Getting closer to getting it all done

When I woke up this morning, I wondered what I should do today. I made a short to-do list that consisted of the normal mundane weekend activities: unload the clean dishes from the dishwasher, reload the dishwasher with dirty dishes, wash the sheets, do a white load of laundry, clean off the kitchen table, put all of our clothes away that have been sitting on the bathroom tub, and plan a couple of activities for my new client. I finished three of these activities, then got completely sidetracked, but I think it's actually a good thing.

I don't know how or why I started along this path, but I've spent nearly the past four or so hours calling credit card companies and other financial institutions, requesting cards with my new name on it or calling to update my account information. Let me tell you, I have a ridiculous number of credit cards, for no apparent reason. In calling a couple of companies, I discovered that some of my accounts had already been closed, often because of inactivity.

I realized that I ought to check my credit reports to see which of my accounts are still active and which have already been closed. This would not only save me the hassle of calling those companies, but would remind me which random accounts I have, plus it's just a good idea to check your credit report periodically to make sure everything on there is correct. I'd read Shweetie's latest issue of Kiplinger magazine, and I saw that they were recommending their readers annually request free credit reports.

After printing reports from all three credit reporting agencies and coming up with a complicated spreadsheet of active/nonactive accounts and making some more phone calls, I can now say that I'm that much closer to completely changing everything to my new married name. Whoo hoo! There are still a few odds and ends to accomplish, such as applying for a new passport, opening a new joint bank account with my married name, and updating our mortgage and insurance, but at least I've gotten all of the hard stuff out of the way. Like I said a few days ago, I'm planning to take care of my passport this week. Really.