Top 10 Move In Tips
or Things to Do Right After Your Move to Make Your Life Just a Little Bit Easier!
You’ve probably read a ton of blogs about where you should consider moving when to move, which moving company to pick, which packing supplies to use, and how to pack. But sometimes one of the most important things of all can get lost in the shuffle, and that’s what to do immediately after you actually move in. Lists of general moving tips are a dime-a-dozen, but lists of move-in tips are a little harder to come by!
A general moving checklist can help you manage tasks and reduce stress during the moving process, but a move-in list can be even more useful in the right context.
After all, moving in involves a lot more than simply getting boxes into rooms, dragging furniture around, and filling up drawers and closets. There’s an art to the process of getting “settled in,” and if you take a few minutes to plan out your first 24-48 hours inside your new home, and keep this list of tips handy, you’ll thank yourself later.
In short, to make your life, post-move, as stress-free as possible, we offer below a list of 10 things to do, ASAP, after moving into your new home. Not every one of them may apply to you and your situation, but on the whole, this is the stuff that—if it’s done as early as possible—will make your life a whole lot simpler!
1. Do a quick clean before you Move in
(because nothing in your new home is as clean as you think it is!)
Regardless of whether you’ve become a homeowner or a renter, the residence you’ve just moved into is supposed to be clean as a whistle. Everything should be swept, vacuumed, and dusted, windows and mirrors – and especially bathtubs and showers— should be sparkling clean, and no food or garbage should be present.
The reality, however, is often quite different.
Apartments with high rates of turnover are notorious for filth, but even high-end homes are often not as clean as they appear on moving days.
Read Here: The Pros and Cons of Self-Packing for a Move
After all, construction work leaves a lot of residues behind, they’ve typically seen a lot of people come in and out for many weeks and months, they’ve been cleaned by someone whose priority has been to make the place appear clean, and, just generally, empty rooms often give the impression of being clean even when they’re not. (Carpets, for example, are notorious for their ability to absorb dust and dirt).
So within 24 hours of moving in, before you unbox but after a good night’s sleep to rejuvenate, give your place a decent once-over. Run wet and dry mops over all the floors, vacuum any carpets, wipe down every surface you have the energy to wipe down and focus intently on bathrooms and the kitchen.
Your new home will become increasingly clean over time as your regular cleaning schedule takes shape, but take advantage of your new residence’s unusual emptiness to hit surfaces that could be more difficult to reach later.
2. Check all door locks and window latches
It may seem pointless or annoying to move around your new home checking windows and locks a day or two after moving in (after all, don’t you have furniture to move?), but believe me, this one is important.
A friend once bought a house in San Diego with a metal grate over the window in the master bedroom, and—completely exhausted from his move—he fell asleep on his bed with the grate locked into place. He’d actually been given the key (along with a bunch of other keys) but hadn’t taken the time to figure out which was which.
Read Here: Tips to pick the best moving company
Unfortunately, at 4 am a blaring—but malfunctioning—fire alarm woke him up and helped him understand the importance of familiarizing yourself with all locks, latches, switches, and codes as soon as possible. He realized that if there’d been a fire outside his bedroom door, he wouldn’t have been able to escape.
So don’t wait on this one. It’s vitally important for safety—including making an easy exit possible in the event of an emergency and deterring would-be thieves—but doing this check immediately also gives you an opportunity to call the landlord, property manager, real estate agent, strata president (or equivalent) to get any issues resolved immediately.
3. Install a window AC unit if needed
This one is for those who’ve just moved into an apartment in late spring or summer, the time of year when—in the US—most moves happen. Following an exhausting all-day move, you go to bed early, wake up early the next morning, and start organizing your stuff, only to find that you don’t have AC! This happens more than you might think. Trying to unpack and organize your stuff in brutal summer heat—even if you’re indoors—is the definition of a miserable experience.
Read Here: Is Self-Packing for a move worth it?
So unless you’re moving at a quiet time of year and it’s a frigid winter’s day, or your new residence already has central air conditioning installed and is up and running, it’s completely worth your while to install a window AC unit before you begin to unpack. If you time things right, you can get Amazon to deliver one just before, or just after, you arrive. You’ll thank yourself later when 1 or 2 pm rolls around and you start wondering how anyone actually survives in 100-degree heat without air conditioning.
