Don’t box me in.
While six weeks may seem like a lot of time to get moving materials like boxes, but since you’ve already begun your moving plan you’re obviously a very organized person. Congratulations. But, if for some reason you didn’t start two weeks ago, then you’d better get moving on it now. Just six more weeks! Again, you might want to take a look at our page on moving boxes.
Your piano is HOW big?
Just as with your regular movers, you should notify any specialty movers at least six weeks before you begin any move. We have already mentioned this in our Eight Weeks before the Move section, so this is just a reminder. If you have a piano that you want extra special care taken of, begin to arrange this service at least by this time. If you don’t know where to turn, you might want to take a look at our moving guide, on our main page. This is also the page to turn to if you just realized that driving your classic car collection across the country just isn’t an option. Before you spend six weeks on the road moving them, try visiting our automotive relocation page.
Return to sender. Address unknown.
At least six weeks prior to your move, make sure that you notify the post office of your new change of address. You can get this form online from Canada Post here, or from the US Postal Service here. While these Postal Services generally do an excellent job, just as with your moving company, you want to give them as much advanced notice as possible. And giving them six to eight weeks to move on your new address information is not unreasonable. And since we always forget to tell someone we’re moving, here’s our moving notification list:
- Your Bank
- Your Insurance Company
- Your Doctors and Dentists
- Your Magazine and Newspaper Subscriptions
- Your Clubs and Associations
- Your old High School or University [assuming you want those reunion invitations]
Depending on how nice a person you are, you also may wish to tell:
- Your Credit Card Companies
- Your In-laws
- But remember, you still have six weeks before your move to mull these last two over.
Your six-week strategy
Now is the time to start putting together some concrete ideas for your move. Walk through your home and mentally try to decide what things should be packed together. Try to compartmentalize the job into a series of one week long tasks. If you’re using a mover, you have six weeks to try to determine what they will pack, and what you will pack.
Winter people, Summer people.
If you live in an area of the country that has all four seasons, you can use this to your advantage during your move. If you’re moving in the wintertime, you can obviously box up your lawnmower, gardening tools, and any other seasonal objects. And all of your summer weight clothing can sit in boxes for the next six weeks before you move without any worry. Likewise, if you have a summer move, that snow blower and all of those snow shovels can be put into boxes immediately. Ditto for the parkas, gloves and mitts. And don’t forget to drain your lawnmower and snow blower of gasoline and oil before you package them up.
Utilities: power and water.
We’ve probably all had experience of moving into a house with no power. So be sure to notify the relevant power utilities, so that your first candlelight dinner together will be a planned one. Likewise, no one wants toilets that don’t flush on the day of their move, so make sure that you call the water services people at least six weeks before you get there. Moving day will go much more smoothly if you do.