Count a Job Move Back From the Start Date, Not Forward From the Offer — Free
A job offer comes with a start date and a feeling of plenty of time. It is not plenty of time: a tenancy break clause needs two months' notice, a school place application has its own window, and a mover in the last week of a month is a mover you cannot book. This receipt takes the start date and each task's lead time and files them in the order the deadlines actually arrive.
The proof surface
Free path: the receipt computes locally in the browser with no key and no account. Where an AI step helps, any free chat assistant works — Google AI Studio's free tier and Groq's free tier were both no-card and rate-limited when this page was reviewed on 2026-09-13 (limits change; check before you rely on them).
Why the flat version breaks
An onboarding checklist is written from the employer's side and starts on day one, which is precisely the point where the personal deadlines have already passed. Counting the same tasks back from the start date puts them on your calendar in the order they must happen, and shows which one is already impossible.
How to use the relocation receipt in four passes
Your contract's notice period, the tenancy's break clause, the council's application window, the mover's quoted availability. These are numbers somebody else controls, and they are the ones that decide the plan.
A school application window and a tenancy notice period cannot be shortened by working harder. They are the rows that gate everything else, so they get the longest lead times.
If the employer offers one, it usually has to be agreed before you spend anything. Forty days out is a reasonable row; the day you sign the removals contract is not.
Start dates slip, and every row slips with them. Change the date and re-file — a receipt printed against an old start date is a plan for a job you no longer have.
SAMPLE DATA, NOT A VERIFIED CLAIM: Senior analyst, Vantage Manufacturing · start 4 Jan 2027 · school application 75 days · tenancy notice 60 · removals booked 21 days out · relocation contribution asked for at 40. Replace these values with your own source before you rely on anything.
What breaks first
Counting forward from the offer instead of back from the start
The offer date feels like the beginning, and three weeks disappear in the celebration. The start date is the only fixed point, and everything is measured against it.
Assuming the tenancy can be ended early
A break clause is a clause, not a favour. If your agreement requires two calendar months' notice, a 4 January start means a November conversation with the landlord.
Leaving the school application to the end
In-year transfers and catchment applications have their own windows and waiting lists. This is the row that turns a good move into a difficult one, and it has the longest lead time of all.
What you pay otherwise
| The usual route | What it leaves out | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| A relocation agency | They run the same list, with a corporate account and a markup | a fee per household, usually paid by the employer |
| An estate agent's short-notice let | A month's rent to hold somewhere while the school place resolves | a holding deposit plus rent |
| Starting the job with the move unfinished | The first two weeks are spent on hold to utility companies | a first impression you only get once |
| This page + the free relocation receipt | Computed in your tab, result on screen before you type anything | $0 |
Try the free relocation receipt
Ten relocation tasks are already filed against a 4 Jan 2027 start, with the 75-day school application at the top and the tenancy notice dated 5 November. Move the start to 19 October and four rows land in the past.
Open the free relocation receipt →Keep the work if you will use it again
Every task, every action date, the ordering and the past-date flags, plus copy and share-link, with no account.
The on-screen result is free and repeatable forever. The one-time tier adds a tangible file you keep and the saved history that comes with it; it never removes or degrades the free result.
Boundary: This does date arithmetic on the lead times you type in; it is not legal, immigration, employment or housing advice, and it cannot verify a notice period, a break clause, a visa timeline or a school's admission window. Check each one against your contract, your tenancy agreement, the official guidance and the local authority before you act.