Moving In Together Checklist: What to Sort Before, During and After the Move

Moving in together sounds wonderfully romantic. Until you remember that you actually have to move. Then you’re standing in a hallway full of boxes, both wondering who was meant to book the internet.

Fortunately, you don’t have to figure everything out at once. Let’s break your moving in together checklist into five manageable stages. Talk through the practical questions first (lease, costs, chores, space), sort the big admin two to three months out, handle the logistics in the final month, get through moving week, then set up shared systems in your first month so nothing falls through the cracks.

And you’re certainly not the first couple to give this a go. In the US, 59% of adults aged 18 to 44 have lived with an unmarried partner at some point (Pew Research Center, 2019). Common doesn’t mean simple, though. Two lots of furniture, two sets of habits and one front door take some planning.

So work through this list together. After all, moving in together shouldn’t mean that one of you becomes an unpaid project manager while the other just shows up to carry boxes. (Further down, we’ll show how we use Cupla to keep it all in one place.)

Your moving in together checklist at a glance

• Have the practical conversations: lease, costs, chores, space, guests
• Choose the place and decide whose name goes on the lease or mortgage
• Give notice on your current places
• Set a moving budget
• Decide which furniture stays, goes or gets sold
• Book movers or a van
• Set up utilities, internet and contents insurance
• Update your address everywhere
• Pack an essentials box each
• Take meter readings and photos on move-in day
• Set up a shared to-do list, grocery list and calendar
• Book a settle-in check-in for a few weeks after the move

What should you talk about before moving in together?

Before you sign anything, talk through how your home will actually run. University of Denver researchers Galena Rhoades and Scott Stanley call this “deciding, not sliding”: discussing what moving in means to you both, rather than drifting into it because a lease happened to run out (University of Denver, 2023).

Don’t worry, you don’t need to turn this into a two-hour relationship summit. A couple of relaxed evenings usually covers it. These are the things to discuss before moving in together.

Whose name goes on the lease or mortgage? With both names on it, you’re both responsible for the rent and the property. With one name, it’s simpler, but the other partner may have fewer rights. The rules vary by country and state, so read your lease or tenancy agreement and ask a professional if you’re buying.

How will you split the costs? Equal halves, a split based on income, or a joint account for the bills. Pick whatever feels fair to you both. Our money questions for couples cover the bigger conversations.

How will you share the chores? Agree on it before the first fortnight sets the pattern. A couples chore chart makes it visible, and here’s why sharing domestic chores matters.

How do you feel about guests? How often friends and family come over, whether they can stay the night, and how much notice you each want.

How much alone time do you each need? Maybe it’s a room of your own, a corner with a desk, or one evening a week with the place to yourself. Say it now, so it doesn’t feel like a rejection later.

Are pets moving in too? Whose they are, who feeds and walks them, who pays the vet, and whether the new place allows them.

How do your routines fit together? Early riser or night owl, who works from home, gym alarms at 6am, TV volume, the thermostat. Small things, but you’ll live with them every day.

What’s yours, mine and ours? Which belongings you’d each keep no matter what, and how you’ll treat things you buy together.

What happens if it doesn’t work out? Not the most romantic question, but a sensible one. Who would stay, who would move, and how you’d split shared things. It’s far easier to agree while you’re both happy.

Once you’re settled, our 70 questions to ask your partner keep the conversation going well beyond the boxes.

What should you do two to three months before moving in together?

Two to three months out is when you lock in the place, give notice and agree on the budget. Leave it too late, and you might end up paying rent on two places for longer than you’d like. Not exactly money well spent.

• Choose the place. Move into one of your homes or find somewhere new to you both. A new place often feels more like “ours”, while staying put saves money and effort. If one of you is moving into the other’s home, talk about how to make room for them, literally and otherwise.
• Sign the lease or start the purchase. Read the lease or tenancy agreement together before signing: the length, the notice period, the bond or deposit, and whether pets are allowed. If you’re buying, get independent legal and financial advice.
• Give notice on your current homes. Check each notice period, put the date in writing, and line up end dates so you’re not paying two lots of rent for longer than you planned.
• Set a moving budget. Include movers or van hire, bond or deposit, connection fees, cleaning, and the things you’ll need to buy once you’re in. Agree upfront how you’ll split it.
• Decide what furniture stays and goes. You now have two sofas, two kettles and possibly three toasters. Measure the new place, pick the best of each, and decide what to sell, donate or store.
• Pick a moving date. Check it against both your work calendars, and book early if you’re aiming for a weekend.

A tip from us: put the moving date and every notice deadline in one calendar you can both see. When two people are each tracking “their” dates, things slip.

What needs sorting one month before the move?

With just one month to go, it’s time to tackle the less glamorous stuff: moving vans, utility providers, insurance, and what feels like a million address changes. Split this list between you so it isn’t one person’s second job.

