Moving day usually works because you've already done a week of invisible work before the truck arrives. The actual mover's job — boxes from A to B — is the easy part. The hard part is everything around the move that movers won't touch.
What movers won't do
Pretty much every moving company on the North Shore will refuse:
- Hazardous materials. Paint, oil, propane tanks, fertilizer, chemicals, batteries, fluorescent bulbs.
- Anything they can't load in a reasonable time. Disassembled trampolines, dismantled swing sets, sheds, hot tubs, propane grills with tanks attached.
- Yard waste, brush, soil. Not their job.
- Junk you've decided to leave behind. If you point to a pile and say "this stays" — that's not their problem to remove either.
- Items not in boxes. Most movers want everything boxed except furniture.
30 days before the move
Start the declutter
Every item you don't take to the new house is one less item to pack, move, unpack, and find space for.
- Go room by room with a 12-month rule: if you haven't used it in 12 months and it's not seasonal or sentimental, it doesn't move.
- Sort into keep / donate / sell / toss. Decide before packing.
- List sale items now. Anything that hasn't sold 2 weeks before the move becomes a donate.
Schedule the cleanout
Most cleanout services book out 1–2 weeks in advance during peak moving season. Book yours before you actually need it.
14 days before
Hazardous waste drop-off
- Paint: Disposal rules differ by paint type — latex versus oil-based — and by town. Check your town's current guidance before tossing any paint; oil-based always requires hazardous waste handling.
- Motor oil and car batteries: AutoZone and Advance Auto Parts accept these for free.
- Propane tanks: Many propane suppliers and some hardware stores accept exchanges.
- Electronics: Salem runs E-Waste Days four times yearly at Salem High School.
Donations
- Beverly Bootstraps Thrift (198 Rantoul St, Beverly) for clothes, housewares, kitchen items.
- LifeBridge Thrift (47 Canal St, Salem) for general goods.
- Habitat ReStore (regional) for furniture, appliances, building materials.
The week of the move
Final cleanout day
Schedule a hauler to come the day before, or the morning of, the movers. This is when everything that's not coming gets removed in one sweep.
Yard prep at the old house
If you're leaving the property, the new owner expects the yard in reasonable shape. Mow, edge, sweep walkways, clear leaves. A 2-hour cleanup makes a huge difference at the final walkthrough.
The one mistake we see every spring
Sellers leaving the contents of the shed, the garage attic, and the basement crawl spaces "for the new owner." Almost every purchase contract has a clean-broom clause. Leaving stuff behind can hold up closing or trigger seller concessions.
How we help
We do exactly the work that movers won't: cleanouts before listing, haul-aways for the items that aren't moving, yard prep for the final walkthrough, and move-in cleanouts for what the prior owners left behind. Get a quote here.