sizes from any house shifting company. Ensure that they are in fine condition.
◈ Packing Tapes- Remember to buy carton tapes or packing tapes because you’ll need them while packing. 
◈ Marker Pen- Buy one or two permanent marker pens for labeling the carton boxes. 
◈ Bubble Wraps- You’ll need them for packing glass items or showing pieces, so they don’t break. 
◈ Trolley or Dolly- You know trolleys come with wheels, but not tea trollies, these are used for moving goods, also known as dollies.

• Make a list of everything you want to move. 

This should be your priority. Ensure that you check everything carefully and make a list of all things you want to shift. Visit each room of your old house to decide the things you want to take and also the things to discard. 

• Donate and discard unwanted things, furniture, and clothes.

After you’ve got the list of things to take, recheck it so that you can make it even shorter because there’s no point in carrying unnecessary things with you. You can donate unnecessary things, furniture, utensils, and clothes. 

• Organize a garage sale or simply sell unwanted items online. 

You won’t be able to donate everything because some items might be valuable but you can’t take them to the new place simply due to lack of space. Organize a garage sell for them or click pictures of them and sell on online selling apps or Facebook marketplace.

• Submit an address-changing form to your post office.

You won’t want your important letters, bank statements, bills, and others reach to the old address after you’ve left. So, go to your post office and fill up a form for address change.

• Select a house shifting company and confirm all arrangements.

Select a reliable moving company by proper investigation. Just don’t believe any agency only by their claims. Choose an expert company and give them sufficient time for planning, make all your requirements clear, and check out whether they will be available on the day of shifting. 

• Finding out items that you can’t move or move will require extra effort and time.

You have some items at home that you can move but will need extra effort and time. Suppose, several heavy appliances are quite tough to move.

2. 2 Weeks to Shift

Begin your packing tasks with the things you use less often like seasonal clothes, things, books, and the like. 

You’ll have things at your home that you use once in a while as we’ve mentioned in the example, begin your packing with them. 

• Have your curtains, rugs, and other home linens cleaned, and keep them wrapped after you receive them. 

Send your curtains, rugs, and the like to the laundry for cleaning. Laundries usually send after cleaning in packs. Keep them packed and open them after reaching your new home.

• Get antique items written appraisal to validate their value. 

While packing your items, write down the values of special valuable things such as antiques. Items like these will need extra insurance from your home shifting company.

• Book moving lifts or elevators and arrange parking space for trucks if required.

In case, you are shifting to an upper floor of the same building, book a moving elevator. It will lessen complications on your shift day. Again, if you are shifting to another building or other area, book a parking area for trucks on the shifting date. 

• Communicate with the insurance company for transferring policies (homeowners, life, tenants).

It will be wise to contact your insurance company and make arrangements for policy transfers.

• Make a list of personal contacts, companies, and friends to notify them of your address change. 

Make a list to notify the aforementioned groups of people like banks, your office’s HR, and others who need to know about your shift. 

• Take a leave from your office on your shift day.

Let your office’s HR department know that you need to take a leave on the day you are shifting your house to supervise the whole shifting process.

• Check whether the old space needs any minor repairs, and get them repaired before leaving. (Specifically, if you live in an apartment).

It’s important because if you get these repairs done, the new tenants won’t require paying extra for these repairs. Again, if the repairs are done, the place will be also easy to sell.

3. 1 Week before the Shift

• Carry on the rest of your packing tasks based on a room-by-room

Let’s see the room-by-room checklist for moving:

a) Kitchen

• Arrange a cooler to pack your items in the refrigerator.
• Wrap your dishes with bubble wrap.
• Pack sectioned cartons for packing glasses.
• Defrost the refrigerator minimum of two days before shifting.

b) Eating Space

• Clean your furniture such as dining tables, dining cabinets, and dining wagons, and keep them ready to take.
• Roll up the carpet (if any).
• Wrap your glass wares with bubble wrap.

c) Living Room and Bedroom

• Keep the valuable things in a separate locked bag or box.
• Wrap the showpieces with bubble wrap.
• Remove the bulbs, wall lights, ceiling lights, and chandeliers.
• Pack the books and necessary things.
• Keep your laptop with you in your laptop bag.
• Store the bedding.

d) Washroom

• Pack the towels, and floor mats separately.
• Seal the bottles of shampoo, body wash, after-shave, and others before packing.

e) Bonus Packing Tips

• In case, your family has many members, take separate cartons to pack things for each member. 
• Write the items’ list on the cartons’ sides. Use colors and numbers to differentiate items easily. 
• Keep the fragile and non-essential items in a separate pack. 
• Keep every essential thing in boxes, keep them shut, and taped properly. They need to be stackable.
• Label items that you will need quickly.

