CFI Blog

The Moving Checklist

“We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”
–Walt Disney

“Even if you fall on your face, you’re still moving forward.”
–Victor Kiam

As I recently shared in my article on Control Your Cash, my wife and I have decided to move from our house in the suburbs of Fort Worth (otherwise known as the Hull Financial Planning World HQ) to an apartment in downtown Fort Worth. So, yes, now I am a Fort Worth financial planner (hello, Google! Did you notice?).

Moving is, in any circumstance, a somewhat complicated affair. Since I’m a business owner and we own rental properties, there are even more moving pieces to account for.

To help with organizing for the move, I created a checklist, which I’ve broken down into three sections: home, business, and rental properties. I also added a miscellaneous checklist for items that may apply to others but did not apply to us.

House checklist

  • Change insurance (homeowner’s to renter’s, auto policy)
  • Change bank address information
  • Change credit card address information
  • Change health insurance address information
  • Get quote from movers
  • Schedule movers
  • Sign apartment lease
  • Find a new vet
  • Transfer electricity
  • Transfer Internet
  • Change address for cell phone
  • Stop auto-pay bills associated with house
  • USPS forwarding
  • Send new address to friends and family
  • Change shipping address for Amazon Prime
  • Cancel home alarm
  • Transfer/shut off remaining utilities
  • Cancel gym membership
  • Get cash for movers
  • Move!
  • Get new driver’s license with updated address
  • Inform Veterans Administration of new address

Business checklist

  • Change address with state corporation commission
  • Change address with state securities commission
  • Change address with FINRA
  • Change address on letterhead
  • Change address on Form-ADV
  • Change address with bank
  • Change address with credit card
  • Change address with Paypal
  • Change address on website
  • Change address on Google+
  • Change address on Brightscope
  • Change address on Yelp
  • Change address on Yellow Pages
  • Change address on other applicable websites
  • USPS forwarding
  • If applicable, get new business license

Rental properties checklist

  • Inform property manager of new address
  • Change mailing address with counties’ tax collectors
  • If you don’t use a property manager, inform tenants of new mailing address

Miscellaneous checklist

  • Register kids for new school
  • Find new babysitter
  • Get health records
  • Get copies of prescriptions
  • Pack a “go bag” for the interim between when old house is empty and new house is filled
  • Let HR know of new address if not changing jobs
  • Inform subscriptions of new address

You can download a spreadsheet with the list of items so that you can check them off as you complete them or add/change the list as you need to.

Author Profile

John Davis
John Davis is a nationally recognized expert on credit reporting, credit scoring, and identity theft. He has written four books about his expertise in the field and has been featured extensively in numerous media outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, CNN, CBS News, CNBC, Fox Business, and many more. With over 20 years of experience helping consumers understand their credit and identity protection rights, John is passionate about empowering people to take control of their finances. He works with financial institutions to develop consumer-friendly policies that promote financial literacy and responsible borrowing habits.

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