Moving Checklist

When to use this checklist

Start as soon as you know your move date. Still choosing a place? The apartment hunting checklist covers the tours and the questions to ask. The checklist runs in 8 stages, from 8 weeks before the move to the first weeks in your new place, and each stage shows the date to start it. If your move is sooner, start at the top and catch up: the early tasks, like notice and estimates, are the ones with deadlines.

It covers the move itself: notice, movers or a truck, utilities, your address change and packing. Two other checklists cover the rental on each end: the move-out checklist for cleaning, photos and your deposit, and the move-in checklist for recording the new unit’s condition. Moving into your first place? The first apartment checklist covers what to buy and set up, and the first apartment grocery list the first trip to the store.

How to use the generator

1. Add your move date. Each section then shows the date to start it. Your name and the two addresses are optional; they only go on the printout.
2. Say how you’re moving: hiring movers or doing it yourself with a truck. The list changes to match.
3. Tick what applies: leaving a rental, moving to another state, moving with pets, or with school-age kids.
4. Check off tasks as you finish them. Use the notes for dates, names and confirmation numbers.
5. Print it or download the PDF if you’d rather keep it on the fridge.

Your answers stay in your browser. A draft is saved on this device so you can come back to it over the weeks of your move. Press Clear to delete it.

Sample moving checklist

Here’s a checklist a few weeks into a move with movers, out of a rental. The name, places and notes are made up.

Change your address the right way

• Use USPS.com or a Post Office. USPS takes a request up to 90 days before your move and up to 30 days after it. Allow at least 7 to 10 business days for it to take effect. Online, you pay a $1.25 identity check; USA.gov notes you don’t need to pay a separate company to change your address.
• Tell the people who send you mail. A USPS change of address only changes your mailing address with the Post Office. USPS suggests telling everyone who sends you mail at least 2 weeks before you move.
• Contact the senders mail won’t reach. Some senders, such as government agencies and banks, don’t let USPS forward sensitive documents like driver’s licenses, voter registration and bank statements. Standard forwarding lasts 12 months.
• Update your voter registration after the move, as vote.gov asks, whether you stayed in your state or not. Deadlines can be as early as 30 days before Election Day.
• Tell the IRS with your next tax return, or directly with Form 8822 (IRS Topic 157).

If you hire movers

FMCSA, the federal agency that registers interstate movers, gives this advice in its moving checklist and red flags:

• Get written estimates from at least 3 movers, and don’t accept a verbal estimate.
• Be wary of a mover that won’t look at your things before quoting, demands cash or a large deposit before the move, or asks you to sign blank documents.
• For a move to another state, check the mover’s USDOT number in FMCSA’s database (or call 800-832-5660), and expect the booklet Your Rights and Responsibilities When You Move, which movers must give you.
• On moving day, read the estimate, bill of lading and inventory before you sign, and keep the bill of lading until your things are delivered, the charges are paid and any claim is settled.
• At delivery, note anything damaged or missing on the inventory before you sign.

To compare a truck, movers and a moving container on cost, use the moving cost calculator.

If you’re leaving a rental

• Give notice in writing, by the date your lease asks. The 30-day notice letter writes it for you, with a line for your forwarding address.
• Plan the last month’s rent. If you move mid-month, the prorated rent calculator works out a partial month.
• Protect your deposit with the move-out checklist: cleaning, dated photos and keys. The security deposit calculator shows how long your landlord has to return it in your state.
• At the new place, record its condition before you unpack with the move-in checklist, and check that big furniture fits with the will it fit calculator.