4. Locate the trash and recycling
This one is super-duper important because when you’re moving stuff in, you’re also moving a lot of stuff out at the same time, including (almost certainly) a mountain of flattened cardboard from all your discarded moving boxes, to say nothing of all the clothes, pictures, furniture, and other stuff you decide—after arriving—that you should never have brought in the first place!
It happens to everyone. Sometimes stuff just doesn’t look right or fit the way you expected. Or maybe it’s been damaged en route. Sometimes you decide to want something entirely different—something fresh and new—and you decide that that framed Impressionist print you bought when you were in college 15 years ago isn’t going to find a home in your new place has to go.
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When that happens, full knowledge of trash/recycling protocols—including pick-up dates—becomes immensely valuable. If you’re renting an apartment there will almost certainly be rules posted—in addition to local laws related to trash disposal and recycling. Follow them carefully so you don’t risk upsetting owners, managers and neighbors.
Even if you’ve bought a house or a condo, a solid working knowledge of how trash is done—out of the gate—can go a long way toward ingratiating yourself with those around you and being accepted as a good neighbor. This is particularly true if you’re bound by the rules of an HOA or strata. In short, prioritize this one and make the necessary effort.
5. Test your electrical outlets after you move in
You flicked a switch when you arrived, one or two lights went on, and you assumed everything was in perfect working order, correct? Well, maybe. But maybe not. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve set up my bed and night table in a new home, and then found, much to my chagrin, that the one outlet I need to be able to use my laptop in bed is dead as a doornail, and my charging cable won’t reach to the next-closest.
And I once spent hours arranging furniture in my living room—including a heavy big screen TV—only to discover that the nearest outlet was faulty and I’d have to move everything again if I wanted to watch Monday Night Football.
Read Here: How to Pack for a small move
To avoid the heart-rending disappointment I felt—and it was crushing, believe me—conduct a walk-through of your new space and test all the electrical outlets. If you want to be especially thorough, use a hand-held multi-meter.
For most of us, however, it’s easiest to simply plug a phone charging cable into each outlet—or a laptop—and then watch to see if the device starts charging. If it shows some life, you’re in good shape. If you’ve got nothing at all, the next step is to check the breakers. It’s entirely possible that a simple flip of a switch is needed.
It’s also worth noting that many older homes and apartments continue to rely on two-pronged outlets even though most modern electrical devices require a three-pronged outlet. If you’re unable to find a three-pronged outlet in your new residence and need to be online ASAP, consider ordering a 3-to-2-prong adapter via overnight delivery from Amazon or pick one up from a local vendor. (An additional note: a local grocery store can also be a good source of free or inexpensive packing supplies like banana boxes, which can be useful during your move).
Know More Here: All About Packing for an International Move
By the way, if you’re desperate, and your new residence is well off the beaten track, you can remove the third prong on your electronic device by using needle-nosed pliers—by bending the prong back and forth it snaps off. The device will work when you plug it in, but this isn’t an ideal solution as it removes a major safety feature—the grounding pin. Needless to say, this method is only applicable when no other immediate solution presents itself.
6. Test all smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, cameras and alarms
Sticking with the theme of safety, be sure to check all smoke and carbon monoxide detectors and replace dead batteries as needed. If detectors are missing entirely—or, more likely, they’re missing from one or two key areas, head to Walmart or your local hardware store immediately.
There’s no getting around the fact that this is a giant pain, and it’s not the thing you want to be doing when you’re keen to get your stuff unpacked and organized. But force yourself.
Read Here: Top 10 Long Distance Moving Tips
Why? Because during your first day or two in your new residence, you’re going to be turning on appliances and using various devices and outlets that may be newly installed and that haven’t yet shown themselves to be in perfect working order yet. With that in mind, fire safety – and alarm reliability – are an absolute must. Test your alarms and make sure they can be heard in every corner of your new residence.
If you have them, also make sure to test any security systems – including cameras. Thieves target homes they think are empty of residents – especially homes they believe are in the process of being “filled up” with personal possessions prior to the new owners or renters actually taking possession and moving in permanently. So, as with the fire and CO2 alarms, test whatever systems are in place and make sure they’re in working order. Maintaining deterrence is important.
