Moving House Checklist
Work backwards from the moving date instead of remembering things in the wrong order, and see at a glance what has actually been done rather than what has been worried about.
Moving and buying · MB-02
A free printable moving inventory and box log — box number, room, contents, fragile and unpacked — so unpacking becomes a task rather than a search.
One page. Choose your paper size — both versions are laid out identically, so neither one gets shrunk to fit.
Print it and write on it
Fill it in type and save
The fillable versions have real form fields — open them in any PDF reader, type into them and save. Printing help.
Know what is in every box and where it is meant to end up, so you can find the kettle on the first night and tell on the day whether anything is missing.
Anyone packing more than a car load, and anyone using a removal firm or a storage unit where boxes leave your sight.
One page, top to bottom:
Printed under the title: One line per box, written as you seal it. This is the sheet that turns unpacking from a search into a task, and the one that tells you on the day whether anything is missing.
Number first, pack second. Number the box before you fill it, and write that number on two sides and the top. A box stacked three deep with its label facing the wall may as well not be labelled at all. Keep this sheet with you rather than in the van.
Write-on lines: Moving from · Moving to · Sheet
Table, 14 rows: Box no. · Packed from · Goes to · What is in it · Fragile · Unpacked
Enough to find one specific thing. 'Kitchen' is useless; 'pans, chopping boards, kettle' means you can open the right box first time.
Yes, and arguably more. Firms number and list boxes to their own system; keeping your own copy means you can check the count off the van yourself.
Work backwards from the moving date instead of remembering things in the wrong order, and see at a glance what has actually been done rather than what has been worried about.
Collect the numbers you can never find when something breaks: model and serial numbers, install dates, and when the warranty runs out.
Capture the things you need to know about a new property while you are still paying attention, rather than at two in the morning during a leak.
The same subject, with a version you can fill in on screen.
Which box each fragile or valuable item went into, and who packed it.
The width and height of every opening and turn between the street and the room.
Every job of the move on one list rather than in several notebooks.
Every item and box in the consignment, numbered.
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