ReadyCrate

Moving resources

The Kansas City moving checklist

Eight weeks out to your first week in the new place, in the order things actually have to happen. The Johnson County steps are marked, because those are the ones a checklist written somewhere else will get wrong.

Print it, tick it off, and ignore the parts that don’t apply to you. Nothing here needs an email address.

Eight weeks out

Decide the shape of the move

  • Decide whether you're hiring movers or renting a truck. Get two or three quotes either way, because hourly rates and minimums vary more than you'd think.
  • Start getting rid of things. You pay to move every object you own, so this is the cheapest hour you'll spend on the whole move.
  • If you're renting, check the notice period in your lease. Sixty days is common and easy to miss.
  • If you're moving at the end of a month, book early. That's when everyone moves and the good crews go first.

Six weeks out

Lock in the help

  • Book the moving company or reserve the truck.
  • Work out how many boxes you need, so you're not guessing in week seven.
  • Ask your kids' school for records, and check enrollment timing with the new district. Blue Valley, Shawnee Mission and Olathe each run their own process.Johnson County
  • Start eating the freezer. It's the one thing you cannot pack.

Four weeks out

Paperwork before packing

  • File the USPS change of address. You can submit it up to 90 days ahead, forwarding usually starts within three business days, and First Class mail forwards for a year.
  • Make a list of everyone who mails you something that matters: bank, insurance, doctor, employer, the county.
  • Book a move-out clean if your lease requires one. The last week of the month is when every cleaner in the metro is busy.Johnson County
  • Order boxes, or book totes, now rather than the week you start packing. Ours are dropped off before you pack and collected once you've unpacked, anywhere in Johnson County.

Two weeks out

Utilities, and the part people get wrong

  • Call Evergy for electric. They don't publish a lead time, so call rather than assume you can do it the day before.Johnson County
  • Call Kansas Gas Service for gas.Johnson County
  • Set up WaterOne at 913-895-1800. They need at least one business day, two if the water is currently off, and an adult 18 or older has to be there when it's turned on.Johnson County
  • Sort out trash, and check your city first. Prairie Village contracts one hauler for everyone. Olathe runs its own service. In Overland Park there's no single hauler and you arrange it yourself.Johnson County
  • Book internet at the new place. This is the one with the longest lead time and the one everyone leaves last.
  • Totes arrive. The Standard package is 50 of them, dropped off before you start packing.

One week out

Pack everything you won't miss

  • Pack everything except what you'll use in the next seven days.
  • Confirm the mover's arrival window in writing.
  • Check your WaterOne start date against your moving-day schedule. You can't supervise a crew at the old house and wait for a turn-on at the new one in the same three-hour window.Johnson County
  • Set aside a box you do not pack: chargers, medication, tools, coffee, toilet paper, a change of clothes.
  • Get cash for tips. Twenty to forty dollars per mover is normal, and nobody wants to find an ATM at 6pm.

Moving day

The day itself

  • Walk the old place before the truck leaves. Closets, the back of cabinets, the garage ceiling, behind doors.
  • Photograph the meters and anything already damaged at both ends.
  • Keep keys, garage remotes and gate fobs somewhere that isn't a box.
  • Be reachable. A crew that has to phone you and wait is a crew you're paying to stand still.

Your first week

Two Kansas deadlines start now

  • Update your driver's license address with the Kansas Department of Revenue. You have 10 days.Johnson County
  • Update your vehicle registration with the Johnson County Treasurer. That's a separate record with a separate 90-day deadline, and changing your license does not change it.Johnson County
  • Re-register to vote at your new address.Johnson County
  • Arrange trash pickup if your city leaves that to you.Johnson County
  • Book your tote pickup for whenever you've finished unpacking.
  • Find the water shutoff and the breaker panel before you need them in a hurry.

Local detail

The parts a checklist from anywhere else gets wrong

Trash is the one that catches people moving within the metro. Johnson County licenses the haulers but doesn’t assign them, so the arrangement is a city decision. Prairie Village contracts a single hauler for everyone. Olathe runs its own service. Overland Park has no single hauler and works neighborhood by neighborhood, which means finding and hiring one is on you. Check your city’s website before you assume a bin appears, and note that Overland Park was reviewing this arrangement in 2026.

WaterOne has a constraint worth planning around rather than discovering. They need at least one business day, two if the water is off, an adult 18 or older has to be present, and turn-ons happen Monday to Friday in a morning or afternoon window. You cannot supervise a crew at the old house and wait for a turn-on at the new one at the same time, so one of those needs a second person.

And Kansas splits your address across two systems. Your driver’s license is the Department of Revenue, with 10 days to update it. Your vehicle registration is your county treasurer, with 90 days, and it is a separate record. Doing the first does not do the second, which is why people find out at renewal.

Working out the rest of the budget? What it costs to move in Kansas City has real local numbers for movers, trucks and storage, and the box calculator gives you a count room by room.

Questions

Common questions about moving timelines

Eight weeks out is comfortable for a house and four is enough for an apartment, but the real constraint is your calendar rather than the packing. If you're moving at the end of a month, which is when most leases and closings land, the good crews book up first and you want to be ahead of that. If you're renting, check your notice period before anything else. Sixty days is common and it is the one deadline you cannot negotiate after the fact.

Two weeks is the right target, and the providers differ. WaterOne needs at least one business day's notice, or two if the water is currently off, and an adult 18 or older must be at the property when it's turned on. Evergy and Kansas Gas Service don't publish a lead time, so call rather than assume. Internet is the one with the longest wait and the one people leave until last. Trash is not automatic everywhere in Johnson County, so check your city.

It depends on the city, which surprises people who move within the metro. Prairie Village contracts a single hauler for the whole city, so there's nothing to arrange. Olathe runs its own municipal service. Overland Park has no single hauler and works neighborhood by neighborhood, which means you find and hire a hauler yourself. Johnson County licenses the companies but does not assign them, so the county keeps a list of licensed haulers rather than a service map. Check your city's website before you assume a bin will appear.

Ten days. Kansas requires you to notify the Department of Revenue within 10 days of moving, and you can do it online. Your vehicle registration is separate: that's handled by your county treasurer, it carries its own 90-day deadline, and updating the license does not update the vehicle record. Two systems, two deadlines, two places, and people routinely do the first and forget the second.

About two weeks before you move. You can submit it up to 90 days ahead and up to 30 days after, forwarding usually begins within three business days, and First Class mail forwards for twelve months. Forwarding is a safety net rather than a solution, so use that year to update the senders who actually matter: bank, insurer, employer, doctor, and the county.

Yes. Use the print button at the top of the page and it prints as a clean checklist with a box beside every task, without the navigation, the photos or anything trying to sell you something. Choosing Save as PDF in the print dialog gives you a file you can keep on your phone or send to whoever is helping you move.

We deliver across Johnson County and the Kansas City metro, including Overland Park, Leawood, and Olathe.

Two weeks out is when the totes arrive

Pick a package, enter your ZIP, and we'll have them at your door before you start packing.