The Day Before an Interstate Move

Local moves forgive mistakes. If something ends up on the wrong truck you drive across town. On a long-distance move, everything loaded is gone for as long as transit takes, which makes the day before disproportionately important.

Just-In-Time Moving handles long-distance moves from West Valley City and Salt Lake County.

Separate what travels with you

Do this physically, into a room or a vehicle, not mentally.

Documents, passports, deeds, financial records. Jewellery and anything irreplaceable. Medication, with enough supply for longer than you expect. Laptops and work equipment. Chargers for everything. Keys, including ones for the old property. Anything a child needs to sleep.

Then enough clothing and bedding for a fortnight rather than a weekend, because transit takes as long as it takes.

Put all of it somewhere the crew physically cannot load it. A car, a bathroom, a taped-off room with a sign.

Deal with the things that cannot ship

Fuel, propane including small canisters, paint, solvents, aerosols and anything similar. Set them aside and arrange disposal rather than discovering them being set down on loading day.

Empty, defrost and dry any appliance that is going, allowing a full day. Drain washing machine hoses.

Plants generally do not travel well and in some circumstances cannot cross state lines.

Confirm the far end

Utilities switched on. The address correct on everything. Whether a large vehicle can reach the property, and if not, what the plan is. Whether the building needs anything.

Confirm the delivery contact details, including a second person who is not you.

Then the ordinary things

Everything else boxed, taped, closed and labelled by destination room. Anything not going in a separate room, flagged at the walkthrough.

Charge your phone. Have the inventory arrangements clear.

And walk the whole property once, including the garage, the shed, the loft and behind doors, because on a long move the things you miss are genuinely gone.

Then take photographs of the house as you leave it, empty. On a long-distance move you are usually not coming back, which means any question later about the state you left it in, whether from a landlord, a buyer or a letting agent, has to be answered from several states away. Ten minutes of photographs on the last walk-round is the only evidence you will have, and it is a great deal easier than trying to arrange for somebody local to look at a property you no longer have keys to.

Call (435) 862-3080 or email office@movingjustintime.com.