You may also want to consider a 'house cooling' party use paper plates and disposable cups and make an adventure of it you could even talk your family and friends into some last minute packing/painting help. You can also ensure that any schools, health practitioners or other regular visitors or places you regularly go to have your new contact details, if necessary. It's also a good idea when you have too much furniture for your new house, and no where to store it yourself and while garages and basements are great for short term storage, they aren't protected, in some cases against the elements, nor, possibly insured against accidents, such as fires or flood. Garages and basements also, while accessible, may also need to be used for other things. You should never redirect your major bills, such as your bank statements, credit card statements, notices of payments from people or anything that can be used as ID with the increase of identity theft on the rise, its important to consider what you're going to be leaving behind when moving. You can't guarantee that the people moving in to your old home will forward your billing information or other sensitive documents, so its important to ensure you know what you've got to transfer and keep a list so that you can mark off what you're transferring bills. A long move such as over several hundred miles may also change schooling arrangements, or your job uprooting over a distance of hundreds of miles can lead to new opportunities or the loss better ones back where you were so you have to carefully evaluate what you want from your life, and whether it would be best served by moving to a whole new part of the world. Careful packing does minimize the risk of things being broken, but one of the only ways to actually ensure that you have no breakages whilst moving is to take them with you, or, if hiring a firm, allowing them to pack. Newspaper is a great buffer item, but remember, the ink may rub off when you're in transit, giving you another chore at the other end. It s important to also remember that you will NOT want to pack your whole house in a week, given the choice. Packing is dull for most people - it takes a lot of time that you might want to spend elsewhere. And while it, and de-cluttering while you go, is an essential aspect of moving, there are a few things you can do to make the time go faster.