How To Make Changing Your Address A Lot Easier
Updating all the paperwork, like changing your address, is not as physically involved as packing and cleaning, but it can be just as stressful.
08/12/2018
Moving to a new home involves a lot of work that doesn't just entail packing and shipping your belongings to a new neighborhood or even a new country. There is a lot of paperwork involved, and it's important to let friends and the people you do business with know your new’s home address.
Updating all the paperwork, like changing your address, is not as physically involved as packing and cleaning, but it can be just as stressful. In this post, we're going to talk about how you can make the change-of-address process more manageable.
Get Organized
Organizing is the key to success. Check all
your bills, tax records, DMV information,
investment accounts, subscriptions, etc. If
someone might send you a piece of mail that you
need to see, you'll need to get in touch with
them and change the address.
We suggest that
you create a list of all the different places
that need to be updated. On the list, write:
• The name of the company or agency
• Your
account number, tax number, etc. Whatever you'll
use for them to identify your account
• The phone number or email address of each
company
• The address of each company or
agency, if you’re going to visit them in person
This simple list can be drawn up quickly in the Excel computer program, and then printed out so that you can tick off each company as you go along.
Alternatively, use a service such as the US Postal Services. With these services, you’ll complete the form online, and they’ll send you details on what to do next. They’ll submit the changes to the various companies for you where they can. Using a change-of-address service is the easiest option.
Take Some Time Off
If you decide to do everything yourself, consider taking a day or two off work. You could work through the list carefully, a few names at a time and update the details that way, but that's going to take a while. It's better to handle it in one swoop.
Also, in some instances, like with government agencies, you may need to go to their offices. And that's not usually something that you can complete during your lunch hour.
Check the New Address and Zip Code
That's fairly obvious, we know, but a lot of people neglect to confirm the zip code, and this can cause problems later.
Write Out the Address Before You Phone
Your new address is unfamiliar. You could, especially after you've been dealing with a few different people, lose focus and make a mistake with the address. Write it down and read it out each time. The added advantage here is that you will memorize your new address.
Get the Clerk to Read Back the New Address to You
Having the address read back is to make sure that they have it 100 percent correct. It makes the process a little longer, but not by much and is a lot better for your peace of mind. Overall, your best tool to get this over and done as painlessly as possible is to tackle it in an organized fashion.