Eight weeks out
Set the budget and decide what kind of help you actually need — full van and crew, labor-only with your own truck, or something in between. That decision changes everything downstream.
If you are renting, read your lease for the notice period and the move-out conditions. If you are selling or buying, get the closing dates in writing before you book anything.
Start the purge now rather than later. Every item you get rid of in week eight is one you do not pack in week two or pay to carry in week one. Donation pick-ups in this region book out, so schedule one early.
If your children are changing schools, start that paperwork. Records requests take longer than anyone expects.
Six weeks out
Get quotes and book. Ask every company for the hourly rate, the minimum, the travel policy and the full list of possible additional charges, in writing. Book as soon as you have chosen — especially for a weekend, and doubly for the last weekend of a month, when the whole region moves at once.
Call both buildings if either is an apartment. Permitted move hours and days, elevator reservation and window length, certificate of insurance requirements, parking and garage clearance. Write the answers down.
Order boxes and supplies, or arrange for your mover to bring them. Buy more tape than you think you need.
Four weeks out
Start packing the things you do not use: out-of-season clothes, books, decorations, the spare room, the good crockery.
Label every box on the side as well as the top, with the destination room and a one-line summary of what is in it. You will be reading them stacked.
Book any specialist you need — piano, safe, aquarium, art — and tell your mover about anything unusually heavy.
Set up mail forwarding with USPS. Make a list of everyone else who needs the new address: bank, employer, insurance, doctor, pharmacy, subscriptions, DMV.
Three weeks out
Arrange utilities at both ends: electricity, gas, water, internet. Internet is the one to do first — an installation appointment can be weeks out, and working from a new place without it is miserable.
Schedule disconnection at the old address for the day after you leave, not the day you leave.
If you need parking permits or temporary no-parking signage at either address, contact the transportation office for that jurisdiction now. DC, Arlington, Alexandria, Montgomery County and Prince George's County each run their own process with their own lead time — ask them, do not assume.
Use up the freezer. Stop buying anything you cannot finish.
Two weeks out
Confirm the move in writing with your mover — date, arrival window, both addresses, crew size, and the quote.
Confirm the elevator reservation and make sure the certificate of insurance has actually been sent to and received by the building. "Requested" is not "on file".
Measure your large furniture against the doors, hallway turns and elevator at the new place. Decide now what comes apart.
Service or clean anything that needs it before it is buried: return library books, collect dry cleaning, pick up prescriptions, retrieve anything lent out.
Book the pet and childcare plan for move day.
One week out
Pack everything except what you are using daily. The goal is that the last week is genuinely the last week.
Disassemble what you can. Bag the hardware and tape the bag to the piece it came from.
Drain fuel from mowers, trimmers, blowers and generators. Disconnect propane. Set aside hazardous materials for your county drop-off — paint, solvents, chemicals, batteries — and take them.
Withdraw a little cash, confirm the crew's arrival window, and send them a note about anything that has changed.
Defrost the refrigerator if it is coming with you. It needs a full day and it will leak.
Two days out
Finish the kitchen. It always takes longer than the estimate.
Pack the first-night bag and put it somewhere it cannot be loaded by mistake — the car boot is the safest place. Bedding, towels, toiletries, medication, chargers, a change of clothes, snacks, box cutter, screwdriver, Allen keys, and the hardware bags.
Clear the path at both ends: hallways, stairs, the route from the door to where the vehicle will park.
Charge everything. Confirm the parking plan. Take photographs of the empty rooms once they are empty, and of anything valuable before it is wrapped.
Move day
Be there when the crew arrives, or have someone who can make decisions there.
Walk the crew through both properties at the start. Point out what is not going, what is fragile, and what is heavier than it looks.
Keep the first-night bag and the valuables with you, not on the van.
Stay reachable and out of the carry path. The most useful thing you can do during the load is answer questions quickly.
Before the crew leaves the old place, check every closet, cupboard, the balcony, behind every door and the top shelves. Before they leave the new one, check your inventory and note anything damaged while they are still there.
First week in
Make the beds and get the bathrooms working before anything else. Everything else can wait a day.
Check that utilities are all on and read the meters.
Change the locks. You do not know who has a key.
Find the water shut-off, the electrical panel and the smoke detectors, and test the detectors.
Update your driver's licence and vehicle registration — DC, Virginia and Maryland each set their own deadline after you establish residency, so check the requirement for your new jurisdiction rather than assuming it matches your old one. Register to vote at the new address while you are at it.
Meet the neighbours. In this region people move constantly and nobody thinks it is strange.