If you already moved house before, you know that it’s never going to be a 100% stress free day. You know that moving itself takes a lot of moving parts, and you have to put all of those parts together to create something that’s as stress free as it can be. But it’s not always smooth.
A little bit of planning can help you to go a long way when it comes to moving house. Whether you’re moving from one rental to the next, or you’re moving from a rental to a home that you finally bought, there are things that you can do to make the actual move easy.
You would have already gone through the rigmarole of a survey, a building inspection and multiple home inspections, but what comes next? Well, what comes next is signing on the dotted line, getting yourself a nice pair of keys and planning your moving day. So what should you be doing before you move into your new house other than home inspections, getting a survey and signing the contract?
- Get connected to the Internet. You need to contact the Internet service provider at least three weeks before you move, because some providers take longer to get connected than others. This will save you from a lot of frustration and inconvenience, and you don’t want to live in a house that doesn’t have any Internet. Some providers can be booked out weeks in advance, so you need to make sure that you can either make a straight swap with the provider that you’ve got, or you can upgrade your plan with a new one.
- Get your energy and your utilities on the go. Disconnecting the energy and the electricity in the previous tenants name and reconnecting it in your own name now that you’ve bought the house is the next thing to do. Luckily, the process is a very simple one. All you have to do is call your energy provider, give them your details, address and preferred connection dates and they can do the rest for you. Providers often only need one or two days turnaround time to reconnect you, so it’s important that you do this before you move so that you don’t get charged for anybody else’s usage.
- Have a plan for your kids and your pets. You need to have a plan for your kids and pets so that they are squared away during moving day. If you can leave the kids with a relative or do their moving day during school hours, it’s a good idea. As for pets, ask a friend or someone to sit for them or even book them into a pet boarding house for the day so that you have time and space to get things done without worrying that someone’s going to get under your feet. Children like to run around a lot, and with movers moving or your furniture in and out of houses, you need the way clear.
- Update everybody with your new contact information. You should inform all relevant businesses of your move, and you should update your friends and family too. Send an e-mail or a text message notification to tell people your new address and your new phone number so that they can continue to get hold of you after you move.
