Illustration by Denis Shifrin

Are you moving house?  There are plenty of experts to give you advice on buying, selling and renting, and I'm not one of them.  Whatever you decide to do, the actual move is traumatic and fraught with unexpected problems.
We all know that it helps to make a list of "to do's", that cover the big things involved with a move; make sure the new place is ready for you to move in to, get a reliable moving company, coordinate your departure and arrival, get everything packed up in time etc.  But there's one thing that's often overlooked – whom you have to notify of your change of address (apart from relatives and friends of course).
It's obvious that you have to notify the Ministry of the Interior to change your address in your identity card, but there are so many more.  When I moved a few years ago, I made a list of whom to notify, and have recently passed this on to a friend who was moving, and who hadn't given any thought to this.
So, if it's any help to anyone else, I'm passing it on.  For my own convenience, I put this on my computer, listed how I had contacted them (phone, mail, email, internet or in person), and checked each one as I did it, also noting when I received confirmation from them.  Obviously, some of the places on my list don't apply to everyone, and likewise, you may have some places not on my list, but this is pretty basic, and apart from the first few, not in any particular order of importance, but just as I thought of them.

Whom to notify when you move

• Ministry of the Interior (Misrad Hap'nim)
• National Insurance(Bituach Leumi)
• Ministry of Transport (Misrad Hatachbura ) if you have a car and/or driving licence
  Bank(s)
• Post Office (yes, even if you have a POB).  They will forward mail free of charge, for six months.  By that time you should have managed to notify everyone, but if not – you can extend the Post Office service for a further six months against payment.
• Health Fund (Kupat Holim)
• Army, Hever, Tzevet 
• Cellphone company
• Bezeq or whatever phone company you use for your landline
• Internet server (where applicable)
• TV cable company (best to do this well in advance so they can connect you right away
• Insurance company/ies
• Magazine subscriptions (local and from abroad)
• Iska Tova (if applicable)
• Place of employment or former place of employment if still receiving anything from them
• Dentist
• Electricity Company (to remove your name from the meter reading for your old address and put your name on your new address)
• Gas Company – if where you lived was on central gas supply, take your name off; if you still had gas balloons, return them and get your deposit back.  If your new home is on central gas, you must notify the company that you are there, have them come to check out the pipes and connections; if your new address is still on gas balloons and you were on gas balloons before, have them transferred – if not, then you have to contact a gas supplier to become connected and get balloons.  If the previous owner had balloons, contact that  gas company to have it transferred to your name and check how much gas is left in the balloons or get new ones.
• The Municipality (Irya) of your old address and of your new address, especially if you are moving to a different town
• Anywhere you have a "membership" card – Supersol, Mega, Steimatzky, Crazy Line, Hamashbir, etc.
• Mifal Hapayis if you have a "subscription"
• Credit card company/ies
• Newspapers, if you are a subscriber and have the paper delivered
• Your synagogue, if you are a member
• Shahal, Natali, Ezer Mitzion, Yad Sara, etc. if you are a subscriber
• And, very important, ESRA! Otherwise you won't get the next issue of the magazine at your new address!

I hope this helps, and if anyone has any other "important" places to add, please feel free to do so.