10 Things To Do Before You Move Out

10 Things To Do Before You Move Out

There’s no question that Salt Lake City residents like to get around—people in Utah move, on average, once every five to seven years. But, as exciting as the prospect of moving to a new home or apartment is, the whole process can quickly turn into a nightmare if not organised properly. To ensure a hassle-free moving experience, make sure you do the following ten things before you move out:

1. Round up all the keys you had cut for your home or apartment, including those you gave to family, friends, or neighbours—you really don’t want to leave any spare sets floating around!

2. Have a garage sale. The absolute worst thing about moving is having to take box after box of items from one house or apartment to the next. Packing hundreds of items, unpacking them, trying to make sure they don’t get lost or broken, arranging and rearranging them, storing those you’re not using… It will soon become obvious to you that there’s a reason nomadic people owned so few things.

To cut down on this massive headache, get rid of much as you possibly can before you move. (A good rule of thumb is that if you’ve been saving an item because you might use it “one day”, it can generally go, as long as it can be replaced.)

If you don’t want the work of hauling everything you don’t need to the dump or to donate somewhere, and want to make a bit of extra cash for your move while you’re at it, the most logical thing to do is hold a big garage sale. Your neighbours will love the bargains, and you will love having a lighter load to take to your new home.

3. If you’re leaving appliances behind, make sure to clean them all out. Your oven, fridge, washer, and drier should be left in like-new condition as a courtesy to the next people who will be using them.

4. If you’re renting, be sure to read through your entire lease at least 60 days before moving out. Leases sometimes have very odd exiting conditions; it’s best to be aware of them before you get started trying to move everything.

5. Hire a professional housecleaner if you can. If you’re renting, a messy house or apartment may cost you getting your security deposit back, and some landlords are very picky. It’s best to hire a professional housecleaning service to get into all those nooks and crannies you find hard to completely clean out, just in case. No landlord will be able to argue with the spotless cleaning job left by a professional with industrial-grade equipment and win.

6. If you’re doing some or all of your own cleaning, schedule your moving and cleaning to take place on different days. It’s generally impossible to pull off doing both at once, not to mention simply exhausting. Move everything first, then come back on another day to clean out the empty spaces left behind (or have a housecleaning service come in and do it).

7. Make a list of all the institutions and companies that will need your new address. This includes everywhere you bank and shop online, your Paypal account, and so much more—you’ll likely need to devote a few hours to this task.

8. Once you’ve updated your address with everyone, make sure you head to your local post office and set up mail forwarding so you don’t miss out on bills and other important mail once you get settled at your new address.

9. Make sure to leave out enough necessities when you’re packing to last you until you move. Organise what you need on a day to day basis (things like curling irons, hair driers, toilet paper) and make sure they’re set aside and don’t get packed in a box somewhere—There is nothing more frustrating than having to unpack (and then repack) ten boxes just to find a hairbrush or some similar such necessity.

10. Patch up holes and repaint the walls. Remove your artwork from the walls along with any nails and screws, then patch up the holes left over with spackling paste. Once the paste is dry, sand it down so that it lies flat against the wall, and repaint the walls (if you’re a renter, you may want to leave this part for your landlord—check with him or her before doing any painting).