Moving in together

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Answer the questions and only the items you need stay on the list. Your answers carry over to the app and the file.

• Moving into one of your places, or a new one together? One of our current placesA new place together

Items on the list: 18 of 18 · Show all

Work through the list in order. Hide the notes when you know what to do.

1. Talk through money before the boxes arrive

   Who pays for what, a joint account or split-by-app, how to handle unequal incomes — settled in advance, not argued out over the first disputed bill.

2. Put both names on the lease or mortgage A new place together

   If only one name is on the paperwork, only that person has legal standing to the home if things don't work out.

3. Check whether the lease allows a second occupant One of our current places

   Some leases require notifying the landlord or reissuing the agreement when someone moves in — check before the move, not after a neighbor complains.

4. Agree on a household task split

   Cleaning, paying bills, calling the plumber — decide it deliberately, or it'll settle on its own and not always fairly.

5. Update home or renters insurance

   A policy is often sized for one person's belongings — tell the insurer about the second adult and their things.

6. Sort the duplicates question before moving day

   Two toasters, two sofas — decide what's kept, sold, or goes to storage ahead of time, not mid-move when decisions get rushed.

7. Update your address everywhere it matters

   Bank, work, doctor, subscriptions, delivery apps — the list is longer than it seems; write it once and work through it.

8. Audit subscriptions and utility accounts

   Streaming, delivery, insurance — check you're not both paying for the same thing under separate accounts.

9. Set up a shared calendar for bill due-dates

   So nothing quietly lapses because each of you assumed the other was paying it.

10. Discuss guest and overnight-guest expectations

    An unspoken assumption here is a common source of friction. One conversation now beats a string of small resentments later.

11. Discuss pets: whose, house rules, vet of record

    And a plan for when one of you travels — who feeds and walks them.

12. Name each person's non-negotiables for the shared space

    A door that closes, quiet hours, a baseline cleanliness standard — naming it directly cuts future friction more than it seems like it would.

13. Agree how you'll split move costs and new furniture spending

    Before receipts start piling up — easier to split fairly than to untangle after the fact when it feels lopsided.

14. Handle the physical move's own logistics separately if it's cross-city

    This list is about merging households, not packing boxes — use a separate moving checklist for the physical move itself.

15. Keep some individual savings going in

    A small emergency fund only you control is a healthy habit, not a sign of distrust in the relationship.

16. Put a first-month check-in conversation on the calendar

    Small friction is normal, and it's easier to fix early than to let it build up in silence.

17. Set up mail forwarding for the person moving in

    Especially important for bank and official mail during the transition period.

18. Agree what happens to shared purchases if you split up later

    An awkward conversation now beats a much worse one later — worth having for any major joint purchase from the start.