The moving checklist.

What does a moving timeline look like?

Three to four weeks out you book and declutter, two weeks out you redirect and start packing, the final week is confirmation and the kitchen, moving day is paths and pets, and the week after is the bond clean and the address changes. Most of a smooth move is just doing these in order.

3–4 weeks out: book, notify, declutter

Book the removalist first, because trucks book out faster than anything else you'll organise. Then give notice where notice is due, and start the declutter, which in the Byron Shire means planning a tip run: the shire has no kerbside hard-waste pickup, so the old couch will not disappear from the kerb.

• Book the removalist, before anything else
• Renting? Check your notice period and give notice
• Start the declutter, room by room
• Plan the tip run: the shire has no kerbside pickup

Our calendar is small on purpose, and end-of-month weekends go first. Renting? Check your notice period the same day. And start the cull now, not on packing day: every box you don't move is money, because a move is priced by the hour. Whatever doesn't make the cut either rides with you to the tip or we take it at $100 per cubic metre, same crew, same day if you want the house and the junk gone in one hit.

2 weeks out: redirect, transfer, pack the quiet rooms

Set up the Australia Post mail redirect, move your power and internet connections to the new address, and pack the rooms you don't use daily: the garage, the bookshelf, the linen press, the spare room. Heavy things in small boxes, light things in big ones.

• Set up the Australia Post mail redirect
• Move power and internet to the new address
• Book the internet technician slot early
• Pack the garage, bookshelf, linen press, spare room
• Label every box with the room it lands in

The internet connection is the one to do early; getting a technician slot can take longer than the move. Label every box with the room it lands in, not the room it left. The crew reads labels at the new house, and "kitchen" on the box means the box lands in the kitchen without anyone asking you where it goes while you're holding a mattress.

The final week: confirm, defrost, pack the survival kit

Confirm the booking and the two addresses, eat down the fridge and freezer, and pack an essentials box that travels last and unpacks first: kettle, chargers, medications, toilet paper, school uniforms, and the first-night bedding.

• Confirm the booking and both addresses
• Eat down the fridge and freezer
• Switch the fridge off to defrost the night before
• Drain the washing machine, fit the transit bolts
• Run down or swap gas bottles: they can't ride on the truck
• Pack the essentials box: kettle, chargers, medications

The fridge is the classic. It wants to be empty, defrosted and dry before the truck arrives, which means switching it off the night before. Washing machine: drain the hoses, and if you still have the transit bolts, this is their moment. Gas bottles, fuel and open chemicals can't ride on the truck at all, ours or anyone's, so run the barbecue bottle down or swap it, and ferry the paint tins in your own boot if you're keeping them.

Moving day: clear the path and hold the kettle

Keep the driveway and hallways clear, have kids and pets somewhere that isn't the staircase, walk the crew through the house once at the start, and keep the essentials box in your own car. Then let the crew do the lifting: that's what the hourly rate is buying.

• Clear the driveway and hallways
• Kids and pets somewhere that isn't the staircase
• Walk the crew through once at the start
• Point out the fragile, the heavy and the weird
• Keep the essentials box in your own car

One walk-through at the start beats twenty questions during. Point out the fragile, the heavy and the weird, then put the kettle in the car. At the other end, stand where the boxes come in and direct traffic by room. The blankets and straps are our problem, not yours: every corner gets a blanket, every load gets strapped, and the quote you approved is the price you pay.

After the move: the bond, the address, the leftovers

Renters: the bond clean happens after the house is empty, so book it for the day after the move, not the same afternoon. Update your licence address with Service NSW, follow the mail redirect for what you missed, and deal with the pile that didn't make the truck.

• Renters: book the bond clean for the day after
• Update your licence address with Service NSW
• Follow the mail redirect for what you missed
• Deal with the leftover pile, or book the clearout

The leftover pile is the most Byron problem on this list: no kerbside pickup means it sits there until someone moves it. If the old place has to be handed back empty, our end-of-lease clearout exists for exactly this, often same-day before an inspection.