Changing your address is not the hardest part of moving, but it is a tedious task compared to packing your belongings. Making sure everyone who needs your new address has gotten easier overtime with online address forms but remembering is the hard part. No matter if you are moving locally or moving long distance, you need to make sure you are getting your mail before you miss important documents.
Changing your address has become a lot easier than running down to the post office and standing in line. Read over the following tips to make sure that when you move your mail will be moving with you:
- If you are ok with the conventional way of changing your address, head down the post office and take a minute to fill out the US postal service's official change of address form (also known as PS form 3575; if you do not see them out, just ask a clerk).
- The most important part of filling out the US postal service's change of address card is including your old address and your new address. However, it's also vital you remember to include the names of anyone else who is moving with you. If you only include your name, your husband / wife's mail will not follow you.
- If you do not feel like waiting in line at the post office you can have your mail forwarded from the comfort of your own computer by completing a short form at the US postal services address change webpage.
- Think you are done? Sorry, nothing involving official government documents are ever that easy. Turning in your change of address form to the post office only means that your mail will be forwarded for a limited time. First class mail – letters and such – are forwarded for one year. Periodicals – newspapers and magazines – are only forwarded for 60 days. After the forwarding period expires, anything that arrives for you will either be sent to the post office's dead-letter room or stay with whoever's moved into your old place.
- If you are a college student who is moving away from school (either for the summer or for good) check with the campus mail service to see what their mail forwarding policies are. Colleges and universities have their own delivery systems, separate from the post office, and usually their own forwarding policies.
- To keep receiving your mail after the US postal service stops forwarding it, you need to send out change of address cards to everyone you do business with. These change of address cards are available at the post office for free.
- Most of the bills you receive like home utilities, credit card bills, and your insurance carrier have a section where you can update your address information. If that takes too much time, sign on to your account online and change the address in your settings. Take advantage of it and you will save yourself a little trouble down the road.
Keeping track of whom you've given your new address to and who still needs it can get pretty confusing pretty quickly. Make a checklist of all the companies that need your address (don’t forget the IRS) and all the friends and relatives you want to keep in touch with before you start mailing anything out. Keep your change of address checklist after you've moved into your new home, so if a few months down the road you cannot find your current phone bill, you will know exactly why.