I hate moving. Absolutely hate it. Something always goes wrong, and the whole process of packing up a life and unpacking it in an unfamiliar place is something I never look forward to.

By my own estimate, I've moved over 20 times, one of those to another country (UK to US).  When I told the other writers I was moving with my wife to Portland, I was told to "protect myself from identity thieves."

I'd never heard of such a thing, and I did not relish the idea of adding yet another bother to the long list of things to worry about, but then I realized, it's my job to know about these things.

{dybanners}12{/dybanners}

Here's what I learned:

Half of all the moves in the United States happen in summer. That is, between Memorial Day and Labor Day. It's also, apparently prime time for vulnerability from identity theft as guards are down and personal information is much more accessible to strangers.

I also learned that only a third of identity theft is related to credit cards. Often ID theft means stealing someone's credentials to get payday loans, or so people with bad credit can get a telephone line or so illegal immigrants can get a driver's license, or any other scheme perpetuated by often by desperate people.

I have sympathy for their plight, but you'll have to excuse me if I don't want to be easy prey. Neither, do I imagine any of you want to be, either.

I talked with many in the staff, did my own research, and learned these things a bit on the way, and came up with 10 steps to save you a lot of hassle when moving.

1. Make a list
As soon as you KNOW you are moving, and I mean months before, if you know about it, make a list of every bill, publication, or organization you get mail from. Alex Molina suggested logging every piece of mail we got, even credit card offers and noting it. Then we could know whom to contact to make change of address requests a week BEFORE we moved.

2. Move things to electronic billing (if you can)
Alex suggested changing everything we had to receive ONLY electronic billing. I thought of the obvious stuff, bills, bank statements, and that kind of stuff, but I didn't think about magazine subscriptions, my membership at the Smithsonian, or my health insurance. Many did in fact offer the service, and it was nice to think of all the trees I saved.

3. Don't forget your change of address
Go to the post office and fill out a change-of-address form. I suggest doing it a week before you move, since, according to the postmaster, it take a week to ten days for the change to take place and have your mail forwarded.

4. Secure your documents and shred the rest
Keep your secure documents together and put them in a lockable box, especially things like rental agreements, property deeds, insurance policies, stock certificates, and personal identity documents like birth certificates and even university degrees.  Copies of ALL of this stuff can be saved online in a secure online vault with very little fuss.

Be careful of junk mail, like credit card offers or insurance offers, which identity thieves can use without your knowledge. My advice is shred every piece of junk mail and old statements and use them for packing!

5. Keep your computers close
Cellphones, PDA's, notebooks, laptops, computers, backup hard drives, and CD's, DVD's or any other media you may have likely will have personal information on it. Take no chances and keep these things with you, along with your secure locked box I just told you to get. These are the things you put in your car, before you pack clothes or even a toothbrush.

A hard drive can go missing in a move really easily and even the most amateur fraudster can ruin your life with the amount of personal information that can be mined from it.

6. Only get a reputable moving company
Ira told me about this, and I had no idea what he meant. He said even a recommendation from friends wasn't enough. Even if you are recommended a mover from a trusted friend or colleague, ask the company if they are registered with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). Many I called were not. IF they say they are, ask teem for their U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) number, and don't hire anyone without these credentials.

{dybanners}26{/dybanners}

7. Don't leave your home or stuff unattended
Most movers are hard-working people making an honest living, but it only takes one guy with a money problem to be tempted to look for an easy fix ant your expense. Even if the company is reputable, there is always a chance that someone might be tempted to rip you off.

It may not be easy to always be hovering around, and it may irk the guys you hire, but it's well within your rights to make sure nothing funny happens. There's also the bonus of making sure none of your fragile belongings are mishandled or dropped.

8. As soon as you move in, create a secure zone
Pick one room (a bedroom most likely) to move boxes to first. This is going to be your safe room. This is where at least one of you will stay for the rest of the move, and keep all of your computers, mail, and personal documents. It's also where you'll keep money and do all of your personal record keeping and bill paying until the move is over AND everything is unpacked.

Keep everyone else out (including kids) to prevent anything from being misplaced even by accident and to keep anyone from seeing your personal business, if even by accident.

9. Revisit the list
Remember that list you made at the beginning, logging all your mail? As new mail starts to come, see what is making it to you, and what isn't. Chances are, someone didn't make the change, and if something goes missing for too long, you can call them and inquire.

10. Watch your statements
Before I was married, I never looked at bank stamens. Credit card statements, yeah, but even then, only a glance. Go over all your statements and look for ANYTHING that looks out of place.

Don't get me wrong. Some of these things were a bit tedious, and as much as I was very careful this last move, things still went wrong, but nothing that I had worry about for very long. If you follow this advice, it will cause you to make extra steps when you move, but it absolutely will add a later or two of security on your personal information and make fraud a very hard thing for the desperate and opportunistic.