Best Way to Get Rid Of Unwanted Items before You Move :

Living in one place for a while usually means that you have managed to create a pile of items collected throughout the year. You may have started a collection of books or you may be passionate about something in particular, but you have collected these items and you have a place for them in your home. The items that you have collected over the years have made your home what it is. Every piece is what makes your home comfortable for you. From every piece of furniture to every appliance, you have to appreciate your collection. But now you need to move and what do you do with all that stuff you have collected all the years? Here are a few tips to help you determine what would work best for you.

• You can count on the expense of moving to cost you between $2,300 and $4,300. Moving companies will base their quotes on several different factors including how much goods you will need to move.
• Since moving more items will mean more money for you and the hassle of taking care to pack everything, you want to simplify before you move and that means to downsize immediately upon discovering that you are going to move.
• You should get rid of those household items you don’t want any more instead of keeping them for the future, just in case.

Choosing a moving company to move everything for you is the most important way to stay organized, keep everything separated per each room, and save yourself money. Go through your home and look around at your items and decide what you want to take and what you could leave behind. There are many ways to remove those items that you no longer need- donate, hold a yard/garage sale and earn some money for moving, or sale on consignment. The lesser items you move, the cheaper it is. Lessening the amount that you have to move will not only help your home clear up and make it easier to clean, but it will also reduce the amount of money when you get ready to move. It is best to get rid of the things that you do not intend taking to the new destination before you ask for a quote from the moving company. It would be more accurate and less than before. It will help you get an idea on how to budget your move with ease.

9 Smart Things to Do Before You Move:

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You've just signed the paperwork on a new home (congrats!). But soon the excitement of getting settled at your new place will wear off, and the panic of packing up boxes will set it. We've rounded up expert-approved tips to keep you sane and totally prepared during the move.

1. Manage packing smartly. 
"For my recent move, I gave myself a daily box quota to prevent a draining weekend of non-stop packing," says Amy Azzarito, design writer and author of Past & Present. Avoid boxing up your old place in one fell swoop, if you have the time. Remember, you'lll need some energy left to unpack, too.

2. Skip the cardboard boxes. 
Target Home Style expert and blogger Emily Henderson used California-based company rentagreenbox.com for her most recent move. "A week before I moved, they dropped off sturdy boxes with attachable lids and came back to collect them once I unpacked," she says. "No cardboard boxes, taping, or bubble wrap. Plus, its eco-friendly and can be cheaper than buying pricy moving boxes." If you're not in Los Angeles, companies with similar business models are popping up around the country and are just a Google search away.

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3. Don't pack your closet. 
"If you use professional movers, ask them to bring several wardrobe boxes on the day of the move," suggests Emily Schuman, author of the blog Cupcakes and Cashmere. "The movers take clothing right on the hangers and, woosh, your clothes will be in and out." Bonus: You can skip a full day of ironing once you're settled.

4. Switch your utilities.
This one may seem like a no-brainer, but Brendon DeSimone, author of Next Generation Real Estate, says the timing is key: "As soon as you have a closing date, call the utility companies and set up a service switch." This is especially important if you're moving into a home that is newly built or previously vacant: Arranging a maintenance call to reestablish service might be necessary.

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5. Make saying goodbye easier.
Moving from a home with sentimental value (your kids' growth-mark notches in the doorframe!) can be gut wrenching. To ease the pain, Azzarito suggests creating a Pinterest board with things you're excited to do in the new home, like dream decorating or new things to do in that part of town. If you have young kids, personal organizing guru Barbara Reich suggests taking a video of each child talking about their favorite part of the house to preserve the memories.

6. Haul the basics before the moving truck comes. 
If your new place is within driving distance of your current home, plan to take basic supplies over the day before, says Reich. "Unpacking the bathrooms in advance and having pajamas and clothes for the next two days set aside will bring some normalcy to the chaos of the boxes," she says.

7. Visualize life in your new home. 
"Confession: I've been known to hang pictures while the movers have been unrolling rugs," says interior designer Nate Berkus. While Berkus attributes his hyper-organization to his Virgo star sign, we think he has a pretty good point: "The sooner you get unpacked and organized, the sooner it feels like home." If you move at a slower pace than Nate, plan out spots for your favoriate pieces of art and décor in advance. You'll feel more accomplished and settled if you do.

