Mainz/Berlin (dpa/tmn) – Have you found your soulmate and decided to turn two families into one? Once you’ve found your shared home, there’s a lot to think about before you move in: not only are there duplicates of furniture and household goods, but also contracts – from insurance to energy to internet and telephone. Our eleven-point plan helps bring two homes together smoothly and shows you where savings potential lies.
1. Create a checklist
Once the housing issue is clarified, make a checklist. You enter what needs to be done, when and how. For example, organizing mobile vans and helpers. In addition, many things, such as ending contracts and changing addresses, involve deadlines that you must adhere to.
“Checklists help you keep track so nothing is forgotten. That takes the pressure off,” says Anna Follmann, a consultant at the Rhineland-Palatinate consumer advice center. What is done is confirmed.
2. Call friends
If you haven’t already, do it now: Family and call friends. On the one hand, because a hand or two can be found there. On the other hand, those around you have a chance to get used to the idea – when elderly people move in together, the coming change is sometimes difficult for children and grandchildren. Especially if it means giving up the family home.
3. Inventory and planning
Decide with your partner what furniture and items everyone will bring with them to the new home. Cupboards, tables, sofas, dishes, linens and household appliances are usually duplicated. Ask your family, friends and neighbors if anyone wants to take over. Social sharing sources are also an address.
Another option is to sell through the internet and flea markets. That helps a little Money into the mobile fund, but it takes time. This is rather rare during movement. Follmann measured: “For amounts less than ten euros, the effort is too high.”
4. Check electricity and gas contracts
Check whether you can continue the contracts with the electricity and gas supplier for the old apartments or whether you have to terminate them. If you forget to cancel, the deals may continue. Then you will have unnecessary extra costs.
In basic care, you can usually get out of the contract at short notice – the notice period is two weeks. For certain tariffs, consumers have a right of extraordinary termination with six weeks’ notice. As a rule, when families join together, providers cannot continue the contract at the new residence, according to the consumer advisory centers in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate. To be on the safe side, ask your supplier.
If a contract with the provider can be continued, this saves a basic fee because the number of connections is reduced from two to one. No follow-up: Find a new supplier so you have electricity in time to move in.
5. Check phone and internet contracts
Consider whether you want to combine your phone and internet providers or whether a new joint contract is an option. There may be partner tariffs with favorable conditions.
If you stay with one or both of your current providers, they should be able to provide the same services as before in your new residence. The prerequisite is to be able to bring the links. And: The internet connection in the apartment needs so much transmission capacity that you can easily use the network in parallel with two people. Allow a few weeks for both the move and the change of provider.
6. Insurance under review
Check all insurance policies. It is also best to use a checklist. You can change from the individual price, for example for household contents, liability and legal protection, to a family target. This works for two or more people and is often cheaper. In liability insurance and legal protection, one is usually included in the existing contract of the other. The second contract has been terminated. In terms of household contents, the second policy is no longer required with the shared apartment.
As a rule, the companies do not put any obstacles in your way if you want to get rid of duplicate contracts due to the shared home. Important to know: The latest policy is usually accepted without any problems. The background is insurance law. This includes the right to cancel multiple insurance policies.
Also note the type and payment method of the individual insurance on the checklist: What was paid in advance every month should be changed to an annual payment. That could save up to five percent every year, says Follmann.
Also make sure the coverage amounts are sufficient, especially for liability. In older contracts they are sometimes still in the single-digit million range. Today, at least double digits are common, says Follmann. This should be adjusted in the same way as the cover amount for household contents.
7. Contact employers and authorities
Employers and authorities must be aware of a change of address. Senior couples should remember to contact the pension insurance company, students at the university and the responsible Bafög office. To give the authorities time to introduce the changes, a notice period of three to four weeks in advance is useful.
You send an application to the post office for six or twelve months. You can book this fee-based service online, which ensures that mail sent to your old address will continue to reach you in the future.
8. Contact the broadcasting tax service
Fees are paid for television and radio per apartment. If two people become one, the broadcasting fee will only apply once. This saves money – if the donation service from ARD, ZDF and Deutschlandradio is informed. This can be done online.
9. Re-register at the resident registration office
Have you arrived happily in your shared home? Then you should now re-register at the residents’ registration office. As with any transfer, there is a two week deadline for this. Most of the time you have to go to the office. Since almost nothing works without an appointment, you should book it as soon as the moving date is set.
10. Divide tasks
Until now everyone had his own kingdom. He or she could do whatever he or she wanted. Now it’s time to get going. To make this stress-free, you should clarify in advance who will take on the tasks and what will be done together – from cleaning to shopping and formalities to complete up to waste disposal. It is also helpful to know who contributes what to the household budget.
11. Consider combining accounts
Consider whether to close accounts or set up a joint account. There are no dates for either. However, accounts that need to be closed should remain in place for a few months until employers and other paying agencies have accepted the new data.
2024-08-18 23:36:47
#11point #plan #couples #moving
