Moving Day Checklist from Professional Movers Utah
It’s finally here—moving day. Ready or not, here it comes: you are relocating to a new home. Right now. Your day will be less stressful if you’ve prepared adequately during the months, weeks, and days leading up to this. But whether or not you’ve done that work, the time has come.
We’ve seen it all as a premier Utah professional moving company. Based on our experience and on-the-job observations, we’ve compiled a list of things that make moving day smoother and easier. If you are feeling anxious or overwhelmed as you face your relocation, our list should help alleviate some of your stress.
Rise and Shine
Set Your Alarm
Do you love to sleep in? When others remind you that the early bird gets the worm, are you quick to point out that the late worm avoids the bird? Well, today is the day to push your limits. Set your alarm so that your move day begins early.
If you are working with a residential moving company, they should have given you a time window for their arrival. However, before they show up, you’ll want time to do some last-minute preparation. We’ll get into those details later, but for now, know you will want enough time to prepare yourself and your home before work begins.
If you’ve decided to tackle moving day yourself without furniture movers or other professional help, this will be a very long, exhausting process. That’s even more true if you haven’t finished your DIY packing. You’ll need every minute of the day. In fact, you may feel like one day is not nearly enough to complete everything properly, much less pause to catch your breath or rest your back mid-day. Sleeping in is not an option for you, self-mover. Not only will you need to rise with the sun–or before it–you won’t have a minute to spare. It’s time to get up and hit the ground running.
Breakfast of Champions
Carve out time for at least a quick breakfast. If you’ve emptied your fridge and cleared your pantry in anticipation of the move, don’t let that prevent you from starting the day with some food in your belly. You’ll need fuel for the day ahead. Order in or send a friend through a drive-through if you have to. However you need to procure your chow, don’t skip breakfast today. Fuel up with a hearty meal.
Moving is a stressful endeavor. If you haven’t outsourced most of the labor, it’s also physically intense. A well-nourished brain and body will help you make it through the day. In the quiet moments before the truck arrives and chaos begins, eat something.
Before Movers Arrive
Set Aside Do-Not-Pack Items
Secure all essential documents and set them in a designated no-pack-zone. This area could be your car, a spare bathroom, a shower, or an otherwise-empty closet. Add your car and house keys, luggage for your travel, and anything else you don’t want on the moving truck.
If you are moving locally and have access to your new home, consider taking your do-not-pack items over before your short-distance movers arrive. That will be one less thing you need to keep track of during the move process. If moving these items ahead of time isn’t an option, clearly label them with signs so that everyone involved knows they are off-limits.
Secure Pets
It’s best if your animal friends can stay with a friend or at a pet daycare. They will be less stressed if they aren’t there to see their home disassembled and loaded onto a truck. If you can help them avoid the chaos of the move, make those arrangements. On the morning before work begins, drop them off at their respite location.
If your pets will be staying home, secure them now. Tuck them away safely before any workers arrive. If you don’t have an area of your home or yard in which to secure them, consider leaving them in one room with the door closed (and a sign on the door). If you can empty that room ahead of time so no one needs to enter it during the day, do so. If not, you can have your movers pack and load that room first, while your furry family members hang out elsewhere. Then, transfer the pets to the safe, empty room where they can spend the day away from the moving process.
Prepare Snacks and Drinks
If you have friends or family helping with the move, you’ll want to keep them fed and hydrated. Before the team arrives, ensure you stock your fridge with cold drinks. Consider having coffee or hot chocolate available on a cold day or if work begins early. Have quick snacks ready for your assistants to grab so their midday munchies don’t slow down the process.
If you work with a residential moving company, offering food or beverages is not required. However, the gesture will be appreciated, even if it isn’t accepted.
Make a plan for lunch. Once the loading action begins, time will fly. Lunchtime will arrive before you know it. Thinking through your plan for lunch will ensure you aren’t struggling with that age-old “what should we order?” question when hunger strikes.
When Your Team Arrives
Your team is here. It’s time for the move to begin in earnest.
Give a Tour
Walk everyone through your home. Show them where they can find the restroom. Point out items that need special attention. Make them aware of any items they shouldn’t pack and any off-limits areas. If your pets are in a secure space, ensure everyone knows not to let them out. If there are items you want packed last, like a table and chair you plan to use during the day, brief your team on that plan. Courteous Utah packing and moving companies will understand if you want to keep your child’s bike or kitchen table around as long as possible. Just let them know so they can formulate a plan.
Think About the Weather
Long-distance moving companies in Utah are used to dealing with weather. If your pack-out occurs on a day with snow or rain, have extra door mats available. Ensure your commercial moving and storage team takes proper precautions to protect your belongings from the elements. Any reputable Utah professional moving company will know how to execute your move despite the elements.
Your professional movers may put down extra tarps to protect walkways in your home from snow and salt, erect a tent over your doorway, or take other weather-related precautions. They will work to keep the mess outside from getting tracked through your home. Your move team will also prioritize keeping items as dry as possible when carrying them from your home to the moving truck. Wet objects stuffed in the back of a truck can easily lead to mold. Preventing the rain or snow from drenching your items will help protect them during transit.
If you are loading the truck yourself, you may not have these protective measures available. Find a way to keep the muck off your carpets and the moisture away from your possessions as they are loaded. Unloading a truck full of moldy furniture and mildew-covered linens is not how you want to start life in your new home. Cross-country moving companies take steps to avoid that; you’ll need to do the same if you want to avoid disaster.
