Most moving checklists are good at the paperwork: forward the mail, call the utilities, book the truck. They're thin on the part where things actually go missing, which is the boxes.
This is a checklist for the whole move, with the box-tracking steps built in. Use it on paper, in a notes app, or with an app like Lading. It works the same way.
Four to eight weeks before
- Decide what you're moving and what you're not. Every box you don't pack is a box you don't have to track.
- Get quotes if you're hiring movers, or reserve the truck if you're driving it yourself.
- Collect boxes, tape and markers. Buy matte tape if you can, because glossy tape over a label can cause glare that stops a QR code scanning.
- Make a list of the rooms you're moving into at the new place. You'll use it for room colors later.
Two to four weeks before
- Change your address with the post office and with the banks, insurers and subscriptions that need it.
- Schedule utilities at both ends: stop service at the old place, start it at the new one.
- Start packing the rooms you use least.
- Number every box as you pack it, out of the total, like 7 of 42. A number lets you count boxes off later, which a room name can't do.
- Photograph each box open, with the contents showing, before you tape it shut.
The last week
- Finish packing and label every box on two adjacent sides. One label gets scuffed or hidden behind another box.
- Give each room a color, and put the same color on its labels and on a door sign.
- Pack a box of things you'll need first: chargers, toiletries, medicine, basic tools, sheets, a few kitchen items. Keep it with you instead of putting it on the truck.
- Write a list of valuables and important papers, and plan to move them yourself.
- Confirm the date and time with the movers or the truck rental.
Moving day: loading
- Scan or tick off each box as it goes onto the truck. In Lading, you tap Start Loading, then scan each label. A box scanned twice isn't counted twice.
- Note which truck each box is on if there's more than one vehicle.
- Before the truck leaves, check the count. If a few boxes haven't been scanned, you can go back and find them while you're still at the old place. That's the cheapest moment to find a missing box.
Moving day: unloading
- Tape the room's door sign on each door of the new place before unloading, so whoever is carrying a box can see where it goes.
- Scan or tick off each box as it comes off the truck.
- When everything is off, compare. Any box that was loaded but never scanned off is your missing list, with the truck it was on.
The first week
- Unpack the first-night box, then the kitchen and the bedroom.
- Work through the rest room by room, ticking each box off as you empty it.
- If a box is still missing after a few days, search the places boxes get left: a garage corner, the back of the truck, a room you didn't think to check. Then ask the movers, with the box number in hand. In Lading, you can swipe a box to mark it found.
- Keep the inventory until you're sure everything has turned up.
Using this with Lading
Lading follows this same checklist: you add your rooms, photograph and label each box, scan it on and off the truck, and get a missing list at the end. It's free to try with one room and up to 20 boxes, and Lading Pro is a one-time $6.99 purchase for a whole move, with no subscription. It's on the App Store for iPhone with iOS 26 or later.
I wrote more about labels in how to label moving boxes with QR codes. You can also read the Lading page, the user guide, or get Lading on the App Store.
