Moving Home Checklist — 6 Weeks to Move Day
Written by Rob, owner-operator of Man & Van Bournemouth since 2018 · Updated August 2026
A week-by-week checklist we have built from the moves that went smoothly and the ones that did not. Work backwards from your date and tick as you go.
Six weeks before
Book your van. This is the one people leave too late. Fridays and the last weekend of the month are when everybody moves, and they go first. If you are moving at the end of June or in mid-September around the student changeover, book further ahead still.
Start decluttering, room by room. Not the whole house in one weekend — one room at a time, with three piles: keep, sell, go. Everything you get rid of now is something you are not paying to carry later.
Sort the paperwork. Give notice to your landlord, or chase your solicitor on the mortgage side. Ask early what date they can realistically commit to, because everything below hangs off it.
Four weeks before
Order your packing materials. Boxes, tape, marker pens, and more tape than you think. Supermarket boxes are free but inconsistent in size, which makes stacking a van harder; a mix of proper small and large boxes is worth the money.
Tell the people who need telling. Schools, GP, dentist, vet, insurers, bank, employer, DVLA. Make the list now and work through it, because it is longer than anyone expects.
Arrange post redirection with Royal Mail. It takes a few working days to start, so do not leave it to the final week.
Book time off. Move day is not a half day.
Two weeks before
Pack the rooms you do not use. Loft, garage, shed, spare room. See our packing tips for the box rules that stop things breaking.
Confirm the utilities switchover for both properties — gas, electric, water, broadband. Broadband is the one worth chasing hardest; installation slots are the thing most likely to leave you without internet for a fortnight.
Book a tip run or a clearance for whatever the decluttering turned up. We are a licensed waste carrier and can take it in the same visit — see waste removal.
Start running down the freezer. You want it empty in a fortnight.
One week before
Pack everything except daily essentials. By the end of this week you should be living out of a small number of boxes and a suitcase.
Confirm timings with us. Ring and check the slot, tell us anything that has changed, and confirm the access at both ends — the floor, the stairs, and where the van can legally stop. If either address is somewhere tight, this is the call that saves you an hour on the day.
Defrost the freezer at least 48 hours out, and leave the door open with a towel underneath. A freezer that is still dripping on move day means someone is mopping instead of loading.
Sort parking. Cones, a permit, or a suspended bay if your council allows it. In the town centre, Westbourne or the Poole quayside streets, this is not optional.
The day before
Take the beds apart, or at least strip them. Charge everything. Put the tools you will need to rebuild furniture into a bag that travels with you, not in a box in the van.
Pack the open-first box and put it in your car: kettle, mugs, teabags, milk, chargers, loo roll, hand soap, a towel each, a change of clothes and bedding.
Move day
- Be there for the loading. Ten minutes of you pointing at things is worth an hour of guessing.
- Take meter readings at both properties, and photograph them with the date visible.
- Keep valuables, documents and keys with you — not in the van.
- Walk through every room before you lock up, including the loft, the shed and the airing cupboard. Open every cupboard door. Something is always in one of them.
- Check the loft hatch and the garage specifically. They are the two places things get left, every time.
- Leave the keys where you agreed, and confirm it by message so there is a record.
After
Get the beds built first, before anything else. It is tempting to unpack the kitchen because it feels productive, but at eleven at night you will be very glad the beds are up.
Then the kitchen, then the bathroom, then everything else in whatever order suits. There is no prize for finishing in a weekend.
For the move itself, see house removals in Bournemouth, or ring 07879 168 829 and we will talk through the dates. We cover Bournemouth, Poole, Christchurch and all of BH1–BH25.
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