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8. Meet your neighbors the fun way.
Sure, baked goods and a friendly hello will do the trick, but if you're going to be painting the interior walls, Henderson has a fun party idea: "It's called a graffiti party and guests are given paint samples or markers to scribble games and notes on the wall." Don't be shy about hosting a gig sans furniture; this relaxed party theme is built around pizza and folding chairs.

9. Discover the local resources. 
Take a walk around your new neighborhood and be sure to introduce yourself to people you pass by. DeSimone says this is the best way to get a recommendation for a handy man, neighborhood favorite babysitter and get to know the lay of the land. If your life was an ABC Sunday night drama, these meet-and-greets would be peppered with salacious gossip on the community's comings and goings (ha!).

TELL US: What made your last move easier?

How To Come Up With Great Ideas For Blog Topics:

When you’re away from your computer it seems like ideas for amazing new blog posts come to you left, and right.  Once you get to sit down to work, though, it’s a completely different story.  Those amazing ideas that were once overwhelming you seem to have completely disappeared.

This is a common problem that happens to just about everybody at some point in time.  The more you struggle with forcing an idea, the worse the problem gets.

The first step is to RELAX. Don’t stress. Just get comfortable – ideas tend to flow when you are unrestricted and peaceful. Find your “zen” place.

Second, there are lot of great online tools that I and other bloggers use to come up with new ideas. You can use these simple tools to help get your creative juices flowing if you happen to find yourself struggling for what to write. Here we go:

GOOGLE KEYWORD PLANNER

The Adwords Keyword Planner or Google Keyword Planner, whatever you want to call it, is a tool from Google that will help you come up with some ideas to write about on your blog.  You’re also helping set the foundation for your blog to receive increased search traffic by including keywords that people are searching for.

This strategy works to help break through your writer’s block by showing you what people are searching for, related to your blog, and how often they are searching for it each month.  That information gives you an easy way to see the topics you should be covering with your blog, and helps let Google know what your blog is about — helping you tap into your share of that coveted search engine traffic.

All you have to do is write a blog post around the keyword, solving the problem or providing the answers that the searcher is looking for, and let Google take care of the rest. Link is here.

BUZZSUMO

BuzzSumo gives you ideas for blog posts to write about, but also gives your social media marketing campaign a head start.  This tool gathers all of the blog posts and articles related to the keywords you enter and sorts them based on the amount of social shares they’ve received since they were published.

As you read through the results that BuzzSumo returns when you enter your keywords, you’ll start to gather ideas about what you should be covering with your blog posts, and how to write in a way that your audience will respond to.  This makes it a lot easier for you when you actively start promoting your blog on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and more. Link is here.

QUESTION & ANSWER SITES

Sites like Quora and Yahoo! Answers are chock full of new blog posts ideas waiting for you to dig through.  These two sites, and others like them, allow users to submit questions that the general public are able to answer.  The answers that other users leave for the original poster are then rated, and sorted by the best answers first.

Having data that’s easily accessed and sorted by outside users gives you both the idea for the problem you need to solve, provided by the question that was originally asked, as well as what other users consider the best answer — giving you an idea how to angle your blog post for the most effect.

FORUMS & SOCIAL MEDIA

If you’ve spent any amount of time on social media platforms, or forums where your customers and readers hang out, you have probably already seen the sheer volume of questions that get asked on a daily basis.  If you’re not already active in the communities where your potential readers and customers are at, you need to find them and get active.  You can search for forums on Google, and communities on Facebook.

When you see the same question coming up on a regular basis, instead of providing a short answer in the group you’re a part of, or on the forum that you’re active in, try providing the complete solution to their problem in the form of a blog post.  This will introduce your blog to a new group of readers, reinforce your message with the reader’s who have already seen you, and give you an increased presence in the communities you’re hanging out in.

ASK YOUR READERS.

If you already have a foundation of readers on your blog, one of the best ways to come up with new topics to cover is simply to ask them what they want to see.  Sites like SurveyMonkey will let you create surveys you can send to your audience to find out exactly what they think, and learn a bit more about who they are.

If you don’t already have a list of email subscribers, or a steady stream of visitors to your blog that would make giving a survey worth your time, there is one more method you can use to figure out what your readers and customers want to see.

CHECK WITH THE READERS OF LARGE BLOGS.

Find the biggest blogs in your market that you can and make a list of them.  This is going to be a wealth of information for you to dig through.  After you’ve gathered a list of say 10, 15, or 20 of the bigger blogs in your niche, start pulling them up one, by one.

