Return items you are renting unless you still need them (if you still need them, arrange for a return date and see if the rental company will pick up the items). Retrieve items you have lent to friends and return items you have borrowed.Either gather the materials and start the job now or hire a contractor. Give your home a deep clean to make it pleasing to potential buyers (do this yourself or hire a maid service to make the job go more quickly).Move unnecessary furniture to a storage unit.If you are in the process of showing your home, consider hiring a home stager to help you de-personalize rooms and use furniture strategically to show off your home to its best advantage. Declutter your home to get rid of trash and stuff you donвЂ™t want to take with you.

Visit your doctor, dentist, and childrenвЂ™s schools to obtain records or to arrange to have them sent to your new physician, dentist, and schools.Begin mapping out a plan for what to pack first (least needed items) and what to pack last (most needed items).Schedule the best time for utility disconnection at your old home and utility connection at your new home, including Water, Electric, Garbage Pickup, Internet and/or Cable, Gas, and Landline Phone services.Enlist family and friends to help collect boxes. Start rounding up packing boxes from liquor stores, grocery stores, shipping companies, and home improvement stores.Store estimates and contracts in your moving binder.

Start pricing the cost of moving: get estimates from a moving company (if youвЂ™re using one), van rentals, and moving equipment rentals.

Include a folder for moving van and equipment rental, household inventories, moving company and other estimates, and other important details.

Get yourself a 3-ring binder with a few sheet protectors and begin filing all the documents, receipts, lists, etc., that will be created as part of the moving process.

Nothing will be forgotten, and everything will roll along just as planned (fingers crossed!). If you approach your upcoming move as meticulously as a bride tackles her wedding day preparations, youвЂ™ll enjoy the fruits of your labor as pieces of the puzzle fall easily into place. Planning a move is a lot like planning a wedding: there are checklists of things to do for weeks before the event, and youвЂ™re just hoping that everything goes smoothly on the big day.

Checklist for moving