How to move out without anyone knowing

When you’re about to move house, you usually inform all family members, friends, colleagues, and even acquaintances about the upcoming move and let them know where you are moving to. And why shouldn’t you?

In most relocation cases, moving house is not a secret – sooner or later, everybody’s moving someplace else. After all, statistics show that the average American moves 5 times in their lifetime.

More often than not, you’ll let EVERYBODY know that you’re moving simply because you’ll be hoping to get help from anyone who cares enough to offer it – it may be recommendations for good movers, free packing supplies, and most importantly – help packing and moving furniture and boxes on Moving day.

In reality, the more people know about your house move, the greater the chance of you receiving any type of assistance when the right moment comes. Or at least that’s how you want things to be.

Unfortunately, sometimes you may be forced to keep your move a secret in order to get out of a bad situation. In which case you must have a good reason to want to move out discreetly because your decision to move away without anyone knowing is likely to hurt or offend some of the people who are close to you.

Still, if you have no choice but to go ahead with your secret move, you’ll definitely be interested in knowing how to move out without anyone knowing.

Be 100% sure you can justify the reason for moving out secretly

The thing is that you have to have a good reason to want to move out without anyone knowing – you don’t just wake up in the morning and decide to move away discreetly without telling a soul about it. You’ve got to have a strong motive to do it in such a secretive way – otherwise, it would not make any sense.

So, above all else, make sure you understand well the gravity of your decision to move away secretly and its post-move consequences.

• If you’re ending a bad relationship and breaking up with a person who you know will try to make a scene and cause trouble on the day of the move, then you can choose to move out discreetly so that the said person doesn’t know what has happened until it’s too late.
• If you’ve had a huge fight with your parents about… something, and, at 18, you’re already legally considered an adult, then you may choose to move out without your parents knowing to save yourself the extra drama.
• If you happen to hate your life and you’re sick and tired of all the phony “friends” around you, then you may wish to move out secretly in order to get a fresh start somewhere far, far away.

Your underlying reason to move out without telling anyone can be entirely different but whatever it is, make sure you’re doing the right thing to avoid bitter regrets after the move.

Read also: How to move out of parent’s house

Pick the best timing for the covert move

Without a doubt, one of the most critical aspects when moving away without anyone knowing is to choose the perfect timing to do it. Generally speaking, the best time to pull off a stealthy move will depend on the main reason behind your desire to move away.

For example, when breaking up with an abusive partner, you’ll want to move out when they are not at home – for example, when they are at work or ideally, when they are out of town for a few days. This way, you’ll save yourself plenty of stressful moments that’ll only add to the overall pain you must be feeling at that very moment.

When moving away because you’re practically fed up with everything and everyone around you, then the best time to do it is when there are no people around, including neighbors, to ask you where you’re going. To keep nosy people out of your own business, you may need to move out in the middle of the night, if that’s even an option for you.

See also: How to move out after a breakup

Be secretive about your secret move

Moving out without anyone knowing may prove to be trickier than you think. To be able to pull off the secret move exactly as you envision it in your head, you’ll have to plan things really well and way in advance too.

Here are a few ways to keep your stealth move a secret:

• Resist the urge to tell anyone that you’re moving. This may be rather difficult to do, especially with your best friends, but keep reminding yourself of the major reason why you’re doing it and make an effort to stay silent.
• Be careful not to drop any accidental hints about the upcoming move or where you’re going. If you have to, limit or stop any activities and interactions on social media networks to avoid giving out any clues.
• Don’t schedule future engagements and don’t make any concrete plans about the near future – soon you won’t be there, remember?
• Be mindful not to talk about whatever it is that’s causing you to move out without anyone knowing. If you make the mistake of doing it, then you may get bombarded with follow-up questions – the least of what you need at that time.

Be careful what you take with you

After a breakup or a divorce, you may wish to move out secretly to save the drama or avoid any further complications. And if that’s the case, then you should be prepared to solve a serious problem: the division of your shared belongings.

Now, you must realize that it’s impossible to move out discreetly and still try to work out who gets what in an attempt to divide fairly all the things that you and your partner have bought together. Therefore, the best course of action is to take only your most beloved personal stuff that does not include any heavy items such as furniture or large electronic equipment.

In some cases, especially when you’re moving out of your parents’ house and you don’t wish your mom and dad to know about the move, you may even wish to leave (almost) everything behind and get a fresh someplace else where you won’t know anybody and no one will know you.

Moving out without telling anyone is not easy as you can’t get any help from anyone, including your good friends. As a result, you’ll have to decide upfront whether you should risk your security and secrecy in an attempt to take some items that will slow you down or blow up your stealth moving mode.

Good to know: What’s the best single advice when moving house?

Hire a moving company that cares about your secrecy

If you’re moving out discreetly only a short distance away, then you may choose to move out through multiple trips between your current place and the new one. For example, you can use your car to move your stuff little by little so that nobody notices your secret plan.

On the other hand, if you’re moving long distance to a place that’s hundreds or thousands of miles away, then the only way you can make it work is to move in one relocation trip. And if so, you’re going to have to hire a full-service moving company to help you out.

When moving out discreetly, the best way is to use professional movers who will do it all quickly and privately, without asking you too many questions. Look for a discreet moving company that will agree to pack, load, and transport your things during unusual hours so that you can avoid attracting too much attention.

You may have to pay the movers extra for the unusual request but you’ll save yourself a lot of Moving day drama and potential problems by using discreet moving services.

Use our Moving Cost Calculator to get in touch with movers who will respect your decision to move out secretly without anyone knowing.