Personally, what I do works pretty well, so long as I don't get impatient and skip something!
Yes its time consuming, but VERY worth it

First make a list of all the thing you want to do in a day. For me the list was something like this:
catch anything I saw, while talking to all the villagers a few times in a row. I ran any errands they wanted
Visit all the shops.
Dig things up,
Retail.
Cafe
, talk to one villager many times, Get at least one ping.
Make sure I watered the flowers I wanted to bloom for the next day. ( I had beautiful ordinance)
Mailed some letters.
I watch what they say, sometimes they will give you hints as to who is thinking of moving away.
Best way to keep your luck as well is to pop the cartridge up when you go to change the time with the settings. Wait till the top screen with wiFi and the tokens to load before putting the game back in. Then load up and enjoy another day of playing

Talking to the villagers it the key though. The more friendly you are with them though, the higher the chance in moving.
I only welcomed the random move in's once, then they shortly wanted to move after that. They won't move so soon after so many days of them moving in or out either. Its about 2-6 days from what I have seen in game.
Pretty much playing every day fullest works best

I did what you did, I am about a year and a half behind still! I mostly played in summer though!
I keep track of what days I have played last by looking at my activity log on the DS!
Hope this helps! and happy time traveling
