Moving Checklist for Vermont, VT Households

Every stressful move looks the same in the last seventy-two hours: a house half-packed, a truck arriving at eight, and someone throwing kitchen contents into an unlabeled box at midnight. That outcome is set six weeks earlier, by the decision not to start. The work is not difficult, it is just long, and it does not compress well.

Eight Weeks Out

• Get three written moving estimates and check each USDOT number.
• Book your date — summer and month-end fill first and do not reopen.
• Walk every room and decide what is genuinely coming with you.
• Start the purge: donate, sell, or schedule a haul-away load.
• If school is involved, request records transfers now.

Six Weeks Out

• Order boxes and materials, or confirm your mover is supplying them.
• Pack the rooms you do not use — guest space, storage, decor, off-season clothes.
• Photograph anything valuable, and anything with existing damage.
• Measure large furniture against doorways at the new place.
• Book storage now if there is a gap between closings.

Four Weeks Out

• File a change of address with USPS.
• Notify banks, insurance, subscriptions, and your employer.
• Schedule utility shutoff at the old place and startup at the new one.
• Confirm your moving date in writing and re-read the estimate.
• Arrange care for pets and small children on moving day.

Two Weeks Out

• Confirm parking, elevator reservations, and building access at both ends.
• Use up frozen food and pantry items rather than moving them.
• Service or drain anything with fuel — mowers, trimmers, snowblowers.
• Return library books, borrowed tools, and anything rented.
• Fill prescriptions so you are not hunting for a pharmacy in week one.

One Week Out

• Pack everything except the kitchen, bathrooms, and one set of clothes.
• Defrost the freezer at least 24 hours before the move.
• Disconnect the washer, dryer, and ice maker, or arrange for it.
• Label every box on the top and two sides with its destination room.
• Set aside documents, medication, jewelry, and chargers to travel with you.

Moving Day

1. Be there when the crew arrives and walk the house with them.
2. Point out fragile, valuable, and do-not-load items explicitly.
3. Keep the essentials box with you, not on the truck.
4. Do a final walkthrough of every room, closet, and the attic.
5. Check the inventory against the load before signing anything.
6. Leave keys, garage remotes, and manuals where you agreed to.

The Essentials Box

One box, loaded last and opened first. Coffee and a kettle, toilet paper, soap, towels, a change of clothes each, phone chargers, medication, basic tools, scissors, trash bags, and whatever your kids or pets need to feel settled. Everything else can wait until morning.