Checklist
Last-minute moving checklist for a move in 2 weeks
Enter your move date. The plan below starts with the tasks that depend on other people, then packs the home in the fewest passes, and ends with what you can safely do after you arrive.
Today and tomorrow: things that need other people
Days 12 to 8: get boxes and cut the load
Days 7 to 3: pack almost everything
The last two days and the day itself
Leave until after the move
Tips for this list
- With two weeks, the order matters more than the detail. Anything that needs another person's diary goes first, because you can pack at midnight but you cannot book a van at midnight.
- Pack without sorting. Deciding what to keep is the slowest part of any move, and it can be done from a labelled box in the new home.
- Soft things go in bags and inside drawers, hard things go in boxes. That halves the number of boxes you need to find at short notice.
- If the move date is fewer than fourteen days away, the earliest tasks will show dates already past. Do those first, today.
Questions
Can you really move house in two weeks?
Yes, if the booking of a vehicle or mover is made in the first two days and you pack without sorting. What usually cannot be hurried is other people's lead time, such as an internet installation, so plan around it rather than wait for it.
How is the first batch of boxes worked out?
It is a rough estimate of sixteen boxes for each bedroom you enter, capped at eighty. It is meant as a first collection, not a final count; homes of the same size vary a lot.
What can be left until after a rushed move?
Anything that only you depend on: sorting, selling, decorating, and address changes with shops and subscriptions. The last section of the checklist lists them so they stop competing for your attention.
Related lists
8-week moving checklist
The full two-month plan: enter your move date and every task from booking to handing over keys gets its own day.
Moving day checklist
One day, in order: before the truck, loading, locking up, unloading and the first evening.
First-night essentials box
The one or two boxes packed last and opened first, sized for your household and the wait for everything else.