7. Set up your wi-fi
In the 21st century, good wifi is indispensable. Everyone has a cell phone these days, but service can be less-than-reliable in certain parts of the country, and all sorts of circumstances can result in a dead cell phone and—at exactly the same moment—a desperate situation that requires you to log on to the Internet immediately.
Getting your TV and cable provider sorted out can wait, but your Internet needs to be working ASAP. Like power and all your other utilities, make sure that your account is all set up with your new address and that everything is paid and activated. If you need to get a tech person out to your residence to install stuff or fiddle with things, try to arrange that so that it happens the morning after you arrive – or even the same day, if possible.
Know More Here: Moving Day Preparation
Like alarms and electronic locks, wifi is one of those indispensable features of the modern age that simply can’t be de-prioritized. It’s too important. Indeed, steady and reliable wifi is as much a safety feature as any alarm, in that it allows you to call emergency services (like an ambulance for example) if nothing else is working.
8. Assemble or arrange your most important furniture first
It’s all about getting your bed set up (or, if there are a number of family members, your beds set up). And you need at least one solid table that you can use for meals, and maybe—if you’re a remote worker—an early Zoom session. Too often, new homeowners or renters find themselves thinking about how to organize their closets and drawers—or their end tables—or where the TV should go, forgetting the fact that they’re probably fighting exhaustion and are bound to crash out fairly quickly.
Read Here: How to overcome relocation stress
Remember, putting together a bed frame is something that needs to be done while you’re relatively fresh and in a good mood—not when you’re exhausted and in desperate need of some shut-eye. When you’re in that state, emptying even a few boxes with bed parts and screws seems tougher than climbing Mt. Everest. So leave everything else to last and start thinking about what you need most. Get your main bed set up in the master bedroom, and make sure you have a serviceable table and a set of chairs in place. And then, if fatigue overtakes you, you can slip into dreamland without a care in the world—for a few hours at least!
(Just as an aside, also make sure to include toilet paper in a designated essentials box for immediate access upon arrival).
9. Change your address
If you’ve forgotten this vital bit of administrative upkeep, head to the USPS website immediately after you get your wifi set up and click on “Change of Address,” and then enter your new address or PO Box info. This step should have been taken care of much earlier because it’s relatively straightforward to schedule the date when the Post Office should begin redirecting your mail. But again, if it’s slipped your mind, take care of it ASAP after you wake up in your new digs—but maybe after you’ve sorted out your wifi.
Know More Here: Moving and Storage Services Guide
USPS will forward your mail for a year. You’ll have to pay a fee if you want it done longer. Keep in mind that forwarding inevitably adds time to how long it takes you to receive a letter or package, so at the same time that you update your delivery address, contact your bank, credit card issuers, utility providers, health care, and insurance providers, etc. to make sure they have all of your latest info. The sooner you do it, the easier your life will be.
And update your driver’s license! This is especially important if you’re an active voter because updating your license typically gives you the opportunity to update your voter registration.
10. Figure out the laundry situation
You might think this one isn’t too important right? Well, generally, that’s true, but there are all sorts of reasons you want to get this squared away as soon as you can. Whether you’re in a house or an apartment with your own washer and dryer—or in an apartment with a communal laundry room, or perhaps one that forces you to rely on a public laundromat—knowing how to get your clothes clean as quickly as possible can be important.
The simple fact is, many of us are on a tight schedule and—after moving—we have to be back on the job pretty fast, sometimes (if it’s not the weekend) the very next day!
Often this sort of turnaround requires the rapid production of a spotlessly clean uniform, a clean and pressed business shirt, or some other bit of attire that we’ve subconsciously de-prioritized, only to find that we need it ASAP!
Kids sometimes need a sports uniform cleaned, especially if it’s the weekend. A moving-related illness or accident—or even the unfortunate results of a celebratory drinking session—can produce soiled towels and clothing that sometimes need to be cleaned immediately.
These and all sorts of similar crises can make you wish you’d taken a few minutes to figure out the laundry situation, so take a little time to find out how the machines work, and—if you’re relying on something communal or public—determine exactly how payment works and what hours you can wash and dry stuff. Laundry, of course, isn’t like wifi—you can generally live without it for a day or two—but just to avoid a big mess (literally speaking), take a few minutes to develop a decent working knowledge of how to get your clothes clean. As with so many other recommendations on this list, you’ll thank yourself later on.
