Interstate moving checklist: eight weeks to moving day

Eight to six weeks before

The quote and the date

• Fix the moving date, or the month, around settlement, lease end, a job start or school terms.
• Get a quote. Moveall’s customer care team asks about your bedrooms and living areas, the access at both homes and any heavy or bulky items, then emails a quote made for your move. An in-home quote is free.
• Ask how your home will travel, by road or rail, and what the delivery window is for your route.
• Ask about transit insurance for your belongings. Public liability cover is not the same thing.
• Ask when payment is due. For an interstate move, Moveall’s own guide says full payment is made on the day of the move.

The inventory

• Walk every room, cupboard, the garage, the shed and the garden, and list what is going.
• Moveall’s terms say a fixed-price quote relies on the inventory list, and items added on the day cost extra, so list it all now.
• Flag heavy or bulky pieces: a piano, a pool table, a heavy outdoor setting. Moveall’s Supercharge option adds team members and equipment for heavy and bulky items within a full move.
• Decide what not to take, and start selling, donating or giving it away.

Six to four weeks before

• Decide on packing: all of it with Moveall’s Wrap & Pack service, the fragile things only, or none.
• If you pack yourself, get strong new cartons in a few standard sizes, tape, paper and markers.
• Start packing the rooms you use least: the spare room, the books, the off-season clothes, the shed.
• Ask the new home’s building or agent about lifts, loading docks, booking rules and where a truck can stop.
• Measure the large pieces against the doors, stairs and lift at the new home.
• Book your own travel: the drive, or flights and somewhere to stay until the furniture arrives.
• If you are moving to Western Australia, go through the WA personal goods declaration with your removalist.

Four to two weeks before

Tell people you are moving

• Your employer, bank, superannuation fund, health fund and insurers.
• Schools and childcare: ask for reports and records to take with you.
• Your doctor, dentist and vet: ask for records, and fill any prescriptions before you go.
• Arrange mail redirection.

Utilities and services

• Book final readings for power, gas and water at the old home for the day after the truck leaves.
• Book connections at the new home for the day before the truck arrives.
• Ask your internet provider how long a new connection takes.
• Cancel or move memberships, deliveries and subscriptions.

The last week

• Finish packing. Fill every carton so it cannot crush, and label each with its room at the new home.
• Empty drawers and wardrobes: Moveall’s terms ask that furniture is emptied of loose items and loose items are packed in cartons.
• Run down the fridge, freezer and pantry. Fresh fruit, vegetables and plants should not go on the truck, and many are restricted at the South Australian border because of fruit fly.
• Defrost the freezer and dry it out, if it is coming.
• Drain the hose and the mower, and clean garden tools.
• Pack your personal bag for the days in between (see below).
• Pack a first-night box for each bedroom and the kitchen, and label it to come off the truck last.
• Confirm the moving date, the delivery address and your phone number with Moveall.

What not to pack in the truck

Keep these with you, in the car or your hand luggage:

• passports, birth certificates, wills, property papers and other documents;
• medicines and prescriptions;
• jewellery, cash and anything you could not replace;
• phones, laptops, chargers and keys;
• a change of clothes, toiletries and anything a child cannot sleep without.

And leave behind fresh food, pot plants and anything that could leak or spoil on a long trip.

Moving with children and pets

An interstate move is a big change for children, and a long trip for pets. A little planning helps both:

• Tell children early, show them the new home and the new school online, and let them pack a box of their own things to open first.
• Arrange for young children and pets to be with family or friends on packing and moving day, away from the path between the truck and the house.
• Book pet travel early if your pets are flying, and ask the vet for records and any travel advice.
• If pets are coming in the car, plan the stops and the overnight stays that accept them.
• Keep favourite toys, bedding and food in the car, not on the truck.

Moving day

• Be at the home, or have someone there, when the crew arrives.
• Keep children, pets and other trades clear of the path between the truck and the house: Moveall’s terms ask for clear, safe paths.
• Walk every room, cupboard and outbuilding with the crew before the doors close.
• Check the inventory, and keep your copy.
• Take final meter readings and photos of the empty home if you are leaving a rental.

Arrival and delivery

• Arrive before the delivery window if you can, with the keys and the access sorted.
• Tape a room name to each door to match the carton labels.
• Tick off furniture and cartons as they come in, and note anything that needs a second look.
• Unpack the first-night boxes first.

After you move into South Australia

• Transfer your interstate driver’s licence within 3 months, at a Service SA centre.
• Register an interstate car in SA within 3 months; it can be driven on interstate plates for up to 90 days.
• Update your enrolment with the AEC once you have lived at the new address for a month.
• After any later move within SA, update your address with Service SA within 14 days.

More detail is in the article on licence, rego and address changes after moving to SA and the guide to moving to Adelaide. Leaving South Australia instead? Your new state has its own rules for licences and registration: check them with its transport authority.

The most forgotten things

The things people most often leave behind on an interstate move are the ones not in a room: the shed, the meter box shelf, the garage rafters, the cupboard under the stairs, the bathroom cabinet, the spare keys in a drawer, and the remote for the garage door. Walk them all on moving day.

For how Moveall plans the whole move, read interstate removalists in Adelaide, and for your route, see Adelaide to Melbourne, Adelaide to Sydney, Adelaide to Brisbane or Adelaide to Perth.

Questions people ask