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Contact the secretary at the current school or have the new school request the student’s record. For elementary students, this will include the most recent year’s report card and a copy of standardized test scores. High school students will have a transcript.
Enroll your child in the new school as soon as you know your new address. You will be expected to present these documents to enroll your child:
People who changed residences: 11.6%
People who moved more than 500 miles typically moved for employment-related reasons: 43.9%
People who moved less than 50 miles typically moved for housing-related reasons: 40.0%
Most Americans live in the state in which they were born: 59.0%
Highest percentage of residents living in state of birth: 78.8% of Louisianans
Most common state-to-state move: California to Texas with 68,959 movers
Going in the other direction: Texas to California with 36,582 movers
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the most common move was Louisiana to Texas with 118,552 movers.
Cull files you will not need in your new home including manuals for appliances you will not move.
Set aside your critical documents to carry with you instead of packing them.
Mark any boxes you pack with the contents and the room. For example: King bed sheets and blankets/Master Bedroom.
Designate fragile items with a big “F” or “X.” Check these boxes first for possible damage.
Get receipts for any charitable donations you plan to list as a tax deduction.
File a change of address with the U.S. Postal Service either online or by completing USPS Form 3575. If you are concerned about unsolicited mail following you to your new address, skip this step and contact all correspondents individually.
If you decide to hire a professional mover, there are several documents you need to track: written estimates, an Order for Service, a Descriptive Inventory, a Bill of Lading, and, if needed, a Claim Form.
Get three written estimates to compare services and prices. The mover must base the estimate on a physical survey of the household goods to be moved unless you sign a written waiver of your rights.
Review the Order for Service before you sign and keep a copy. The Order of Service must list the amount of the charges, the method of payment, and the terms of payment.
Review the Descriptive Inventory before you sign and keep a copy. The inventory serves as a checklist on the delivery end where you will be asked to sign the driver’s copy of the inventory to confirm the items listed were received and note any lost or damaged items.
Review the Bill of Lading before you sign and keep a copy. This is the contract between you and your mover and serves as a receipt for your household items. It identifies the mover and specifies when services will be performed and the terms and conditions for payment. It is executed and signed after the shipment has been loaded and before the moving van leaves your home.
File a claim for lost or damaged household goods as soon as possible. Use the annotated Descriptive Inventory (driver’s copy) you signed after delivery. Retain cartons and packing material until the mover has inspected the damage.
Keep moving documents in a plastic document folder for handy reference.
Information about moving documents from Make a Smart Move (American Moving and Storage Association 2007).
As a real estate agent, I see firsthand that keeping good records and documentation on your home not only makes the sales process go more smoothly, but can actually help you get a better price for it. Here are suggestions for record keeping that can make all the difference.
Buyers take a lot of comfort from knowing exactly what has been done, and when, to roofs, A/C and heat systems, appliances, hot water heaters, pools, etc. Documenting all you’ve done gives the right impression to buyers who are more likely to pay an optimum price for a house whose owner can document maintenance than one with spotty or non-existent records.
Sellers must disclose a great deal of information about their house to prospective buyers. This disclosure includes an exhaustive list of what features and systems a house has, information on any issues they may have, and what repairs you have done, additions/changes you have made etc. Inaccurate or misleading seller’s disclosures cause more legal headaches than any other aspect of the sale or purchase of a home. Keeping good records to refer to will not only help maximize the price you get for your house, but it can save you legal troubles down the road.
If you are the type of homeowner who can’t wait to try out the latest design idea you saw on HGTV, you want to get full credit for that! But if you’ve done a lot to your home, or lived in the house for a long time, it’s easy to lose track. Keep your invoices and receipts for everything from paint, repairs, new fixtures and lighting, small do-it-yourself projects, and of course larger remodels or additions. When the time comes to price your house, and defend that price to a buyer, you’ll be so glad to have that information at your fingertips.
Get more tips from Allison Allen’s real estate blog.
Even if you are not ready to go electronic, you do not need to save every paper statement you receive. You do not need to save utility bills at all unless you are claiming a tax deduction for a home office. You need to keep the bill only long enough to verify that payment was credited to your account. Once you verify payment, you can safely shred your previous bill.
Worried you might need to compare current water or electricity consumption to previous consumption? You can check online with your utility.
Are you ready to go POSO™?
Consumers are finding it more convenient than ever to pay bills electronically as technology gives us many choices for paying our bills. While a check in the mail is still the most popular method of payment for customers, the percentage of customers paying by mail has declined from 68 percent in 2004 to 42 percent in 2011. The clutter of the paper check is being replaced by electronic methods.
