For your moving you will certainly need an inventory sheet. Perhaps you don’t think it is worth taking the time to sit down and make a checklist with everything that is going to go for moving but it is an effort that will pay you back – whether you are moving your home or office. Why should you make an inventory sheet before moving out?
The inventory sheet with your items to move is important for four reasons:
- First, it will help you pack. You can separate a sheet of paper and use one per room (or more as needed) in order to fill in everything you are going to move. Once you have such a sheet in front of you you can sit down and plan how much packing materials and of what kind you will need. Once you are ready, one visit to Lowes or Home Depot for example will do the job. You can then plan how to pack everything – in which boxes to place what so as not to make them too heavy. And also you will be able to calculate approximately the time you have to take for that.
- Secondly, you may wish to have a moving insurance. It is made according to the items that are going to be transported. Once you begin unloading you will have your moving list and you will know how many boxes must arrive. This is important because sometimes movers combine a move. They load in one truck the items of two or three households that are going in one direction and transport them together. Your sheet will guarantee that when unloading if something is missing you will quickly be able to identify it right before the moving is over and file an insurance claim to have a reimbursement of (a part of) its value.
- In the third place, movers will need one. When you ask for a quote and the moving company comes back to you by phone or e-mail they will ask you what you have for moving and you will have to describe everything in your home anyway so why not be prepared in advance? Based on your inventory sheet the movers will give you an average cost of your moving.
- After the moving is over you can keep your inventory sheet. And based on it you can make a home insurance. When the moving is over keep a copy of your inventory sheet out of your home – at friends or relatives for example. And you can review it once in a while, say in 6 – 12 months and update it.
How can you make your moving sheet?
- The most important of your items are the documents you have. Collect all the documentation and make a file for every member of your family – birth certificates, contracts, medical records, etc. You can use a sticker on every file to designate the name of the person it belongs to. That would make filling the file with papers easier. After the file is ready place is together with the things you will take with you on the moving day.
First collect the paperwork for every member of your family in a file and keep it with you on moving day. Don't give it to the movers.
- Then it is time to collect the information for your items. You should start room by room. And what moment is more appropriate than this to decide which things are not going to be packed and moved? Separate them – you can throw them away, donate them or make a moving sale. You can decide later what to do with them.
- In addition to your list you can make photos of every room or a video. Don’t forget to shoot also what’s on the shelves, inside the cupboards, wardrobes, drawers, etc.
- What would also be helpful for you would be to write down in your sheet the value of every item when you took it from the store – if you don’t remember it, even approximately would be fine. This information will be useful when you decide to have an insurance.
- After you have completed this step estimate the price for the things in every room and fill it in also.
- Once you are ready you can keep a copy of this list and the photos/ video you have prepared on your computer or a USB stick you keep with you (for just in case the original gets lost).
- When the movers have prepared their excerpt of your moving sheet ask them for a copy and keep it with you. The foreman should have one. The movers will have written in it not only the items you want to move but also if there are any damages they have found before they have taken your things. Take a good look at it and don’t sign it before that.
- When the moving is over you can use this inventory sheet to see if some new damages have occurred or if there is something missing. Usually movers are professional and the chance for that is minimal but it could still happen so be ready also.
To sum up, an inventory sheet can serve you not just for your moving but later when you are at your new home also. If only you make it once next times you need it it will be ready. Do you want to add more tips? You can make a comment below and say what you think.