Most blogs will have a popular posts section, or widget, that you can use to sort all of the posts on the site by the posts with the highest comment count.  After finding the most popular posts on the blog, read the article and then start looking through the comments.  Pay attention to what the readers are saying and how it relates to the article.

This will help give you a better understanding of exactly who your readers and customers are, and the ability to help better serve up the types of blog topics that they really want to see.

WE HOPE THIS HELPS! IF YOU ARE JUST STARTING OUT BLOGGING AND DON’T HAVE YOUR VERY OWN BLOG AND DOMAIN BUT WANT TO GET STARTED, HERE IS A LINK TO MY ARTICLE STEP BY STEP WALKTHROUGH ON SETTING UP A BLOG: HOW TO SETUP YOUR OWN BLOG IN 4 EASY STEPS

Paying it forward: A recap of NSBE 2017:

It’s time to go

I'm looking at the computer screen as I fill another Zillow Employee satisfaction survey. I forget the exact question. Something related to what can be done to make Zillow do to make the place a better place to work. Or maybe it was about how we can hire better.

Regardless, the answer in my mind is obvious.

In addition to Grace Hooper and SHPE, we need to go to NSBE.

You can Google “National Society of Black Engineers” and find their mission statement and promotion materials. Every year NSBE has a national convention. Most people go to NSBE’s nation convention for one of 3 reasons:

1. To become a professional engineer.
2. To get hired as an engineer.
3. To recruit engineers.

I had already been to NSBE for the first reason. Now I was ready to take Zillow there for the third.

A chance to compete

Months later, I board the plane to Kansas City, MO. My flight itinerary says that the plane will land at March 29, 2017 10:53pm but emotionally I feel like I’m flying into past.

The reason why I had told Zillow to go to NSBE was admittedly personal. There is little doubt in my mind that if it weren’t for NSBE and organizations like it, I would not be in tech.

I think back to 2008. I was strapped for cash. I didn’t want another telemarketing job next year. Sadly, landing a paid internship was proving impossible. I wasn’t having trouble passing my on-site interviews -- I wasn’t even getting to the phone screen. It was frustrating. I wasn’t looking for someone to hand me a job. The problem was that at every turn I was denied a chance to compete.

Luckily for me, I was living in Stanford’s Ujamaa dorm – the de facto home of Stanford’s Society of Black Scientist and Engineers (SBSE). With them I went to my first NSBE convention. For the first time recruiters weren’t giving me the run around. The same high-profile tech companies that at other career fairs threw out my resume were now calling me back. Through NSBE I got my first internship with Amazon. I would work for Amazon before switching to Zillow in 2014.

In 2017 I’m headed to a convention with 12,000 engineers to recruit for Zillow Group. But I, like so many others, am headed to NSBE for bigger reasons.

The bigness

Day 1. Around 11:45am, we hear NSBE members chanting. The floodgates open and thousands of engineers pour onto the career fair floor.

I take an 8-minute video of the convention floor in a futile attempt to convey its bigness. Some of the booths have TVs, VR headsets and trucks. Other booths are down right peacocking. A machine with a tesla coil contraption periodically plays 8-bit nerd-pop songs.

Word begins to spread that Zillow Group is at NSBE. A steady stream of Zillow and Trulia customers come by to tell us how much they love us. They are shocked to discover that this is our first time at NSBE. They encourage us to come next year.

On day 1 we collected 100+ resumes. We didn’t need the extra encouragement.

The light stuff; the heavy stuff

After being on the convention floor for 7 hours the Zillow Group recruiters have 1 thing on the mind: our 7 o’clock dinner reservation. We’re in Kansas City. We can’t leave without getting some Kansas City BBQ.

Along the way we pick up a couple of +1s and head for dinner. The surprisingly good wine and unsurprisingly great BBQ start to flow. My linguistic transformation from West Coast Nerd Speak to Academic African-American vernacular is complete.

We talk about the light stuff: golf, wine, that crazy tesla coil machine.

We talk about the heavy stuff. One of our +1s tells us his story. He went to a high school that’s most advanced math class was Algebra 2. In spite being set up for failure, he got a exemplary score on his SAT, graduated from West Point, and spent multiple tours in Afghanistan and Iraq. His story, like the stories of my extended family members and friends, reminds me just how integral education is to social-economic upward mobility. I can only imagine how many people on that career fair floor came from failing schools in neighborhoods left behind by the powers-that-be. How many came from countries far away in search of the American Dream. How many came from good homes and want to keep that winning streak going.

