Put the boxes down! Here’s our moving house checklist

Moving is stressful. Moving requires physical labour and it often results in absolute mental fatigue due to the analysing and over analysing of what to purge from your life, or not. How many moving house checklists have you compiled in the moves you’ve made? Whether you are a sucker for a checklist or not, it becomes an imperative exercise when trying to box your belongings and juggle logistics. So as the ‘big move’ comes to a close you need to double check that you have covered all your bases and you are ready to exit the old and enter the new. Here’s our moving house checklist to help you in those final and exhausting last days: 1. Pack a bag so that your first night in the new home is comfortable. It should be filled with toiletry, linen and pyjamas – a good night’s sleep is the least you can do for yourself once you’re in your new place. 2. Change your address so that your post will be delivered to your new address. 3. Pack an easily accessible box filled with remote controls, feet and legs of the beds, cell phone chargers and any instruction manuals for your appliances or items that need assembling. 4. Have your first-aid kit in an easily accessible place just in case of emergency. 5. Arrange parking areas and access points for the removal vans at your current home and at your new address. 6. Save the removal company’s office number and the driver’s number in your phone so that you can remain in contact should there be a delay or a miscommunication about the address or times of arrival/departure. 7. Defrost, empty and dry out your refrigerator. 8. Compile a note of instructions and helpful, relevant information for the new tenants or residents of your old home. 9. Arrange for post-occupation cleaning services so that the house you are leaving is clean and suitable for the new tenants to move in. Pre and post-occupation cleaning is vitally important as there is nothing worse than arriving to a new home that is filthy. Check that your new home has undergone pre-occupation cleaning. 10. Arrange for suitable times for the keys to be handed over to the new tenants and for when you can collect your new home’s keys. This moving house checklist covers the basics and can be changed according to the property type that you are moving from and subsequently, moving into. Essentially though, these basics must be covered. We are in the business of contract cleaning and one of the services we provide is pre and post-occupation cleaning services. You’d be surprised at how much dust, dirt, grime and mould can build up in your home without you even knowing about it,  until the day you move in of course. It is common decency to do a thorough post-occupational cleaning of your home and many agents will assist you with arranging this service. It may even be a part of the agent’s moving house checklist. Image credit - Afrovan