There are countless aspects to organizing a move—renting a truck, gathering moving supplies and trying to stay sane while doing it. While you’re worrying about all the heavy lifting, you may be forgetting about other small changes that must be made. One of these includes updating your address with certain companies. It probably sounds tedious, but it’s very important if you want life to go smoothly at your new place. Here is a list to help you prioritize which companies to change your address with.
First of all, you’ll want to update your address with the United States Postal Service. The last thing you need is to be settled in at your new house and not receive your mail! You can make this change online or at a local post office.
Before You Move
As you know, services like water, telephone and electricity don’t come magically (you definitely know since you’re the one paying the bills). So you’ll want to call each of these companies and inform them of your change of address so your services can be switched over—if you want to have electricity and be able to watch your favorite TV shows, that is.
After You Move
Government Agencies
Updating your address with these agencies is very important, because they affect big parts of your life after the move. If you want to exercise your right to vote or drive your car, your registration information needs to be up to date. These are the big ones:
Financial Companies
Your finances are no joke, so be sure to notify these companies when you change your address. Your bank, for example, should be aware of a move so they aren’t alarmed when your debit/credit card is being used across the country. Pay attention to these institutions:
Everyone Else
Now that you’ve notified these specific companies, it’s time to think about everyone else in your life. If you have kids, their school or daycare will need notification. If you have a magazine subscription you read faithfully, you’ll have to update that. Make sure you’ve covered the following bases:
Be sure to check out Moving Insider’s change of address checklist as well.
United States
Canada