Relocation is a prolonged process. To carry it out with success, one thing one needs most is good preparation. Imagine you are a track athlete about to start in a competition. Before you bolt in it, there are several stages of readiness. So don't miss a stage, prepare carefully and you won't trip. Here are the things you have to do in advance, and make sure your moving is going to be free of trouble.  

Ready!
Two weeks before relocation:
-speak to the landlord or the buyer of your current residence and set the moving day date.
-go though all your possessions and decide which of them really need. Be honest to yourself! You will be amazed to discover what a big portion of them you can live without. Just imagine the energy and time you are going to spend in packing and carrying and unpacking and ordering them...
-decide upon the above mentioned things - what goes where? Some are trash, but some of them can be used by somebody else
-arrange the disposal of your former possessions that now belong to the trash. Find out where the nearest garbage yard is and transport there everything too big to fit in the garbage container outside your building
-organize a garage sale for everything you don't need anymore
-draw a furniture layout plan for your new home
-start packing the items you are going to take with you - so pack the book, CDs, DVDs and albums, and some of the off-season clothes and equipment, such as winter clothes and ski equipment, if summer, and summer clothes, garden furniture and beach stuff, if winter.
-pack the cellar, attic, basement or utility room

     
Steady!
One week before relocation you have to:
    -throw a farewell party for the neighbors    
-contact the moving company or the company you are hiring the moving van from, and settle the date and time their people should come to you (that's supposed to be on the morning of moving day)
    -arrange parking spots for the moving van at your old as well as at your new residence
    -supply with moving boxes and packing material. You never have enough of them, so in order to be sure, calculate how much of everything you are going to need, and get double that amount. Cannot go wrong that way!
    -start eating up the content of the refrigerator and cellar. There is no point of moving food supplies! Everything  that is still left, such as canned goods, salt, flour and so on, in line with all the rest of the food - give it to a neighbor of yours. You can possibly leave only some coffee, milk, sugar, and something else for breakfast on moving day, but nothing more
    -start seriously packing - pack all clothes, except a few sets of clothes for every family member for the last few days (those are packed in suitcases or bags on moving day morning), all the linens, pillows and blankets, except one set per family member for the last night before moving
    -lay down a moving day schedule

Go!
One day before relocation you should:
    -turn off every electronics and electrical appliances, such as TVs, computers, washing machines, refrigerators and so on. They need to cool off and then be bubble-wrapped and put in stirupore boxes
    -pack the kitchen - every dish and spoon and appliance. You may leave the coffee-machine, the toaster, the microwave oven and a dish, cup and set of cutlery for every family member to use them on moving day morning
    -disassemble and pack all the furniture
    -pack everything else
    -take all your credit cards, birth certificates, other valuable papers you have, and also the jewelry and valuable items, such as art-peaces, and bring them all to a deposit box in a bank. Don't forget to take them back after you have moved
    -take a final look at the moving day schedule and the furniture layout plan.