Long Distance Moving Checklist: 8 Weeks to Moving Day

8 weeks out — decisions

Sort every room: travelling, selling, donating, discarding. Schedule donation pickups now.
Get three in-home (or video) surveys from licensed carriers — check each one's USDOT number and safety record on this site first.
Compare binding estimates, not phone guesses; note each one's valuation level and delivery window.
If a building is involved at either end: ask management about COIs, elevator bookings and move hours.

6 weeks — book

Book the carrier. Get the estimate, valuation choice, delivery window and deposit terms in writing.
Booking a container or shuttle situation instead? Confirm placement rules and permits now.
School records, medical and dental records, vet records: request transfers.

4 weeks — the address trail

USPS forwarding, then the accounts USPS can't fix: banks, insurers, subscriptions, employer, IRS.
Prescriptions: transfer to a pharmacy that exists at the destination.
Utilities: stop dates here, start dates there — internet first, it books slowest.
Start packing what you won't touch: books, off-season clothes, the garage.

2 weeks — logistics

Confirm dates, crew arrival window and phone contacts with the carrier.
Arrange payment per the contract terms — and know what the contract says happens at delivery.
Use up frozen food; plan the last-week meals. Drain fuel from anything with an engine.
Photograph valuable items and note serial numbers; set aside what travels with you.

Moving week

Pack the essentials kit per person: documents, meds, chargers, two days of clothes.
Be present for inventory tagging; read the inventory before signing — condition notes matter at claim time.
Walk the empty house last: closets, dishwasher, attic, behind doors.
Keep the bill of lading and inventory with you, not on the truck.

Delivery day

Check items off the inventory as they come in; note damage on the delivery paperwork itself.
Beds first. Everything else is week two's problem.

The one-line version

Sort, then survey, then book — in that order — and keep every piece of paper. Most moving-day disputes are traceable to a skipped step in week one.

Checklist questions

How far ahead should I start?

Eight weeks is comfortable for a long distance move; twelve if you're selling a home or moving in summer. The single most time-sensitive item is the survey-and-quotes step — carriers book out, and rushed booking is how people end up with whoever answered the phone.

What's the most commonly forgotten item?

Address changes that live outside the postal system: prescriptions transferring between pharmacy networks, vehicle registration and insurance crossing state lines, and anything on auto-renewal tied to the old address. USPS forwarding catches mail, not accounts.

What should travel with me, not on the truck?

Documents (IDs, records, the moving paperwork itself), medications, chargers, jewellery and small high-value items, and a first-week kit per person. The carrier's valuation covers the truck; the irreplaceable rides with you.

The long distance moving checklist