By Jeff Walker
With everything that’s going on during the course of your move it’s easy to forget some of the details on all of the things that have to happen for your move. Making a change of address is an important step in any move and will insure that you don’t have any surprises months or years after you’re in your new home. The US Postal service can help you with a change of address up to a year after your move. However, beyond forwarding your mail to your new location, it will cost you to have them notify organizations, family and friends that you’re moving. Generally speaking, you can do this yourself if you get organized.
Lists
Creating lists of people you need to contact can help you avoid added expenses and late fees from billers and added stress from people you know. Creating lists can help you organize who you need to contact, and who you would like to contact.
Utilities and Services
Creating a list of utilities and services is a must. You don’t want to get billed for services you aren’t using and not all areas notify the utility and services companies about a change of ownership of a house at the time of sale. If you’re in an apartment where you pay the utilities and service fees, the new occupant may not know that they’ll need to change the services into their names unless the service has already been terminated. Typical services include water, gas, electric, garbage, telephone, internet, cable or satellite TV, yard or housecleaning services.
Financial Institutions
Here, you’ll want to create a list of all the financial institutions you deal with on a monthly basis. This will not only include your bank, but also any credit card companies, loan institutions, insurance agencies, pension and retirement account holders and any professional memberships or licensing boards you belong to for your profession.
Government Agencies
The post office is the most obvious government agency to contact before your move. You can fill out a change of address form to have all of your mail forwarded to your new address while you are notifying your lists of people or organizations about your move. In addition to the post office, you’ll need to notify the IRS, Social Security, vehicle registration and grab a new license from your new state of residence. In addition, if you are a veteran who receives benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs, you will want to let them know you are moving and where to find their office in your new city. If you are a retiree, you’ll want to notify whomever is in charge of your pension benefits. Lastly, if you are unemployed, you will want to notify the unemployment office in your area and be sure to ask them how to transfer your unemployment benefits to your new state.
Subscriptions
Any magazines, newspapers or book and music clubs you belong to should be notified of your change of address as well.
Depending on how much time before you have to move will determine how easy this task can be for you. The more time you have the easier it will be, as you can take the time to write down this list as items come to you in the mail, or as you do your bills. You may be surprised to know just how many organizations need to know that you moved in order to stop their service or change the billing address to your new home.
