Top 13 Things on Your Personal Moving Checklist

Moving can involve personal responsibilities that relate directly to your new life and not to the moving process. These tasks can be even more important than the components of the moving process itself, since they affect your ability to live, work, and function in your old and new worlds. Take the steps below to prepare yourself to live comfortably in your new home just as you did in the old one.

Personal

1. Submit address change forms to the post office to ensure new correspondence is delivered correctly.

2. Submit an address change form with the Internal Revenue Service.

3. Change your address with your bank and credit card company, and transfer your funds to new bank accounts if necessary.

4. Change your address with any magazine subscriptions or club memberships

5. Find health care providers in your new area and transfer medical records if necessary.

6. Transfer any prescriptions you or your family members may have to pharmacies near your new home.

7. Ensure that your children are prepared to change schools if needed.

8. Check into laws in your new city and obtain a new resident packet from the Chamber of Commerce.

9. Collect important records like birth certificates and passports and remain conscious of their whereabouts during the moving process.

10. Return borrowed items (library books, etc.), pick up items from dry cleaners’ or other service providers, and reclaim any items that have been borrowed from you.

11. Locate important spots—hospital, police station, fire station, etc.—near your new home.

12. Register your car in your new state if applicable.

13. Notify a friend of your exact moving route and plans so someone knows where you are at all times in case of an emergency.

The moving process may seem overwhelming, but a checklist will aid you in the moving process and prevent you from forgetting any steps. Keep a level head and a long list of to-do’s and you’re sure to move smoothly from one home to another, transferring the details of your life in the process.