The Change of Address Dance

The time has come for the old change-of-address dance again, and as usual, I’m terrified of forgetting to alert someone. I’m sure a credit card company would be totally understanding if I missed a couple of bills, right?

I did the usual USPS change-of-address form, and this week received my confirmations at both my old and new addresses. (I assume these are sent so that you can’t just change someone else’s address out of spite, which entertains me.) The Post Office will forward most items to me for the next 12 months, but after that, things will be lost in the ether. I also need to change my address with the Secretary of State— in Illinois, you have 10 days to notify the SoS, and changing your address on your license/ID appears to be optional (though I imagine it could cause problems).

In addition to those two big ones, I still need to change my address for…

• Bank
• Credit card company
• Amazon billing/default shipping information
• Netflix billing information
• Typepad billing information
• Cell phone company
• Paypal
• Social Security
• Wired subscription (the USPS only forwards magazines for 60 days)
• Car insurance
• Health department/insurance
• Frontier (if the internet ever arrives)
• Apartment Therapy payment department
• My day job’s HR department
• Friends and family

I’m sure I’m forgetting something, probably something crucial, and I won’t be aware of it until something goes wrong. The sofabed we finally ordered was already delayed (until after guests came and went, of course) because the small-town Illinois billing address was different from the rural Illinois shipping address, with a San Francisco phone number thrown in to look extra-sketchy. I can’t wait until this is all straightened out…

How do you keep track of change-of-addresses? Do you have a spreadsheet you use every time you move? You know we love spreadsheets around here. Any change-of-address tales of woe/hilarity to share?