• Clean your old home or hire a cleaning company who will do the task.

Just throw away the stored junk, and do a complete cleaning of the home as a simple courtesy. You also have the option to hire a cleaning agency to do the same so the new residents can easily settle there.

• Check your furniture whether they have any dent or scratches.

You need to check your furniture for any dents or scratches before your shifting agency begins packing and stacking on the trucks. It will give you a chance to inspect whether the shifting company has made any damage to your items. 

• Clean or defrost your refrigerator on the day before shifting.

Clean your refrigerator and defrost that a minimum of 24 hours before your shifting day. Ensure that it’s completely clean and empty. 

• Don’t forget to drain the equipment like water hoses, oil/gas lawnmowers, propane tanks, and the like. 

It’s an important thing to drain the equipment before you take them to your new residence. 

• Ensure travel plans for family and pets.

Check your new home’s location and arrange the best possible way to get there for each family member and pet. In case, you are moving out of state, you will book air tickets for each member or make proper arrangements for family members and pets. It will be an added item to your checklist for moving out of state.

• Organize the deactivation or activation dates for your cable, internet, electricity, gas, garbage, and the like. 

Notify the service providers about your shift and arrange a date for the deactivation of services. Similarly, communicate with the service providers of the new place and set an activation date.

• Take pictures of each piece of electric equipment before you unplug them to get an idea of how you’ll connect them again.  

Taking pictures will make your task of connecting the electronics easier and faster instead of reading the manuals. 

• Place the warranties and manuals of all types of equipment in a place.

Placing them in a single place will help you find them quickly when you need them.

4. The Shifting day

• Decide which items and boxes you want to load the last. 

Check your list of movable things carefully and prioritize the things you want to pack
first and also the last based on their necessity and value. 

• Pack all loose things in boxes.

Pack cutleries, kitchen utensils, and showpieces appropriately in carton boxes.
Remove all the pictures, wall clocks, paintings, sculptures, wood carvings, metalwork, and photo frames from the wall. 

• Label all boxes on their top or sides with their new destination at your new home. 

It makes your unpacking tasks a lot easier.

• Make sure that your appliances are empty. 

Check carefully that your appliances don’t have any content inside them.

• Remove all items from your furniture tops. 

Remove all items from the top of your furniture such as the almirah, chest or drawers, kitchen cabinets, and the like.

• Check all rooms, cabinets, and closets carefully. 

Thoroughly check all rooms, cabinets, and closets to make sure that you are not leaving any important things at your old place. 

• Dismantle the rest of the bedroom sets. 

Dismantle all your bedroom furniture like beds whether king-sized beds, queen-sized beds, semi-double beds and bedside tables, and dressing tables. 

• Remain present at your new destination to show movers where things need to be placed.

It’s crucial because it will help to organize your new home quickly.

a) Make a list of essential boxes. 

Keep the following in your essential boxes:

• Phone chargers, coffee/snacks, scissors.
• Tissues and toilet paper.
• Paper towels, and garbage bags.
• Changes of clothes, towels, dish soaps, pet foods, dishes, and tool kits.
• Cutlery, nugs, and plates.

b) Things to do when moving out of a house

• Turn off the lights.
• Shut off the water.
• Close the windows.
• Lock the doors.
• Surrender the keys to the house to the landlord.
• Check if you aren’t leaving anything back.

5. At Your New Place

• Unpack your things, flatten the boxes, and donate them.

Unpack your things well yourself or let your movers do the task to be hassle-free. After unpacking flatten the boxes and donate them.

• Get your address changed on your identity card, driver's license, and car insurance.

It’s of utmost crucial to change your address at the places like identity cards, driver’s licenses, government insurance, car insurance, and the like.

• Look for damages or anything missing. 

Find out if anything is missing or damaged by checking everything with the list you prepared. It will help you claim for missing things or any damages. 

• Review your house shifting agency.

Review the service of your movers to help them get new clients. Again, tell them what you disliked or liked so that they can improve their services. 

• Organize and decorate your house. 

It’s the final step of this free-moving checklist or moving house checklist. Place the furniture at the desired locations with the help of your movers. Then organize and decorate the whole house within one week or two weeks. Call the electricians to set up your electrical appliances.

You can go through these articles to get more ideas on- how to decorate a dining room, how to arrange furniture in a small bedroom, and how to decorate your living room.

• It’s time to party! 

When you’re done with all the organization and decoration tasks, try arranging a housewarming party to chill, have fun and take a break from your hectic tasks. 

Final Words: 

Now, you must have got a clear and complete idea of house shifting from our blog-“Home Shifting Checklist: How to Prepare and Move Furniture”. If you want to have some new and elegant quality furniture to adorn your home please visit here.