On day 2, I meet more recruiters and educators. Our goals were surprising similar. We might be at the national convention to recruit engineers, but we are at NSBE to do what others did for us and what others should have done for those whom were left behind.

I’m reminded that my first college dorm was named after the 4th Kwanzaa principle: “Cooperative Economics”. For the first time, I really come to grok what that Swahili word really means. What we are doing at NSBE is not charity. It’s better than that; it’s social-economic upward mobility; it’s Ujamaa.

The bigger reason

By convention’s end, all the Zillow Group recruiters have come to same conclusion: we have to come back next year. We have a couple hundred resumes in digital hand. We’ve blasted that Zillow is hiring to thousands of people. Thanks to our swag and politicking, a large group of 20-somethings have Zillow on the mind.

The next day, I’m back Seattle. It feels pretty surreal.

I went to a convention with 12,000 engineers to recruit for Zillow Group. But I also headed to NSBE for a bigger reason.

1. Many go to NSBE to become professional engineers.
2. Many more go to get hired as engineers.
3. Some go to recruit engineers.

But I, like so many others, go to NSBE to pay it forward.

About the author

Jasmine Mann is a Senior Software Development Engineer at Zillow. Learn more about Jasmine on our Engineering Blog and on her LinkedIn.

LATEST ARTICLES 6 STEPS TO TURN YOU INTO A PACKING SUPERHERO!

Before the excitement of moving comes pain! The pain of packing everything you own! A daunting task for all and enough to bring a grown adult to tears…

…Fear not, the BuzzMove team are on hand to wipe away the tears and turn you into a packing superhero…

(1) PREPARE EARLY AND MAKE A LIST

As the old saying goes, there really is no time like the present. Don’t leave packing until the last minute. Create a detailed list and work through it methodically, step-by-step. By starting early you can break the task of packing your whole house into bitesize, manageable chunks.

(2) MAKE FRIENDS WITH YOUR LOCAL DUMP & CHARITY SHOP

As you are going through your house you will need to be brutal. Chuck or give-away anything that you feel is not worthwhile keeping. Keep your dumping pile separate or make a few trips to the dump before the packing operation begins.

(3) MATERIALS AT THE READY

Go out and get all the packing essentials. You will need: A variety of strong boxes (specifically for packing), packing tape, scissors/knife, marker pens, labels and a whole lotta bubblewrap.

(4) ROOM BY ROOM

Tackle the operation room by room. This way you will work quicker and more methodically. It also makes life a lot easier when moving in to your new house as all boxes will be room co-ordinated.

(5) AVOID SPILLAGE

Be sensible and don’t pack liquid/hazardous items with valuable goods, clothes or anything you don’t want ruined.

(6) CHECK OUT THESE BAD-BOYS…

You now possess all the packing powers you will ever need!

What to Unpack First in Your New Home:

Where are the towels? Which box holds the can opener? Who packed the cat food? When you're surrounded by boxes, what you need is a strategy.

Once all the moving preparations have been made, all the arduous moving tasks have been taken care of, and everything has gone more or less according to plan on moving day, you finally find yourself in your new home, surrounded by piles of boxes, tired and glad that your relocation is about to end.

To fully complete your moving adventure, however, you need to unpack your belongings and make your new place feel like home. But how to even begin unpacking?

First things first

No matter how much you want to get it over with as soon as possible, there are several important things to do before you can actually start unpacking.

1. Clean and prepare your new home. It’s easier to wipe down shelves, clean windows, and mop floors before your belongings have been put in place. Make sure your home-to-be is spotless when your items arrive. If you can’t get to your new place early enough to do a thorough cleaning, consider hiring professional cleaners to do the job for you.
2. Inspect and organize your belongings. Check all the delivered boxes and household items against your inventory sheet to make sure nothing is damaged or missing. Then have each of your possessions taken to the room where it belongs. If everything was properly marked and labeled, sorting out your items will be a piece of cake.
3. Open your box of essentials. There should be tools, toiletries, clothes, medicines, packed food, basic kitchenware, and other “lifesavers” in it that will allow you to refresh yourself, open the sealed boxes, reassemble your furniture, and so on.
4. Set major furniture and appliances. Position your large furniture pieces and bulky household appliances first. Then you can put any smaller items you unpack later directly in their rightful places. Plan your interior design well in advance so you don’t end up moving heavy pieces around several times.

