When we were moving to Australia from the UK, I found the whole experience stressful and overwhelming. There were so many things that we needed to do (open a bank account, get shipping quotes, move our money...), and I was trying to juggle it all while looking after three kids under five and being a freelance writer. My husband Matt worked long hours and we didn’t have family in the same town to help with the kids while I did the emigrating tasks – so it was mostly on my shoulders. 

I spent half of my time Googling: ‘How to move to Australia’ and hunting online for an elusive ’emigrating to Australia from the UK checklist’ (which, unfortunately, didn’t exist!) Instead, I found loads of old forum posts that each covered the different stages of the relocation and I used them to piece together my own moving to Australia checklist.

There was so much legwork involved, but I was determined to create a simple moving abroad checklist so I could stay on top of all of the admin, and eventually all of my hours online paid off. 

Because I spent so much time figuring out how to move to Australia and what stuff needed to happen at what time, I made sure that I documented the whole experience. I logged all of the tasks involved in moving to Australia from the UK and created a detailed moving to Australia checklist because I wanted to make it easier for the people that moved after me. It seemed crazy to me that every single person making the move needed to know this stuff and it wasn’t available anywhere in an easy to follow list – it felt like every time people were expected to reinvent the wheel!

How to move to Australia from the UK

For today’s post, I wanted to explore why it’s really useful to have a moving to Australia checklist to help you figure out what you need to do to move to Australia. You can do exactly what I did by spending hours on Google scouring the migration forums to compile your own list (or you could just click here to grab my Ultimate Emigration Checklist and save yourself the time and headache!)

(My experience is moving to Australia from the UK so that’s where I focused when creating my emigration checklist but there’s still plenty of relevant information no matter where you’re moving from). 

Why is it helpful to have a moving to Australia checklist? 

I found having a checklist helped me with moving to Australia from the UK so much. Here are a few of the ways…

Working through a moving to Australia checklist keeps you focused

When you’ve got a master Australia to-do list to work from, it keeps you focused. You know exactly what you need to do and when you need to do it, and you can see the whole plan laid out in front of you so you know what is coming up at every stage. It takes away the guess work. You just need to keep working at ticking the items off and before you know it you’ll be relocating to Australia!

A good Australia emigration checklist will ensure you remember to do all of the important tasks

When you’re moving to Australia, you have LOADS of things to do and it can feel really overwhelming. With that many things to do, it’s easy to forget some small tasks and that small task could end up being really important or end up costing you money. If you’re working through a checklist of core activities, you’ll be ticking things off as you go so you won’t forget important things.  

If you have a migration checklist to work from it leaves you with more time to have fun with the people you love

This is such an important one! You’ll soon be leaving your friends and family behind. This is your time to make memories and have fun with them. You should be doing that instead of wasting time trying to figure out the admin involved in moving to Australia. Spend less time on Google and in forums, and more time making memories. 

A good moving abroad checklist will help you stay on track and do things at the right time

There are a lot of tasks to do when you’re moving to Australia, and many of them need to be done at specific times. Working from an Australia checklist that breaks everything down into time scales means you will stay on track. Treat moving to Australia like a project, and all good projects operate from a detailed project plan. 

Ticking off items on a moving to Australia checklist allows you to clearly see which milestones you’ve achieved

Moving to Australia involves a lot of milestones and I’m a big believer that you should celebrate all of them! Working from an Australia checklist means you can tick things off and see how far you’ve come. Every time you check off an important task for your Australia emigration, spend some time celebrating it! You’re on the adventure of a lifetime and this is how you can gamify it and enjoy the journey.

A migration checklist will stop you from worrying (well, it will stop you from worrying as much)

When you know what needs to be done, you don’t have to worry about figuring it all out. You’ve got your Australia migration checklist and you just need to go through it one by one and tick things off. It takes the guesswork (and a lot of the stress!) out of it all.  

Having a checklist to work through means you’ll get everything done

Nothing will be forgotten, or avoided. It’s all there in black and white on your Australia to-do list so you don’t need to think about it – you just need to get on with doing it! (I speak from experience as I’m somebody that likes to put off doing the big, meaty tasks in favour of scrolling on Facebook – working from a logical to-do list kept me focused on the end goal and kept me moving forward!)

A copy of a moving to Australia checklist on an ipad with other beach gear

These are just a few of the reasons why having a moving to Australia checklist is helpful.

Create your own moving abroad checklist by compiling your Google and forum searches into a list, or get your hands on my Ultimate Emigration Checklist to take the weight off your shoulders, but either way, keeping your admin in order when you make the move to Australia will ease the overwhelm and reduce the stress.

Staying organised will help you enjoy the journey as you move to Australia and create a life you love! Don’t only live for the destination – the journey is even more important as that is happening NOW and now is the only time that exists (the past is gone and the future hasn’t happened yet)! 

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