Moving in Two or Three Weeks: What Actually Has to Happen

Hardly anyone plans a move eight weeks out. You find out you’re moving — a lease ends, a sale closes, a job starts in the new year — and what you actually have is three weekends and the evenings in between.

That’s enough. A short runway isn’t a disaster; it changes the order you do things in. The usual advice has you sorting cupboards in week one and booking a mover in week four. With three weeks, that order will cost you your moving date.

First, today: book the date

The scarce thing in a short move is not your time. It’s a crew that’s free on your day.

The last few days of the month go first, because that’s when most leases end, and Saturdays go after them. At two or three weeks out we usually still have dates — but the choice narrows every day you spend thinking about it. A midweek day in the middle of the month is the easiest to get and often the cheapest, if your dates have any give at all.

You don’t need to have sorted anything to book. The size of the home, the floor, and whether there’s a lift is enough for a price and a slot.

• Get a quote and book the date. Photos of each room are faster than describing them, and you’ll have a number back within 15 minutes between 8 AM and 8 PM. Typical prices by home size are on our moving cost guide.
• Ask both buildings — the one you’re leaving and the one you’re going to — what they require: lift booking, loading times, and whether they want a certificate of insurance from the movers.
• If you’re renting, confirm your move-out date and when the keys have to be back.

This week: the things with a waiting list

Some things can’t be hurried on the day. These are the ones that catch people out, and they all need starting now rather than in week three.

• Book internet at the new place. This is the longest pole. Two weeks is normal, and it’s the one thing that makes a new home feel broken on day one.
• Schedule utilities. Put the switch-on at the new address a day before the move and the switch-off at the old one a day after. Never the morning of — people do, and then there’s no water for the cleaners.
• Request the certificate of insurance if either building asked for one. Tell us who it’s addressed to and we’ll send it; buildings often need a few days to approve it.
• Decide about packing. Either order boxes and supplies this week, or book packing help — see below for why this is the one place where paying buys you the timeline back.
• If the dates don’t meet — the sale closes before the new place is ready — book a storage unit this week too. Our storage size guide sizes one, and facilities fill up at the end of the month like everyone else.
• If you’re leaving the area: transfer prescriptions, request school records, and redirect your post.

This week, in the evenings: deal with what isn’t coming

Here’s the part to be ruthless about, because at three weeks you have no time to sell anything. Listing a sofa, fielding messages and waiting in for someone who doesn’t turn up is a week of your life for a hundred dollars.

So don’t. Give it to someone who wants it, donate it, or have it hauled away — and only bother with the things that are big, heavy and not worth much, because those are exactly what you’d otherwise be paying us by the hour to carry.

Small things aren’t worth sorting at all right now. Box them and decide in the new place, where you’ll have the evenings back.

• Name the big items that aren’t coming: the sofa that won’t fit, the exercise machine, the wardrobe in the spare room.
• Book a donation drop or junk removal for the same day as the move — the crew’s already there, so it’s cheaper than a separate trip.
• Stop shopping. Eat down the freezer and the cupboards; frozen food and a moving truck don’t mix.

Worth knowing: if a neighbour or family member has said they’ll take something, give them a date to collect by — a week before the move, not the day of. Furniture waiting on someone who’s “coming Sunday” is the classic reason a move runs long.

Week two: pack in the right order

The rule that makes packing survivable on a short runway: start with what you use least. Storage, the garage, books, out-of-season clothes, the good crockery. Three-quarters of a house can be packed before it inconveniences you at all.

Three-quarters of an hour each evening gets more done than a lost Saturday, and leaves the weekend for the awkward rooms.

• Pack the storage spaces first: garage, loft, under the stairs, the back of the wardrobe.
• Label by room and contents. “Kitchen” is no use at 9 PM; “Kitchen — kettle, mugs, tea” is.
• Mark three or four boxes open first and tell the crew — they’ll put those where you can reach them.
• Keep one box out to the end: tools, chargers, bin bags, kitchen roll, a knife.
• Photograph the back of the TV and anything else with more than two cables.
• Use small boxes for books and heavy things. A big box of books isn’t liftable, and it’s usually the one that splits.

If you look at that list and know you won’t get through it in two weeks, that’s worth knowing now rather than on the Friday night. A packing crew does a house in a day, and it’s the one spend on a short move that genuinely buys the timeline back. You can also hand over just the kitchen, which is the room that eats the most hours.

Moving week

• Confirm the arrival window and the crew size with us.
• Confirm the lift booking with the building, if it needs one.
• Pack an overnight bag per person — the move being finished should not depend on finding a toothbrush.
• Defrost the fridge-freezer a full day ahead, and leave the door propped open.
• Put documents, jewellery, laptops, medication and keys in one bag that travels with you, not on the truck.
• Sort the kids and the pets for the day. Both are happier elsewhere, and the crew works faster.
• Book a move-out clean for once the truck has gone, if you’re handing back a rental.

Moving day

• Walk the crew through both ends before anything is lifted — show them what’s fragile and what isn’t going.
• Keep your phone charged. Our crew lead rings about 30 minutes before arriving.
• Do a last sweep of the empty place: cupboards, closets, the loft, behind doors, the shed.
• Check the meter readings on your way out.
• Leave the final walkthrough with the landlord for the next day if you can. It gives you room to fix anything the inspection turns up.

If three weeks turns into three days

It happens — a closing date moves, a buyer brings a date forward, another company cancels on you. Call and say so plainly; what we can do depends on what’s free that morning, and you’ll know within 15 minutes either way. More on how that works on our emergency and last-minute moving page.

What it costs

Local moves are hourly. The minimum charge covers up to the first three hours of work plus the fuel charge, and after that time is billed in 15-minute increments, so a short move stays short on the bill. Prices include up to 15 miles of travel. We take 5% off for paying in cash, and the same 5% off for anyone 60 or over.

Booking takes a $50 deposit, refunded in full if you cancel or move the date 72 hours or more ahead — which, on a three-week timeline, is worth knowing before you commit to a day.

Prices by home size are on the moving cost guide, or call 425-495-7762 with your date and we’ll tell you what’s still open.