Free Change of Address Checklist: Who Needs It by When

A change of address checklist is one sheet of everyone who needs your new address and the date each one needs it by. File mail forwarding with USPS first, any time from 90 days before the move to 30 days after. Then work through five more stations: the utilities, the money, the government, the insurance and the saved shipping addresses. Your state’s DMV sets its own deadline, 10 days in 17 states and 30 days in another 17.

The limbo where everything goes to two places

It’s been ages since I moved. What I remember is the limbo point, where things were going to two places. Mail, bills and statements, packages. Some of it came to the new address and some of it went to the old one.

I really hate that.

The limbo lasts as long as something still has the old address. So this is the list of who has it, in six stations, with a date on anything that has a deadline. Stop after any station and fewer things are going to two places than before you started.

What goes on a change of address checklist?

Six stations, one ticket each. If one doesn’t apply to you, it still counts once you’ve checked.

1. The post office: mail forwarding, so mail stops splitting while you do the rest.
2. The utilities: off at the old place, on at the new one.
3. The money: the bank, the cards, the loans and whoever pays you.
4. The government: the DMV, voter registration and the IRS.
5. The insurance: car, home or renters, and health.
6. The saved addresses: online stores, delivery apps, the pharmacy and the doctor.

Station 1: File mail forwarding with USPS

USPS says a change of address request “can be submitted 90 days before the effective date of your move, and up to 30 days after the date of your move.” Filing online costs a $1.25 identity verification fee.

Forwarding can start within 3 business days, but USPS says “it’s best to allow up to 2 weeks.” So if you can, file at least two weeks before the move and it’s running on move day.

Then know what it covers:

• First-Class Mail: forwarded for 12 months.
• Magazines and other periodicals: forwarded for 60 days.
• Months 13 to 18: “the mail is returned to sender with your new address attached.”

And the line on the USPS page that explains why the other five stations exist: “Your change of address order only changes your mailing address with the Post Office.” Forwarding is the bridge. Everything below is what gets you off it.

Station 2: The utilities, off at the old place and on at the new

This is the one I’d put off the longest.

Electric, gas, water and trash, internet. Give each one a date instead of a someday: on at the new place by move day, off at the old one once you’re out. Each provider sets how much notice it wants, so ask when you call. If water and trash come with the rent, it’s one less call.

If you already made a who-to-call sheet, the utilities are the first station on it, so the numbers are already in one place. Make a new one for the new house once the accounts are set up.

Station 3: The money, where bills and statements come from

Forwarding carries bills and statements for 12 months. After that they need the new address on the account itself. The USPS page lists banks by name among the places you still have to update yourself.

• The bank: every account, including the one you forgot you had.
• Credit cards: the statement address and the billing address stores check at checkout.
• Loans: car, student, or any other.
• Whoever pays you: payroll, and anyone who sends you a tax form in January. If you have a side hustle, the payers on your side hustle income log are this list.

If you’ve filled in an account list, go down it in order. It’s already every place with your name on it.

Station 4: The DMV, voter registration and the IRS

The DMV. Your state sets the deadline for the address on your license. Here’s what each state’s own address change page says:

Deadline after you move	States
Within 48 hours	Connecticut
Within one week	New Jersey
10 days	17 states, including California, New York, Arizona and Washington
15 days	Pennsylvania
30 days	17 states, including Texas, Florida, Virginia and Oregon
60 days	5, including Georgia, North Carolina and DC
Not stated on the page	9 states. Call or check in person.

Pick your state in the tool below and it gives you the date and the link to your state’s page.

Voter registration. USA.gov says “If you change your name or move to a new address, you must update your voter registration,” and if you move to a new state, you register there. Vote.gov sends you to your state and shows its registration deadline.

The IRS. Use Form 8822, or put the new address on your next return. The IRS says a USPS change of address can update its records, but “not all post offices forward government checks, so you should still notify us.” A change “can generally take four to six weeks after receipt” to go through.

If this is you:

• Men 18 through 25 tell Selective Service within 10 days.
• Non-citizens report the move to USCIS within 10 days, on Form AR-11.
• Social Security benefits or Medicare: Medicare.gov says to change your official address through Social Security.

Station 5: The insurance, car, home and health

Car insurance, renters or home insurance, and health insurance each get a line. For health insurance through work, tell HR.

A Marketplace plan has two rules to know. Moving within your state, you update your application. Moving to a new state, Healthcare.gov says “you can’t keep your plan,” and “It’s very important to report moves out of state immediately so you can enroll in a new plan without a break in coverage.” A move can also open a special enrollment period, and for those “you usually have 60 days before or 60 days following the event to enroll in a plan.”

Station 6: The saved addresses, where packages go

Stores and apps ship to whatever address is saved in the account. Forwarding is between you and the Post Office, so a store has no way to know.

• Online stores: the default shipping address, then any saved ones under it.
• Delivery apps: food, groceries, rides.
• The pharmacy and the doctors.
• Magazines: USPS forwards them for only 60 days, so these go first.

Build your dated list with One Address

One Address walks the same six stations. Put in your move date and your state, mark each line changed or doesn’t apply, and add anyone else with the old address. At the end it counts what’s still going to the old place and gives you every deadline as a real date, soonest first.

Nothing you type leaves your browser. There's no account and no server behind it, and it refuses account numbers in the add box.

The printable change of address checklist

One page, free, no email required. Move date and both addresses at the top, the six stations with a date line and a check box each, 22 lines of who needs the new address, a box for your state's DMV deadline, and what to do when old mail still shows up.

Two rules to get out of the limbo faster

Forwarding first, then fix everything at the source. When a piece of old mail comes through forwarding, the sender still has the old address. Add them to the list and change it with them directly.

Put the end of forwarding on your calendar. 12 months from the day it starts, mail stops coming to you and goes back to the sender. Anything still on the list by then is what you'll miss. Your renewals list is a good home for the date.

Clear all six stations and you've earned six tickets and Forwarding Fran, the prize on this one. Nothing expires and there's no streak to lose, so a move you start tonight and finish next month still pays the same six.

Not financial or legal advice. Every deadline above is quoted from the agency's own page, and states and agencies change their rules. Check yours.

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