Tackle the necessities

What matters most when unpacking your items after a move is ensuring that your essentials are immediately accessible. So prioritize your belongings, and unpack only the necessities first.

Bedding

You may not be able to unpack the entire bedroom right away, but you will definitely have to set up the bed the day you move into your new home. Reassemble it (if necessary), lay down the sheets, unpack the pillows, and spread the blankets so you can get a good night’s rest — you’re going to need it!

Provided that you have a change of clothes and some comfortable indoor shoes (as well as curtains on the windows to ensure your privacy), the rest of your bedroom items can wait until you find the time and the energy to deal with them.

Bathroom items

Without a doubt, your personal care items, toiletries, and medicines should top the list of the most important items to unpack after your move. Put out toilet paper and soap, find your toothbrush and toothpaste, hang the towels and the shower curtains, and unpack any other bathroom essentials you’re going to need in order to refresh yourself and wash away the weariness and stress of moving.

Also, fill in the medicine cabinet with the medications you have brought, and don’t forget to take your prescription drugs on time.

Kitchen necessities

You may have brought some food with you, or you may rely on delivery for the first day or two after the relocation, but you’re going to need a fully operational kitchen as soon as possible in order to prepare healthy, homemade meals for yourself and your family.

Kitchens tend to take a very long time to unpack and organize properly due to the large number of items that need to be sorted out and carefully arranged.

As soon as you’ve hooked up the large appliances, such as the fridge and the stove, move on to your smaller kitchenware. Plates, silverware and glasses should be the first to find their places in cupboards and kitchen cabinets, closely followed by cooking utensils, pots and pans, and pantry items.

Kids’ and pets’ items

If you have young children, you should unpack some of their favorite toys, books, games, blankets and such during the very first hours in your new home. Keeping your young ones happy and occupied will let you concentrate on your work and finish it faster.

Of course, you should also take care of your pets’ needs immediately upon arrival. It’s a good idea to pack adequate pet food, water and food dishes, and some of your animal friends’ favorite toys in your open-first box.

Finishing up

When you’ve unpacked the three most essential rooms in your home (bedroom, bathroom and kitchen), everything else can wait a bit. There are no deadlines to meet, so you can set your own pace when unpacking and decorating your new place — just unpack in order of priority and without procrastination.

If you stay organized, set reasonable mini goals and complete them promptly, clean after every unpacking phase, and dispose of the packing materials in a safe and eco-friendly manner, your new surroundings will soon stop looking like a warehouse full of boxes and start feeling like home.

If you have some fun in the process — listen to your favorite music, play “unpacking games” with your kids, and invite friends over to give you a helping hand — the exhausting unpacking endeavor may turn out to be much easier and faster than you expected.

Related:

• Checklist: Everybody You Need to Notify When You’re Moving
• Home Away from Home: Moving and Putting Down Roots Across the Country
• 5 Common Moving Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Tips To Sell Your House:

Tips to Sell Your House

Is it time to sell your house? Are you moving to a new neighborhood? Are you relocating for work? Are you moving to downsize? No matter the reason, selling your house is an important process in your life that should be taken very seriously. Here are some important tips to use to sell your house.

Take Your Pets with You

Make sure you take all pets with you, while the relator is showing your home to potential buyers. Not everyone is a cat or dog person. Not everyone likes gerbils or hamsters. Even snakes and turtles that are in tanks might not be a welcome sight for potential buyers.

Lighting

Make sure you light up your house as much as possible. You can do this by cleaning the screens and windows, removing blinds and drapes, changing lampshades and increasing the wattage of light bulbs without going over the maximum allowed by the fixtures. Trim back any trees or bushes outside of the house that could prevent natural light from entering the home.

The Price is Right

Once you find out what your house is worth, reduce that number by 15 or 20 percent. This will help market the home much better for potential buyers. This will surely provide you with multiple buyers who will make multiple offers, even in some of the most difficult markets to sell a home. This takes a lot of courage to do, but it will be worth it in the end.

Make Quick Fixes

Make quick fixes around the house prior to putting it on the market, but do not make major changes. You likely won’t get your money back from any major upgrades to the home prior to putting it on the market. Minor fixes like new curtains, fresh paint, new hardware on the cabinets and cleaning the grout in the tile will go a long way to selling your home.

Always Show-Ready

Once your home is on the market, it needs to be show-ready all the time. You can never be caught off guard here. This means that you should clean it daily, even if it’s just running the vacuum and dusting furniture. Don’t let the kids leave toys all over the house or in the backyard.

