What to Do 3 Weeks Before You Move House When Moving Last Minute

Young man using laptop in his new flat
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While moving in four weeks or less isn't ideal, it's definitely doable. To help, we've put together this guide to moving within a month that includes a list of tasks to complete each week. Here, we'll show you what needs to get done three weeks before moving day so you can be sure to get everything done in time.

Cancel or Transfer Services

Some service providers may require a months' notice to cancel services, but I've found that three weeks is enough time to have the service disconnected or transferred to your new home. The best way to cancel or transfer services is to start with contacting the service providers in your new city or town to find out which providers you can choose from and whether your current provider services your new location. Once you've identified the new providers, schedule dates of when you'll need the service started/hooked up. Some providers, such as cable or telephone will need you to be at the new location whereas water, gas, and hydro providers can start and stop service as needed.

Change Your Address

The most critical notifications of your move should be to let your bank, credit card companies, and local, state and federal government agencies know that you're moving, in particular, the government revenue agency (IRS in the US and CRA in Canada) and immigration services if you're a documented immigrant. Most government websites will enable you to change your address online as will credit card companies and banking institutions. Just make sure you do this as soon as you can to ensure no gap in services or that you don't miss a very important piece of mail (such as a tax refund or payment notification).

Considering that a lot of vital information comes in the form of physical mail, I recommend taking time to fill out a change of address form with your local post office, which can often be done online. At the same time, you should also begin the process of notifying people of your move since most change-of-address services are for a limited time. Of course, if you're able and don't mind paying the higher fee to have your mail rerouted for six months, then notification of your move can be postponed until after you move and settle in.

Sort and Get Rid of Stuff You Don't Need

Now it's time to roll up your sleeves and get to work. The first thing you should do is to sort through your things and get rid of unwanted stuff—things you haven't used for the past year—in order to cut down on the amount you have to pack and move. While this will take time—time that you think you don't have—it'll save you even more time later when you go to pack and unpack your home. Purging your home of stuff you don't need also makes you feel lighter, freer, and a little more in control.

Start with all storage areas—sort through closets, attics, basements, garages—those areas where we tend to keep extra things. Make sure you're ruthless and can make quick decisions about what stays and goes, and if it helps to have a friend be your voice of reason, call them up. Whatever it takes to pare down what you have to pack.

Get Packing

When moving in 4 weeks or less, it's important that you start packing early even though you still need to be able to live and function in your home over the next three weeks. The best place to start is with those storage areas that you just sorted through—areas of your home that you don't necessarily access every day. Most often they contain things that you may want to keep but you don't use every day, such as sports equipment, seasonal clothing, and tools or appliances that are only used occasionally.

Usually, I recommend that you pack one room at a time, but when moving in a short amount of time, you really need to pack strategically by starting with areas and things you don't use very often. So, once you've packed the storage spots, next tackle certain areas of your home where items you don't use on a daily basis are kept—things such as books, extra linens, knickknacks, dishes used only for special occasions, or garage tools that are kept for special projects.