Moving House

  • Creation Date: Wednesday, 12 June 2019

 With a little planning, OK, some serious planning, you can ease the trauma by planning ahead of time and these are our tips and suggestions to make that transition a little smoother.
Print out the list and tick the chores off as you do them, that alone will go a long way to keeping your mind on the task:-

Two months before moving

Make sure, if you’re travelling, that all travel arrangements and paraphernalia are in place. Get confirmations. Keep a file for confirmations, tickets, passports, identity documents, travel documents, receipts and store it safely and securely in a security safe if possible. If you need to get it out to refer to something, put it right back when you’re finished.

Make arrangements for your pets to travel if they’re going with you. If not, please take the time to find them good homes. Don’t do this at the last minute, your beloved pets don’t deserve that.

Gather together all your important items like jewellery, treasured possessions and other important documents and records. Keep them all together in a safe so when you move and you’ve seen to everything else, those important items are at hand and can get the attention they need.

Start researching the new service providers in the area that you are going to need such as:

• Schools
• Day-care centres
• Job opportunities (if you are going to be looking for a new job)

Organise removal of furniture. Shop around and phone several removal firms. Some removal companies offer special prices for middle-of-the-month removals. Make a firm booking. Obtain confirmation by fax or email. Make absolutely sure all your details are correct. Pay your deposit. Keep the confirmation and proof of payment in a safe place. I usually keep a moving file for when I move.

Start collecting boxes. You can pay a visit to your local supermarket deliveries’ yard, the guys are usually very willing to give you boxes. Wear old clothes and sneakers when you’re doing this. The last time I moved I had to climb up into the skip myself and rummage for good boxes. Another store, however, kept decent boxes for me and I gave the guy a tip for keeping them for me over a period of a few weeks.

Apple boxes and fruit boxes make wonderful packing boxes. They are firm and generally in good nick. They also have lids and "handles" for easy carrying. It’s not a good idea to have huge boxes, they are heavy and cumbersome and a pain to remove because of their weight.
Some removal companies provide you with boxes and bubble wrap, find out prices – they also sell second-hand boxes which are sometimes just as good as new boxes.

Six weeks before moving

If you know where you are moving to, it’s a good idea to get your utility cancellations and new utility requirements underway.

Contact the electricity department if you need to have a new account put in your name and electricity connected. Get confirmation. Notify them of intended cancellation dates. Check details, check dates and file your documentation.

Visit or make contact with the local telephone supplier in the area you are moving to. Fill in all the forms required to keep all your communication disconnections, reconnections or new connections seamless, like telephone, ADSL, wireless – you don’t want to try and do this a week before you move – chances are you will end up waiting six weeks for that ADSL line to be installed. That could be a nightmare for your business if you work from home. You also want to have a telephone number available to you as soon as you move into your new home. Notify them of the intended cancellation date. Get confirmation, pay deposits, file.

One month before moving

Notify everyone that you are moving and advise them of your new address and, if you already have it, your new telephone number. (If you haven’t got a new address yet, it’s probably a good idea to get a post box for the time being and let them have your mobile number if you’re still waiting to get a new landline). You can advise the post office to forward any email to your post box while everyone gets up to speed updating their records.

• Family
• Friends
• Employers
• Banks
• Credit card institutions
• Schools
• Doctors
• Dentists
• Opticians
• Hospitals
• Clinics – get clinic records for your babies and children, if necessary
• Vets
• Libraries
• Attorneys
• Vehicle registration department
• TV Licensing department
• Council departments
• Satellite TV service provider
• Internet service provider
• Insurance companies
• Medical Aid companies
• Pension departments
• Utilities Departments
- Rates
-Water
-Electricity
-Levies
• Stores where you may have accounts
• Departmental stores
Pharmacies
• Subscriptions
• Newsagents
• And, yes, you must notify the Revenue Services!

It’s also very important to make sure that you have insurance cover from day one in your new home, so remember to notify your present insurance company of your cancellation date and advise them of your new insured address.

Start collecting bubble wrap, old newspapers, packaging tape, twine, rope – everything you need to secure your boxes – a black marker for marking the boxes will come in useful too.

Make time to sort out that old cupboard where you stow everything and have to put your foot against to lock – it’s time to get rid of the things you don’t use or need anymore! Be ruthless.

Moving is a great opportunity to streamline and even make some money.

• Garage sales and car-boot sales are wonderful ways of getting rid of the clutter.
• Take that old pottery and China to the second-hand stores.
• Sort out clothes and linen that you don’t require or that don’t fit you anymore, give them to  the Salvation Army or your church to distribute.
• Your 21-year-old really doesn’t need to keep all his or her old school books anymore, give them to a local disadvantaged school.
• Give the toys to the local hospital or day-care centres for the children that will love them all over again.
• I don’t know about you but I can’t get rid of books – so I won’t suggest taking them to the second-hand bookshop.
• Start sorting out the garage! That’s usually a minefield of clutter.
• And, no, I didn’t advise you to get rid of your partner’s old cricket gloves that he has had since he was six-years-old!

Two weeks before moving

Start looking for new service providers in the area you’re moving to such as:

• Hospitals
• Specialists
• GPs
• Dentists
• Opticians
• Vets
• Allied health professionals like chiropractors, physiotherapists, etc.
• Hairdressers and beauty salons (I had to slip that one in for the ladies)
• Attorneys
• Clubs
• Gyms
• Sports facilities

Start packing all the things you won’t need for the next couple of weeks.. It’s amazing how much packing you can get done well ahead of time.

Keep a notebook handy to jot down any other things that might need attention.

Confirm all your removal arrangements.

Make sure all utility cancellations and new utility requirements have been attended to.

A week before moving

Finish packing everything you can.

Secure and mark the boxes for easy unpacking the other side.

Make arrangements for someone to come in and clean the place you are moving out of, especially carpets and walls.

Make arrangements for someone to clean the new home you will be moving into.

If possible make arrangements with someone in the area you are moving to be at the house the other side, just in case things go wrong and you don’t arrive before or the same time as the removal truck.

Make arrangements to hand over the keys of your old home and get the keys of your new home.

Three days before moving

Review your list and make sure everything is completed and ticked off.

Take a deep breath, water your garden and wish it well, take something with you, if you can, a plant, a stone, a slip of that creeper.

Tend to the pool

Pack the last minute things that are going with you.

For the next two days try and relax – you will need to recharge yourself for the big day.

Have tea with friends, go out for supper for the next couple of nights, but try to get some sleep and, above all, take only good memories with you as you start living in your new home.

Good luck with the move.

Please let us know if we’ve missed out anything important or even not-so-important.