How to plan a house move on one board without losing track of anything
A house move is a project with dozens of moving parts: agents, solicitors or conveyancers, mortgage lenders, removal firms, utilities, schools, address changes, packing and cleaning. Most stress comes not from the work itself but from not knowing what is still outstanding, and who is holding it up.
A 2D board turns the move into something you can see.
Rows for each part of the move
Set up rows for the main streams:
- Buying or renting (offer, legal, mortgage)
- Selling or ending the tenancy
- Removals and packing
- Utilities and services
- Address changes
- New home setup
Columns for who has the ball
- Mine: things you need to do, such as booking removals or packing the loft.
- Other: things waiting on someone else, such as the surveyor's report, the lender's offer, the landlord's inventory.
- Next: things that come later, like setting up broadband once you have a date.
- Done: finished.
The Other column is where moves get stuck. Conveyancing especially involves a lot of waiting. In Axtio, actions sitting in Other show their age and turn red after a week, which tells you exactly who to call. See the waiting-on-someone problem.
A sample set of actions
Utilities and services row:
- Mine: list every utility and service at the current address
- Mine: give notice and book final meter readings
- Other: broadband provider confirms installation date
- Next: register with a local doctor
Address changes row:
- Mine: list banks, employer, insurers, subscriptions, government services
- Mine: set up post forwarding
- Next: update each one after moving day
Moving day itself
Keep a short list in Mine for the day: meter readings and photos, keys handed over, final check of each room. Everything else should be finished or in Next by then.
Keep paperwork findable
Contracts, inventories and receipts matter for months after a move. Save them in one folder and note in the board where they live. Our post on why paperwork kills momentum explains why it is worth doing early rather than in a pile after moving day.
Why a board helps more than a checklist
A checklist tells you what to do. A board also tells you what you are waiting for and on whom, which is the part of a move that causes the most anxiety. For more on that feeling, see open loops and anxiety.