Here are statistics from 2011 on the methods consumers use to pay bills:
and self-service options:
However, consumers have been slower to accept electronic bill presentment. Only 10 percent of total bills are delivered electronically compared to 19 percent of total payments made electronically.
How do you prefer to pay your bills? Do you receive your bills electronically? Would you consider going electronic to cut the clutter in your life?
All statistics from Billing and Payment Profiles & Best Practices 2011: Billing and Payment Options in the Digital Age, a research study published by The Ascent Group, Inc., Athens, GA, April 2011.
Most households need to retain only a few key records: tax returns and supporting documentation for seven years, warranties and instruction manuals for as long as you own the item, and records relating to home and automobile maintenance for as long as you own your home or automobile.
However, many of us file records out of habit. Before filing a record, stop to ask yourself two questions: 1) Why are you keeping that record? 2) What would be the cost of replacing that record should you ever need it again?
If you need to convince yourself, do some calculations. Estimate what you are spending on paper, file folders, file labels, hanging folders, file cabinets, and storage space versus the time and out-of-pocket costs to replace that document. An excellent time to make this calculation is when you run out of space and are contemplating buying more.
Take the example of cancelled checks. You do not need to devote any physical or electronic space to saving cancelled checks. Cancelled check images are immediately available through online banking, typically for at least a year. You can get cancelled check images for older checks or for a check of any age if you do not bank online for just a few dollars.
With the increased incidence of identity theft, it is more important than ever to shred personal records such as credit card statements and checking account records. The Austin Records Management Association, Financial Fitness of Greater Austin, and Austin Resource Recovery Department are sponsoring a free “Shred Day” at the Austin High School parking lot, 1715 West Cesar Chavez Drive, from 8:00 am to 1:30 pm.
Households may bring up five boxes of paper records for shredding. Box size should not be larger than 24” X 24”. Mobile shredding trucks will be on site to shred all materials. Please make sure your records are paper only (no hard plastics, no plastic bags, electronic media or three-ring binders) and are not wet or moldy.
In lieu of a fee, monetary donations will be accepted for the Capital Area Food Bank.
Last year, the event shredded over 83,500 pounds of material and collected 302 pounds of food and over $7,100 for the Capital Area Food Bank. All of the shredded material and cardboard boxes were recycled.
For more details, download ARMA’s brochure.
The National Archives holds military service records in two repositories. Records for the Revolutionary War through 1912 are held at the National Archives Building in Washington, DC. Types of records include: service records, pension claim files, and bounty-land warrant applications. Records for WW I to the present are held at the National Military Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, MO.
Individual military records are not online. However, you can use the eVetRecs system to create a request that you then either mail or fax. Military veterans or next of kin of a deceased former member of the military may request archival records. Records become archival 62 years after the service member’s separation from the military. As of 2012, records with a discharge date of 1950 or prior (2012 – 62 = 1950) are archival and open to the public.
As part of my research for this article, I requested a copy of my late father’s DD 214, Report of Separation, to get details of his military service. Under reason for request, I answered "genealogy." According to the National Archives Web site, response time is typically within ten days although older records or requests that require extensive search effort may take six months or more to complete. The National Archives does its best to respond to urgent requests such as documentation for burial benefits for veterans if you note your deadline in the comments section of the request form.
There was no charge for the requested record.
When I was living in the Washington, DC area, I took a genealogy class at the National Archives. The teacher was just what you would expect a genealogist to look like—prim, proper, and precise in her diction which was softened by her Virginia drawl. She began the class by telling us “Get your stories. Go to your family and get your stories. Now did everyone understand that I did not say to believe those stories?” Once we had gathered our stories, she instructed us to “Document. Document, Document.”
I did as she suggested and talked to my family over Thanksgiving. My cousin and I decided we wanted to learn more about the maternal line of our family. I requested a copy of my maternal grandmother’s birth certificate from the Clerk of the Orphans’ Court of the county where she was born in rural Pennsylvania. When I received her certificate of birth, I felt a bit closer to the grandmother I never knew.
I also enjoy talking to and exchanging information about the family tree with my aunt on my father’s side. We made a trip to Ellis Island on one of my visits to New York to see if we could discover when our ancestors came to America.
There are many resources available online now that did not exist when I took the genealogy class more than twenty years ago. There are databases you can search for family members and software you can purchase to organize your family records. However, careful genealogical researchers will want to use primary sources to document their findings; that is, records made at the time, rather than rely on secondary sources or the work of others. Therefore vital records remain essential to genealogical research.
Have you researched your family tree? What experiences did you have? What stories did you uncover? What sources did you use?
