A checklist that actually helps.

The countdown

Four weeks out

• ✓ Book your movers. Three weeks if it is the end of a month, because every lease in the metroplex turns over on the same weekend.
• ✓ Tell your leasing office you are going, and ask whether they need a certificate of insurance from your mover. Most do. Send us the name and we handle it.
• ✓ Start eating the freezer. Seriously. Nothing travels worse than frozen food.

Two weeks out

• ✓ Order boxes, or ask us to drop some off so you are not making a hardware store run the night before.
• ✓ Book the elevator if you are in a building that reserves them. This is the single most common thing that slows a move down.
• ✓ Set a date to switch utilities. Electricity on at the new place before you arrive, not the day after.

The week before

• ✓ Pack anything you are packing yourself. Label by room, not by contents — it is where it is going that matters on the day.
• ✓ Empty and defrost the fridge at least a day ahead, and dry the inside out.
• ✓ Put passports, medication, jewelry, cash, keys and laptops in a bag that travels in your own car.

The day before

• ✓ Charge your phone and ours is (972) 767-9242 if anything changes.
• ✓ Clear a path. The three feet in front of the door matter more than anything else in the house.
• ✓ Decide where the pets are going. A closed room with a sign, or somewhere else entirely, because doors are propped open for hours on a move.

Moving day

• ✓ Your buddies call about thirty minutes out. You do not need to be there before that.
• ✓ Walk the team leader through the place once, pointing at what goes and what stays.
• ✓ Tell us where furniture goes as it comes off the truck. Putting it in the right place once is cheaper than moving it twice.