4–6 weeks out: inventory while you decide
- Go room by room with a camera. Photograph each item once; note brand/model for electronics and anything valuable. This list becomes your packing plan, your mover's estimate sheet, and your damage-claim evidence — one effort, three jobs.
- Give every item a verdict: keep, sell, or donate. Deciding at the shelf beats deciding at the truck. Be ruthless with the storage-unit tier of belongings — hauling it costs money every time.
- Put values on things. Knowing a cabinet's contents are worth $40 (or $900) changes what you pack, what you sell, and what you flag for the movers.
2–4 weeks out: turn the purge into money
- Sell the good stuff. List the sell pile while you still have lead time — furniture and electronics move slower than you think.
- Donate the rest — with a receipt. Schedule a charity pickup for the bulky items and keep an itemized, valued list; donations over $500 for the year need IRS Form 8283, and a move is exactly how households cross that line.
- Recheck the math. Every box you don't move is weight off the estimate.
Packing week: boxes with names
- Number every box and record what goes in it as you pack — not from memory later.
- Label by destination room, not origin room.
- Mark fragile boxes in your list, not just in marker — so the count of fragile boxes is known before the truck closes.
- Keep a "first night" box and a valuables-with-you set (documents, jewelry, hard drives — these ride in your car, not the truck).
The coverage math nobody explains
Interstate movers must offer two valuation options: released value — the default, at 60 cents per pound per item — and full value protection, which costs more but obligates the mover to repair or replace at current value. Under released value, a 10-pound, $1,500 laptop is a $6 claim. Whichever you choose, claims stand on documentation: what existed, what condition it was in, and what it was worth — which is your inventory's job. High-value items (often defined as over $100/lb) typically must be declared in advance.
Move-in day: check off, don't guess
- Check boxes off as they come off the truck. A numbered manifest makes missing boxes a fact, not a feeling.
- Open fragile boxes early and photograph damage before you unpack around it — claims have deadlines (nine months for interstate moves).
- Update your inventory with the new rooms — it's the same list your home insurance wants anyway (see the insurance-claims guide).
Where OwnWorth fits
OwnWorth is built for exactly this workflow: photograph as you sort and AI names and values each item; bulk-mark things Keep / Sell / Donate and the Declutter view turns the sell pile into ready-to-post listings and the donate pile into a receipt with the 8283 filled in; boxes get printable QR labels (scan a box, see inside) and a mover manifest PDF — a per-room packing list with check-off boxes, fragile flags, and values for the coverage conversation.