The 10-Day Countdown: A Stress-Free Moving Plan

Great moves aren't lucky — they're planned. If your move is ten days out and you're already feeling the churn, breathe. What follows is the exact playbook our MoreMovers crew uses with clients across the GTA, Ottawa, and Montreal to turn moving week into a calm, cinematic transition.

Day 10-8 — The Inventory Sprint

Before you tape a single box, walk every room with your phone and shoot a slow video. Narrate what stays, what goes, and what needs special care. This 20-minute exercise becomes your master inventory, your insurance record, and — if anything gets damaged in transit — your proof. Follow it up with a simple spreadsheet: room, item, condition, destination room. Half the anxiety of moving comes from not knowing what you actually own. Solve that first.

This is also the moment to book a licensed mover. Peak weekends — the last Friday of the month, the first Saturday, and every long weekend — fill up eight to ten days out. Waiting until day five means paying premium rates or accepting a crew you don't know. Ask any prospective mover for their WSIB certificate, cargo insurance, and provincial license before you sign anything.

Day 7-5 — Supply and Purge

Gather your kit: sturdy small (1.5 cu ft) and medium (3 cu ft) boxes, packing paper, bubble wrap, thick painter's tape, and a set of coloured markers. Small boxes handle books and dishes, mediums cover kitchen and closets, and only a handful of large boxes are needed — for pillows and duvets. Every other box should stay small enough to lift with one hand.

While the supplies land, run a declutter pass. Every box you move costs money, time, and back muscles. Rule of thumb: if you haven't touched it in twelve months, it doesn't come with you. Donate clothes to a local shelter, list furniture on Marketplace, and haul the rest to the nearest transfer station.

• Books, records, and pantry staples: pack now.
• Seasonal clothes and spare linens: pack now.
• Anything you use weekly: leave until day two.
• Documents, passports, jewellery: pack separately, travel with you.

Day 4-2 — Systems and Comms

Notify Canada Post of your change of address, forward your mail, and swap over utilities, internet, and any subscription deliveries. Confirm your mover's arrival window — not a range, a window. If you're moving out of a condo, book the elevator and loading dock at both ends. Both buildings will typically require a certificate of insurance from your movers; a professional crew can send one over the same day.

Disassemble anything that requires tools — bed frames, dining tables, shelving units. Bag every screw and tape it to the underside of the piece it belongs to. Trust us: on Monday you will not remember where the fourth leg goes, and neither will your movers.

Day 1 — The Night Before

Pack a first-night box for every person in the household: chargers, medications, coffee and mugs, one set of sheets, a towel, toothbrush, and pyjamas. Label it FIRST NIGHT — DO NOT LOAD and keep it in your car, not the truck. This one box is the difference between collapsing into bed at midnight and hunting for toothpaste at 2 AM in a house you've barely seen in daylight.

Charge everything, empty the fridge, and take one last walkthrough. Tomorrow you get to stop planning and start moving — and that's the fun part. It's also the part MoreMovers handles from here. Book a free quote in under sixty seconds and we'll take the plan from paper to reality.