Florida Homebuilder Centerline Homes | Real Estate Blog

Moving to a new location can be an exciting but stressful time. Here's 10 things to do that can make the move a little easier.

1. Schedule a date with your utility companies to ensure they are cut off so you don't continue to get billed. Don't forget the gas and electric, cable, phone, trash pickup, and water.
2. Schedule the date for your new utils to turn on.  I'd highly recommend scheduling this for the day prior to your arrival as long as they don’t need you onsite.  Dealing with Utilities and Service Providers often can be difficult and inevitably one of them may slip up.
3. Notify the Post Office to forward your mail.  You should also let your friends, family, and any utils you may be moving to the new address know as soon as you have the new address.
4. Hold a garage sale to get rid of as much stuff as you can.  You will be happy you did once you start unpacking.
5. Call the Phone Company and find out about switching your number to the new area code.  If you have a VoIP provider (ex. Vonage or Skype) or only use a Cell Phone it's very likely you can keep your number if you desire.
6. Use color coded labels when packing boxes. (ex. All Blue Labels for Kitchen, Pink for daughters room, Yellow for Master Bedroom)  Not only will this make your life easier but your movers will thank you for it.
7. Hire a cleaning company to clean your old home after leaving.  Sure, you could do this to save a few bucks but an empty house is relatively cheap to have cleaned and you're going to have plenty to do at your new location.
8. If you have children try to get their new school information and enrollment out of the way before arriving.  You don't want to have to think about doing this in-between your unpacking.
9. Look up a few places for take-out or delivery near your new home and have the contact info handy.  You may not have phone or internet access setup to do this once at your new location for a while.
10. Relax!  It will all come together.  Take your time and enjoy decorating your new home.

10 Things You Can Do Around Your House To Live Green

1. Buy fluorescent light bulbs. This seems pretty obvious, although the bulbs are more expensive they have a much longer life expectancy than incandescent and will end up saving you a small bundle over their life. Fluorescent bulbs have come a long way.  They turn on very quickly and even come in a dimmable variety now.
2. These days’ people have more than just lights to worry about. Your TV’s, computers, DVD players, and cable boxes along with potentially dozens of other appliances plugged in all day are sucking the electricity out of your walls and dollars out of your wallet. An easy way to solve this issue is by using surge strips.  By simply turning off the surge strip when you’re not in the room can save you a bunch while dramatically reducing your carbon footprint.

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