The Kitchen Sells the House

A house with an outdated kitchen will have a ton of trouble selling, even in strong markets. This is the one major upgrade you should do prior to listing your home for sale. An upgraded kitchen can make all the difference these days. Even if you spend just a couple thousand dollars on paint, new hardware, new fronts for the cabinets and new counters; you could land an offer that is $10,000 or higher than what was listed.

Remove Personal Items

When putting your house up for sale you must remove personal items. Potential buyers don’t want to see your diplomas, trophies or pictures of your children. They want to wander around your house and try to picture themselves in the house.

Contact Universal Relocations today to learn more about how to sell your house.

9 Smart Things to Do Before You Move:

You've just signed the paperwork on a new home (congrats!). But soon the excitement of getting settled at your new place will wear off, and the panic of packing up boxes will set it. We've rounded up expert-approved tips to keep you sane and totally prepared during the move.

1. Manage packing smartly. 
"For my recent move, I gave myself a daily box quota to prevent a draining weekend of non-stop packing," says Amy Azzarito, design writer and author of Past & Present. Avoid boxing up your old place in one fell swoop, if you have the time. Remember, you'lll need some energy left to unpack, too.

2. Skip the cardboard boxes. 
Target Home Style expert and blogger Emily Henderson used California-based company rentagreenbox.com for her most recent move. "A week before I moved, they dropped off sturdy boxes with attachable lids and came back to collect them once I unpacked," she says. "No cardboard boxes, taping, or bubble wrap. Plus, its eco-friendly and can be cheaper than buying pricy moving boxes." If you're not in Los Angeles, companies with similar business models are popping up around the country and are just a Google search away.

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3. Don't pack your closet. 
"If you use professional movers, ask them to bring several wardrobe boxes on the day of the move," suggests Emily Schuman, author of the blog Cupcakes and Cashmere. "The movers take clothing right on the hangers and, woosh, your clothes will be in and out." Bonus: You can skip a full day of ironing once you're settled.

4. Switch your utilities.
This one may seem like a no-brainer, but Brendon DeSimone, author of Next Generation Real Estate, says the timing is key: "As soon as you have a closing date, call the utility companies and set up a service switch." This is especially important if you're moving into a home that is newly built or previously vacant: Arranging a maintenance call to reestablish service might be necessary.

Getty

5. Make saying goodbye easier.
Moving from a home with sentimental value (your kids' growth-mark notches in the doorframe!) can be gut wrenching. To ease the pain, Azzarito suggests creating a Pinterest board with things you're excited to do in the new home, like dream decorating or new things to do in that part of town. If you have young kids, personal organizing guru Barbara Reich suggests taking a video of each child talking about their favorite part of the house to preserve the memories.

6. Haul the basics before the moving truck comes. 
If your new place is within driving distance of your current home, plan to take basic supplies over the day before, says Reich. "Unpacking the bathrooms in advance and having pajamas and clothes for the next two days set aside will bring some normalcy to the chaos of the boxes," she says.

7. Visualize life in your new home. 
"Confession: I've been known to hang pictures while the movers have been unrolling rugs," says interior designer Nate Berkus. While Berkus attributes his hyper-organization to his Virgo star sign, we think he has a pretty good point: "The sooner you get unpacked and organized, the sooner it feels like home." If you move at a slower pace than Nate, plan out spots for your favoriate pieces of art and décor in advance. You'll feel more accomplished and settled if you do.

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8. Meet your neighbors the fun way.
Sure, baked goods and a friendly hello will do the trick, but if you're going to be painting the interior walls, Henderson has a fun party idea: "It's called a graffiti party and guests are given paint samples or markers to scribble games and notes on the wall." Don't be shy about hosting a gig sans furniture; this relaxed party theme is built around pizza and folding chairs.

9. Discover the local resources. 
Take a walk around your new neighborhood and be sure to introduce yourself to people you pass by. DeSimone says this is the best way to get a recommendation for a handy man, neighborhood favorite babysitter and get to know the lay of the land. If your life was an ABC Sunday night drama, these meet-and-greets would be peppered with salacious gossip on the community's comings and goings (ha!).

TELL US: What made your last move easier?

More Home Ideas:
• 10 Cheap and Cheerful Ways to Update Your Kitchen
• Make Every Single Spot in Your Home Smell Better
• 10 Things Every Bedroom Needs