During the Packing and Loading
Supervise the Process
Think of yourself as the project manager. If you work with trusted Utah packing and moving companies, they should require minimal supervision. Find a company that has been in the moving business for years and has a well-trained, professional staff—not just temp workers they recruit for the day or week. They should know how to care for your belongings and treat them respectfully. However, don’t hesitate to check in on the process, ask questions, or request special handling for items of particular concern.
This is your move; if you want something done a specific way, make the request. And if observing every part of the process makes you feel better, that’s fine.
If you’ve chosen to work with short-distance movers or cross-country moving companies, you can make periodic rounds to watch your crew work and ensure everything is done to your satisfaction.
If you are packing and loading your items yourself, you’ll be too busy to do much supervising. Your friends aren’t going to appreciate it if you are walking around watching them work rather than working up a sweat alongside them.
Label as Needed
Your moving crew will label and inventory the boxes they pack. However, if you want more detailed labels, you can create those throughout the packing and loading process. If you have created a color-coded system for your move, let your movers know. You can request that no items be carried out of the room from which they were packed until they have your color-coded stickers or labels with room names applied.
When Loading is Complete
Final Walk Through
Your packing and moving service providers have finished their work. They’ve loaded the last box. They’ve carried out the final piece of furniture. Your movers declare the job done. While the actual moving portion of the day is complete, your moving-day work isn’t quite finished.
Before closing and securing the moving truck door:
- Do a final walkthrough of your house.
- Check every closet and cabinet to ensure you didn’t miss anything. It’s easy to miss a small box on a high shelf in a closet. You want to find that while you still have a chance to include it in your shipment.
- Check outside as well. Ensure sheds are empty, storage boxes have been packed and loaded—or emptied if they stay with the home—and outdoor furniture and decor items are on the truck.
Confirm the Inventory
Long-distance moving companies or local movers should provide you with a written inventory. This list will include every box, each piece of furniture, and other items loaded on the truck. Give it a quick read to make sure everything looks correct.
Once you’ve confirmed everything is out of the house and eyeballed the inventory, you can send the vehicle and your moving team on their way.
After the Movers Leave
Close up the House
Whether turning your home over to a new owner or a landlord, you’ll want to take some basic steps to close up the house. Here’s a list of some commonly overlooked tasks:
Thermostats: Turn your thermostats to the lowest safe temperature in winter or the highest acceptable setting in summer. You don’t want the pipes to freeze, especially if you are still responsible for the property. Nor do you want excessive indoor temperatures to cause damage. Beyond that, you should let nature take its course. If you are still paying for the electricity or gas, this will save you a bit on your final bills. There’s no point in maintaining a comfortable temperature in an empty home.
Winterizing: If you move in winter, empty the hose bibs and turn off the water supply to any external faucets. Consider other cold weather preparations, like leaving bathroom cabinets open to let warmer indoor air circulate. You want to avoid a nasty bill from your landlord or a costly delay in closing on your home sale because of a burst pipe.
Cleaning: If you haven’t hired a move-out cleaning service, your day isn’t yet over. You may be exhausted from the loading process, especially if you choose to do the work yourself rather than working with professional packing and moving services. But your lease or home sale terms likely require the home to be left clean and ready for the next occupant.
If you are working with a cleaning service, let them in. Hopefully, they don’t begin work until after your movers have left. If you’ve double booked, you’ll need to manage the chaos of competing teams. Inspect the housekeepers’ work once they finish to ensure your home meets the terms of your lease or closing documents.
If you’ve chosen to do the cleaning yourself, shake off the long day and get to work. Cleaning an empty home is easier than navigating around furniture. However, it can still take some time, especially if you are responsible for dirty baseboards, dusty blinds, or filthy window tracks. Ensure you clean to the standard required by your landlord or purchase agreement.
Lights: Turn off all the lights.
Turn in Keys and Other Transferable Items
Hand over your keys, garage door openers, access cards, and other items that stay with the property.
Perform a Walkthrough Inspection
Do a final walkthrough with your landlord, realtor, or home buyer as required. They will want to verify the condition of the property.
Say Goodbye
Give yourself a few moments to process your empty home. Moving can be surprisingly emotional. You’ve made memories in that home. Leaving your house for the last time can feel like leaving those memories behind, too. Spend a few moments at the end of a hectic day quietly walking around your space for the final time.
Move to Temporary Accommodations
It’s been a long day. You’ve earned a good night’s sleep. Once you’ve finished at your old home, go to your hotel or wherever you are staying. If you are doing a long-distance move, resist the temptation to start your drive on move day. Even if your team of professional movers finishes early, give yourself plenty of time to decompress. Save your travels for the following day.
While this is a moving day checklist, we’d be remiss if we didn’t point out that your path to a smooth move day starts before the day you relocate. Check out our residential, long-distance, and company moving sections of this guide for tips on preparing for your relocation. Read the information in our packing supplies and advice write-up, and follow our move-week checklist to be well-prepared for move day. An ounce of preparation is worth a pound of move-day frantic problem-solving: being ready and on top of the plan is the best way to ensure a smooth moving experience.
Moving day can be long, exhausting, and chaotic. If your goal is to remove as much stress as possible, the best thing you can do is to hire help. Start by searching the internet for “commercial movers near me.” Then, use reviews, personal recommendations, and interviews to find the best local or long-distance moving companies in Utah or wherever you are moving to or from.
Having a trusted team you can count on to perform professionally will make moving day as relaxing as possible. You want to wake up on your move day feeling excitement for this next chapter in your life rather than dread for the ordeal to come.
