Custom Home – 6 Moving Tips For When You Have 30 Days To Go!

While we don’t have an official move-in date yet, we are roughly 30 days away!!! It feels like forever from now but, when at look at all that I have left to do until then, 30 days is not a lot! Here are a few things on my current to-do list…

1. TAKE DOWN WALL DECOR

If you haven’t already, take down all of the wall art and remove any nails or screws from the wall. Wall shelves can probably also come down now if they’re only serving a decorative purpose.

In addition to the wall art, you may want to also take down your wall-mounted televisions, provided you have the TV base on hand to use until move-out day. This way, you can start filling in the holes from the TV mounts, leaving you with one less thing to do at the end.

2. DISMANTLE FURNITURE

This might be premature if you’re actually still using the furniture but if you have a spare guest room that won’t be used for the next month, then consider taking apart the furniture now so that you have one less room to pack at the end.

3. SELL AND DONATE WHAT YOU DON’T WANT

We have been on a Kijiji selling spree lately! Now that the cabinetry has been installed in our new home and we can see the spaces come together, some of our current furniture isn’t going to work, so we’re selling it off to avoid having to move it next month.

In addition to that, there are certain items that we just don’t want anymore. We’re selling those too and donating anything that is not worth selling.

4. REVIEW YOUR MONTHLY SUBSCRIPTIONS

If you haven’t already done this, change the delivery address on your monthly subscriptions.

I’m actually putting a hold on our Amazon household deliveries for a month so that we don’t risk having items delivered at either address when we’re not there.

5. SET UP UTILITIES FOR THE NEW HOME

We’ve already put in the request to stop the utilities for our current rental to end on the last day of our lease. Now, I need to set up the utilities for our new home.

If you’re moving into a new build, like us, the utilities may not yet be connected (it is not uncommon for the builder to do that at the very end), but you can fill out the connection forms online and then, once the builder makes the necessary connections, your accounts will be set up.

6. CREATE AND COMPLETE YOUR PUNCH LIST

Our moving punch-list is an ever-evolving checklist of little things that need to be done to help make the move a little less hectic. The goal is to keep the list handy and add/remove items as you go… Here are a few of the items that are currently on my list:

• ConfIrm moving details with moving company and set aside money for movers;
• Back up all of the computers/phones (just in case we have internet connection issues when we move);
• Use up all of the food in the house;
• Remove keyless lock from door (it belongs to us) and re-install house lock;
• etc.

There you have it – we’ve officially made it to the 30-day stretch! If you’re not quite at 30 days yet, be sure to check out my 90-day and 60-day posts for what we did to prepare for our move back then.

Advertisement

Custom Home: 6 Moving Tips When You’re 90 Days Out!!!

I can’t believe how fast things are moving! If you’ve been following my monthly updates then you know that there was a stretch of time where the house sat untouched and then, after that, our closing date was extended (you can read more about that here). But that’s all history now and (barring any unforeseen delays) we are officially 90 days away from moving!!!

Here’s what we are doing now to prepare for the move:

1. RESEARCH INSURANCE OPTIONS

You know that commercial where they show a couple using dial up internet in the ’90s and waiting forever to get an insurance quote? That’s how I feel even though I’m using 21st century technology…

In my experience, filling out a form online does not yield the best insurance quote. You actually have to call different providers and go through all of the details each time in order to get their best possible price. Needless to say, the process is time consuming! And since our current car insurance is set to renew in August, getting quotes now allows us time to shop and also ensures that we can add our vehicles this year (as opposed to waiting until next year’s renewal) for an even better discount rate.

2. THINK ABOUT YOUR INTERNET AND CABLE NEEDS

If you’re moving into a rural area, like us, not all of the major internet and cable providers will be available. Hence why we needed to start researching this ahead of time. Some providers, like the one we will be going with, can actually hold a discounted rate for you until you eventually move in. So, in our case, the provider was having a special sign-up promotion in June and is guaranteeing us the same deal even though we will not be connecting with them until September.

3. PACK ITEMS THAT YOU WON’T NEED

Winter is officially over!!! (I really hope I didn’t just jinx myself by writing that…). And since we’ll be moving into our new home at the end of summer, I have started packing all of our winter gear that won’t be needed until after we’re in the new house.

I’ve also done an inventory of what is in our kitchen/bathrooms/closets and have boxed up anything that we aren’t using (and won’t need until after our move-in). This frees up some space in our current rental and provides us with a better idea of how much we will need to pack at the end. It’s also a great way to go through your belongings and purge whatever you know you won’t want to keep.

4. SECURE YOUR MORTGAGE RATE

In Ontario you can secure your mortgage rate up to 120 days before closing. Since we had some delays, I waited a bit longer to ensure that we give ourselves a window for any unforeseen issues. So we are now in the process – with 90 days out – of firming up our mortgage details. Locking in your rate is especially important if you’re purchasing at time where the mortgage rates are going up!

5. CHECK YOUR LETTER MAIL

Currently, Canada Post charges $60-$100 for mail forwarding! Over the last few months, I’ve kept track of the mail we get (banks, Costco, magazine subscription, work, etc.) and made a list of whomever we need to advise of an address change. In the era of online banking, we don’t get that much mail so I’m hoping that we can just notify all those who do correspond via snail mail of our move ahead of time and save ourselves the cost of mail forwarding.

6. KEEP YOUR BOXES

If you’re like us, you use boxes every week (Amazon subscriptions, Costco purchases, diaper boxes, etc.). In preparation for the move, we’ve started keeping those boxes and any bubble wrap/wrapping paper. It’s a good way to reuse cardboard and it’ll hopefully save some cost on packing materials.

Your to-do list will inevitably get longer and longer as you get closer to move-in day. The above are just some of the things that we’re doing now to get us started and (hopefully!) reduce some of the moving madness at the end! Check back next month for what we’ll be doing when we’re 60 days out!!!