For many people thinking about a move, the portion that involves the actual moving is the most mind-boggling. Purchasing a new residence is exciting—commencing upon a new chapter in life, whether you are relocating to your dream house in Houston or getting something smaller, there's something about a move that helps you feel like you're starting anew. Then, you look at all your dirty old stuff and that rocketship you are riding over the moon to your new abode comes back to earth and you find yourself in a stack of old books and kid's artwork that you need to contend. However, if you schedule your move and follow an elementary checklist, you can most likely pack your life and move it to Houston without excess worry and misery.
It's normal to have a moving time frame of about 3 months, so this timeline figures you have that much time to make it happen. All that is needed to begin is a large file folder.
Three Months Out
Pick your moving company—figure out if you want full-service moving or you want to do it yourself or a service level in the middle, sort of an a la carte option. A moving specialist comes by your house and goes through to determine how many moving trucks and how many boxes you'll require, assess time to load, transport, and unload, and provide you a quote for other work, like packing, disassembling certain items, and warehousing, if needed. Once you decide on your moving company and services needed, be sure to confirm you are on their schedule. Put a copy of the estimate in your folder. Check one big thing off of your list!
It is never too early to begin purging—which items to give to a charity, trash, or move with you. How you go about the task is up to you, what is good for one person doesn't work for everyone. Don’t pay attention to all the blogs and internet videos and get started on what works for you—one afternoon you might sort through and proceed to pack up what's moving, the next weekend you may decide to continue purging and leave things in place. There really is no correct way to accomplish it, so don't sweat it if you don't abide by the "rules".
Two Months Out
This is commonly when you start feeling a little hurried—the calendar is seemingly going faster than it should be, and the reality is that aside from selecting your moving company and throwing out takeout menus and mismatched mittens, you haven't accomplished anything.
If you are going to be quitting your place of employment and have not discussed your move with your boss, now is the perfect time--it gives them the time to prepare someone for your position so they're prepared when you exit.
If you've elected to do your own packing, think about it again. Assistance is at your fingertips; your moving company can assist with professional packers to do the job—they'll schedule for closer to your move since they get there and get the packing knocked out quick as a wink, and you will need your bed sheets and the coffee pot until the end.
Tell all service providers that you'll be leaving—if your move is local, give your yard service the new address and you are done. Beyond that, here are a few of the vital ones.
Medical—doctors, orthodontists, dentists
These days, most medical practitioners are part of larger networks and your records are readily available if you switch doctors. Ask your general practitioner for referrals. They network well and have old buddies from medical school they can get you in touch with. While dentists and orthodontists do not have those networks, they will be able to refer you old-school, too.
Prescriptions
As pharmacies merge you might manage to keep your current pharmacy chain, but to be prepared place paper copies of all your medications in your file folder so that you will have them on hand in the event of an oversight along the way. The last thing you want is to run out of thyroid medication the day you are loading the truck and have to finagle with a new pharmacy.
School
If you have school-age children, enrolling them in a new school district is a must—you need every document in existence to register them—birth certificate, social security info, proof of address (a copy of your contract if you have not closed in Houston yet), and immunization records at the very least. Ask exactly what you'll need, and get ahead of the game and place all the important paperwork in a safe place—the file folder.
If you have adult children in college and you're moving out of the state, inquire about the parameters for maintaining in-state tuition. Each state has different regulations, and the reasons for the move and the distance can make a difference—some states provide in-state tuition if you're moving to a contiguous state.
Keep sorting and boxing—make a goal for a room each week, or all the closets in a week.
One Month Out
By now you should have purged, arranged, and have all your non-essentials in tidily packed and labeled boxes in the garage. Right. Now is when you get cutthroat with sorting--especially if you've choosen to have the moving company pack everything that is left. It is astonishing how really unnecessary that old lamp becomes when you do not love it anyway and now it's going to cost you to move it. So, trash it and keep moving.
Activities--Community, Religious, Social
If, by accident, you have forgotten to tell anyone that you're moving, you need to now. Especially any volunteer groups you're active in, and if you are leading committees or on any boards, you hopefully have already alerted the groups so they can fill the gap you are creating. Do not forget to pass off any files or records you have (Girl Scout cookie moms) to your successor. If you're part of a nationwide organization, (Rotary, Junior League) submit your transfer documents--you can a lot of the time do these online.
Many mainline churches and synagogues give the opportunity to transfer memberships; once you're feeling comfortable and have found a new religious home, they will handle that for you when you are ready to join a new church home.
If you belong to any organization, you'll want to change your membership--depending on the by-laws, you could be able to have a non-resident status after you move to Houston.
Activities--Youth Sports, Clubs
If you have kiddos, you shall experience the fun of finding new play groups, music teachers, sports teams, and gymnastics studios. The excellent news is that club level teams are everywhere, if your kids are into sports. And, social media mom's groups are a good way to find other kid's activities. Don’t forget that everyone has an opinion, but you will at the very least be able to get a good number of contacts for karate and cooking lessons.
Two Weeks and Counting
Get ahold of all your utilities and set up the end-service request. Remember your internet and cable--you might be able to transfer some services if your provider is in your new locale as well (gas, power, TV, internet) but unless you're local you'll require new accounts. Set up your new accounts as you cancel the old ones, and remember the mail. You can set up your new address and delivery stop dates online, and if you need a Post Office box you can accomplish that online too.
If you are moving across the country, confirm hotel reservations and airline tickets. If you are moving with your pets, ensure the hotels allow animals.
One Week to Go!
Make believe you're departing on vacation and pack a bag or two, so you can get everything else ready to move. Hold a “Clean Out the Fridge” week, and use paper products if possible so that you can pack up the rest of the kitchen.
If you're moving any landscaping, hold off until the last day to dig the plants up, and place them in big tubs for the move.
Confirm with the movers what time they'll arrive at your house to commence loading.
Moving Day
You're ready to get going. You have got your stuff prepared to go on the moving truck, so grab your folder, unplug the coffee pot and hit the road.
