Everything in your house that expires

A household runs on documents that expire. Most of them announce themselves once, by mail, months before it matters, and then wait quietly in a drawer until the day it does. Here is the list for a typical household in the United States, with how far ahead each one deserves a look and what it costs when it slips.

People

• Passports. Adult passports last ten years, children’s five. Many countries refuse entry with less than six months left, and a renewal takes six to eight weeks by mail, longer in spring. Look nine months out. The cost of missing it is a trip, or an expedited fee and a very long afternoon.
• Driver’s licenses. Four to eight years depending on the state. The renewal notice comes by mail and is easy to lose. An expired license is a ticket, and in some states a road test.
• Health coverage. Plans renew each year, and open enrollment is a short window in the fall. Missing it means a year on whatever you had, or nothing.
• Life insurance premiums. A missed premium starts a grace period, usually 30 days, and then the policy lapses. Reinstating one means a new medical exam.

Vehicles

• Registration. Every year in most states, some every two. The sticker is the reminder, and the fine for an expired one is the first thing a traffic stop finds.
• Inspection, where the state requires it. Often tied to the registration, so one slipping takes the other with it.
• Auto insurance. Six-month or annual terms. The renewal comes with a new premium, often higher, and the end of a term with no renewal is a gap in coverage the state notices too.
• The warranty. Bumper-to-bumper coverage ends at a mileage or a date, whichever comes first. A repair a month after is a repair you pay for.

The house

• Homeowners or renters insurance. Annual. The renewal notice is where the premium change is announced.
• The lease. A lease that renews automatically usually needs written notice 30 to 60 days before the end if you want to leave or renegotiate. The notice date is in the lease, not on the calendar.
• Property tax. Due dates vary by county; in Texas the bill is due January 31 and a penalty starts February 1 and grows monthly.
• Warranties. The dishwasher, the water heater, the roof, the phone. Each has a date, and the repair call is always the week after.
• Smoke detectors and fire extinguishers. Not paper, but dated: detectors are replaced at ten years, extinguishers inspected yearly.

Pets

• The rabies certificate. One or three years depending on the vaccine. Boarding, the groomer and the city license all ask for a current one, and the booster is a vet visit that has to be booked.
• The city license, where required, usually yearly and tied to the rabies certificate.
• Heartworm and flea prevention prescriptions run out and need a visit to renew.

Business, if you run one

• Licenses and permits. Sales tax permits, professional licenses, city permits. Each renews on its own schedule and each lapse is a fine or a stop-work.
• The state’s annual filing. In Texas the franchise tax report is due May 15 even when no tax is owed.
• The certificate of insurance your customers hold expires with the policy, and their systems flag it before yours does.
• Domain names and the things the business runs on. A domain that lapses is a website and an email address gone the same day.

How far ahead to look

Far enough to do something about it. A passport needs nine months. A lease needs the notice period plus time to decide. Insurance needs a few weeks to shop it. A registration needs a week. The right lead time is different for each one, which is why a single “check the drawer every January” never works: by January the passport is already late and the registration is not due until August.

This is the reason Thaw pulls the date out of every document as it arrives and gives each kind of date its own lead time. The auto policy’s end of term comes up early enough to get a quote. The lease’s notice date is worked out from the clause and comes up before the clause does. The rabies certificate is watched from the day the vet’s record arrives. Each sits on one list with what happens if it is missed and what to do, and most of them close themselves when the renewal arrives.