International Van Lines:
The World’s No. 1 Long-Distance and International Moving Company
International Van Lines (IVL) is the world’s No. 1 moving company, regardless of whether you’re moving locally, regionally, or internationally.
No other mover can do what IVL does. Not even close (and let’s be honest, no one’s been close for quite some time!). Local, intrastate, interstate, overseas—it doesn’t matter. IVL has the personnel, the experience, and the infrastructure that every other national and international mover wishes they had.
Wherever you may be headed, IVL will make sure all your personal possessions arrive on time—and in pristine condition.
Based in Coral Springs, Florida, but now serving over 180 countries worldwide, our reputation for professionalism—marked by our relentless pursuit of perfection—continues to grow. Over the past 25 years, we’ve mastered every aspect of full-service door-to-door relocation—so much so that today’s moving experience is infinitely superior to what we were able to offer our customers two or three decades ago. It’s our experience that makes all the difference.
For items that are not immediately needed, we offer short-term storage units as a flexible and less labor-intensive alternative to traditional storage options.
But we’re not resting on our laurels. We
Click here for your free moving quote today!
Why IVL Over Other Local, Long-Distance, and International Movers?
A simple question with a simple answer: IVL is the best domestic and international moving company on planet Earth—the best-equipped, the most adaptable, and the most experienced, with a tremendous team of moving professionals on the ground, guiding operations from our company HQ.
As a result, your move—local, interstate, from one coast to another, or across continents, becomes a smooth, predictable, and worry-free experience.
IVL has a global network in place that most moving companies can only dream of. Our resources, infrastructure, and personnel are second to none. IVL relies on one, or a combination, of the following transport methods: our enormous and growing fleet of high-end moving vans and trucks, air freight, or ocean freight. more boxes
Wherever your household items need to go—we can get them there—on time, on budget, and in a way that ensures that every single item arrives in pristine condition. That’s a promise.
Our Services in Detail
IVL’s moving services, whether international or domestic, are comprehensive and door-to-door. Here’s a brief overview of what we offer:
- Comprehensive packing and unpacking services, though we can also give you info about packing supplies, including cardboard boxes, wardrobe boxes, packing paper, packing tape, bubble wrap, paper towels, garbage bags, and other moving supplies if you want to save time and money by doing some of the hard work yourself. Our knowledge of the packing process is unparalleled, and our packing tips can help save space and ensure items are packed efficiently. Also, contact IVL directly to discuss potential moving discounts.
- Furniture assembly and disassembly.
- Personalized services for high-value and/or fragile items, including art and antiques, collector’s automobiles, or even your kids’ favorite stuffed animals.
Read Here: All About Relocation With a Company Like IVL
- Comprehensive ocean and air freight services, along with the use of IVL’s expansive fleet of moving vans and trucks.
- Rubbish removal.
- Domestic or international vehicle transport.
- Varied storage services (domestic or international; short-term storage, long-term storage and/or climate-controlled storage).
- Full customs clearance management —something few professional movers offer.
- Limited liability insurance, with full value protection available for purchase.
- Full corporate and military relocation services.
- Live chat and customer service 24/7.
- Easy shipment tracking.
How Much Does IVL Charge?
IVL team members at company HQ in Coral Springs, FL
Take a few minutes to check out our moving cost calculator to get a better feel for what your move is likely to cost. Contact us directly for a more detailed estimate or quote based on your specific circumstances.
Remember, moving costs ebb and flow. Shifting fuel costs and the season you move can influence pricing significantly.
Whatever the total amount, however, IVL is always fully transparent with you, the customer, when it comes to all fees and charges. The final bill is never, ever a surprise.
For your free domestic or international moving quote, click here!
What Else I Should Know?
To promote the speed and efficiency of your move, IVL, like most moving companies, may choose to partner with one or more local movers at certain points of the moving process–the final stages in particular.
There is also a 25 percent deposit required to reserve a moving date.
This is refundable in the event of cancellation. The balance is then split into two separate payments: 50 percent on moving day, and the remainder upon delivery. The deposit can be made using a credit card, check, or ACH.
Given the complex logistical arrangements that an international move requires, deposits received for any international move are not refundable.
Is IVL Fully Licensed?
Yes. Per federal requirements, IVL is licensed by DOT, FMC and AMSA (the latter having been recently absorbed by ATA).
Contact IVL Today. For Your Free Online International Moving Quote Click Here!
