Shifting house is known to be one of the more stressful activities in life. The Internet can help you minimise the problems of relocating in varied ways, letting you turn a major headache into a streamlined operation.

If the idea of treating your move as a project appeals, you might like to employ an online project management tool such as Back Pack (www.backpackit.com), a Web-based service that includes to-do lists, a calendar and reminders – it will even send reminders to you via email or SMS. It will also help you make the move a shared project, if that’s what you desire.

Changing contact details and supplier details for utilities are the kind of niggly details that the Internet takes care of well. If your home phone account is with Telecom, you can change your details online – no sitting on hold for hours on end waiting to speak to a real person. There’s a button on Telecom’s home page for this; click on it and it takes you to a form that covers phone and broadband (see www.telecom.co.nz/form/1,8751,3277-1001,00.html).

You can do the same with some electricity and gas companies, from a link on their home pages; see Mercury Energy (www.mercuryenergy.co.nz), Contact Energy (www.contactenergy.co.nz) and Genesis Energy (www.genesisenergy.co.nz).

Mercury and Contact both provide useful checklists on their sites for moving house.

You’ll also find helpful checklists at Yellow Pages (goyellowlife.yellowpages.co.nz), NZ Post (www.nzpost.co.nz/NZPost/Images/NZPost/PDF/Moverschecklist.pdf), The Moving Company (www.themovingcompany.co.nz) and Neighbourhood Support (www.nsupport.co.nz/moving_house.doc), as well as on most moving companies’ sites. Many of these checklists are downloadable, with – you’ve guessed it – checkboxes to help you keep track of the process. The level of detail in these lists is very impressive; who would have thought of keeping an inventory of all their boxes of stuff, for instance, and checking it off after the move?

If you’re using a moving company, many offer online quoting; eg: The Moving Company (www.themovingcompany.co.nz), A1 Movers (www.a1movers.co.nz), New Zealand Van Lines (www.nzvanlines.co.nz/index.html), Budget Move (www.budgetmove.co.nz ) and A Way to Move (www.awaytomove.co.nz).

For a detailed list of moving companies, categorised by region, see NZs.com (www.nzs.com/business/services/freight-and-postage/furniture-removal), with links to the companies’ sites.

Once you’ve organised a quote and chosen a mover, you can book the move online with some of these companies, although in most cases it seems you still need to pick up the phone.

Check that your home and contents insurance covers your household goods while you’re in transit (and make sure you’ve notified your insurance company of your new address). If your goods are not covered, your moving company may be able to offer insurance cover for the move, which you can order online; some examples are Transinternational (www.transinternational.co.nz), Ezimove.com (www.ezimove.com) and Budget Express (www.budgetmove.co.nz).

And if you’re going to do the packing yourself, you can buy all the packaging materials you need online; see CoreBlimey (coreblimey.equote.co.nz) and Print Box (www.printbox.co.nz). Many moving companies offer tips on safe packing on their sites. Real estate company sites can also be a good source of advice on packing. Century 21’s is among the best (www.century21.com/learn/content.aspx?refstr=lrn_packing_tips). The site also has loads of advice on everything to do with moving, with an excellent checklist. Planet Move’s (www.planetmove.com/packing) packing advice is illustrated, which is a nice touch, and covers everything from disassembling bicycles to transporting formal dresses.

Ensuring a smooth move for your pets will make things easier for you as well. Check out the SPCA’s site for advice on moving pets (www.rnzspca.org.nz) or these links: www.helpiammoving.com/moving_house/pets.php , www.petalia.com.au/Templates/StoryTemplate_process.cfm?story_no=255

You can’t quite redirect your mail online, but you can order the redirection form and get costs for redirection from NZ Post’s site at www.nzpost.co.nz/Cultures/en-NZ/Personal/MoverServices/RedirectingYourMail NZ Post also offers a service where you can check off businesses and organisations on a list and they will be notified of your change of address; see www.changemyaddress.co.nz/index2.cfm

If you’re lucky enough to be moving to an area that has a home delivery service for milk, you can organise this over the Internet too; go to Meadow Fresh’s site (www.meadowfresh.co.nz), click on Home Delivery and fill in a brief online form to see whether you’re in a home delivery area.

It’s not a bad idea to get information on council services at your new house before you move in. Council Web sites have lots of details on amenities such as rubbish collection day, library facilities and water supplies; they’re also a good place to get to know a new neighbourhood or city in general before you move there. To find a council’s site, type the name of the city, followed by city.govt.nz (eg: www.wellingtoncity.govt.nz), then look under Services.

Finally, that last unpleasant stage of moving – giving your old home a thorough clean inside and out – is also worth leaving to someone else if you can. To find a one-off cleaning service, try Life Savers (www.go2lifesavers.co.nz), An Extra Pair of Hands (www.anextrapairofhands.co.nz ), Green Acres (www.greenacres.co.nz), Meticulous Maids (www.meticulous.co.nz) or place an ad on Student Job Search (www.sjs.co.nz ).