• Book movers or a van. Get a couple of quotes, confirm what’s included (packing, stairs, assembly), and ask a friend or two to keep the day free if you’re doing it yourselves.
• Set up utilities and internet. Power, gas, water and internet, depending on what your home needs. Internet can take a while to connect, so book it early. Decide whose name each account goes in and how you’ll pay.
• Sort insurance. Update or take out contents insurance (renters insurance in some countries) that covers both of your belongings. If you have pets or a car, check whether a new address changes those policies too.
• Update your address. Your bank, employer, doctor and dentist, subscriptions, car registration, and any electoral or council records. Many postal services offer mail redirection for a few months, which catches what you forget.
• Declutter the duplicates. Go through the kitchen, bathroom and linen cupboard together. Sell or donate the spares before you pay to move them.
• Start packing the non-essentials. Books, out-of-season clothes, decorations. Label boxes by room so whoever unpacks knows where things go.

What do you need in moving week?

Trust me, the last thing you want on moving day is to spend half an hour hunting for your toothbrush while neither of you knows where the movers are supposed to put the sofa.

• Pack an essentials box each. Phone chargers, toiletries, medication, a change of clothes, important documents, and anything the pets need. Add a shared box with toilet paper, a kettle, mugs, snacks, basic tools, a light bulb or two, and bedding for the first night.
• Confirm the bookings. Movers or van hire, arrival times, parking or lift access at both ends, and the connection dates for power and internet.
• Collect the keys. Know exactly when and where you’re picking them up, and get a set cut for each of you.
• Take meter readings and photos. Photograph the meters at both the old and new places, and record the condition of the new place room by room. It helps with your bond or deposit later.
• Decide who does what on the day. One of you stays at the old place to finish loading, the other meets the movers at the new one. Or one directs boxes while the other builds the bed. Agree it the night before, not on the doorstep.
• Make the bed first. Whatever else is still in boxes by evening, you’ll both be glad of it.
• Clean and hand back your old places. Leave time for a final clean and return the keys by the agreed date.

How do you settle in during your first month living together?

The first month is when you’ll discover whether your definition of ‘tidy’ actually matches your partner’s. Spoiler alert: it probably doesn’t. Set up a shared to-do list and a shared calendar while everything is new, then book a check-in for three or four weeks in.

And this is where Cupla can really come in handy: one shared place for all those little jobs, dates and reminders that would otherwise be scattered across two phones, three notebooks and a dozen sticky notes.

• Keep one shared list for the move and the first month. Unpacking, the curtain rail, returning the van, cancelling the old internet, buying a bathmat. When it’s all in one list you can both see, nobody has to carry it in their head, and nobody has to ask “did you do the…?”
• Put the bills and the move timeline in one calendar. Rent, power, internet, insurance renewals, the day the van hire ends, the day the bond or deposit should come back. Bills that repeat are the easiest to forget, so set them up once as repeating events.
• Settle the small house rules. Where the keys live, which night the bins go out, how full the dishwasher gets before it runs. Give each one a week before deciding it’s a problem.
• Make it feel like both of yours. Hang something from each of your old places, and buy one thing for the home together.
• Book a settle-in check-in. Three or four weeks in, sit down for half an hour: what’s working, what isn’t, and whether anything about costs or chores needs a tweak. Agree on the time beforehand and say what you’d like to cover, so you both arrive prepared and calm, not mid-debate over the dishes.

How we’d set this up in Cupla

In Cupla, make a custom list under To-dos (call it “Move”), add due dates, and split the jobs between you. Anything with a due date shows up in the calendar too, so the move and the rest of your week sit in one place. The Groceries list is shared in real time, which helps on that first big stock-up when one of you is at the shops and the other is staring into an empty cupboard.

Then add rent and bills to the Shared Calendar as recurring events. You’ll see them in the side-by-side view, next to both of your schedules, so a due date never lands as a surprise for one of you.

As one Cupla user put it in our 2025 Impact Report: “Our to-do lists and calendars help us to remember the little things. That helps keep frustrations to a minimum.”

FAQ: Moving In Together Checklist

What should be on a moving in together checklist?

A moving in together checklist should cover five stages: the practical conversations (lease, costs, chores, space, guests), the admin two to three months out (the place, notice, budget, furniture), the logistics in the final month (movers, utilities, insurance, change of address), moving week essentials, and shared systems for your first month.

How long should you date before moving in together?

There’s no set timeline. What matters more is that you’ve both decided to move in, rather than drifting into it, and that you’ve talked through how the home will run day to day.

What questions should you ask before moving in together?

Ask whose name goes on the lease, how you’ll split costs and chores, how you feel about guests and alone time, how your routines fit, what happens to pets and furniture, and what you’d do if it didn’t work out.

Should we move into one partner’s place or find a new one?

A new place can feel more like a fresh start for you both. Moving into one partner’s home is cheaper and easier, so talk about how the person moving in can make it feel like theirs too.

Do we need a cohabitation agreement?

Some couples write down how they’ll handle shared costs, property and what happens if they separate. The law around living together varies a lot by country and state, so speak to a lawyer where you live if you want something formal.