If you’re looking to sell your home, taking advantage of the season change, favorable moods and weather may prove beneficial. To make the most of the season, take into consideration the tips below.

• Create autumn curb appeal: As the saying goes, you always want to make a great first impression and that goes for your house as well. Make sure the yard is clean of excessive fallen leaves, unruly shrubs, tall grasses or any other unattractive aspects. Also spruce up the exterior of your home, if needed. Pay attention to chipping paint, obscured house numbers or any damage. A few dollars spent to clean the yard and put a fresh coat of paint on the front door may help to get potential buyers in the door.
• Create a welcoming interior: Declutter and depersonalize your house so potential buyers can easily envision themselves and their family in the home. Make sure to stage rooms for their best buying power, whether it’s redoing a bedroom into an office or reorganizing the kitchen or dining room. It’s important to showcase the full potential of your home to interested buyers.
• Play off the season: Use autumn colors and decorations to creating an inviting home atmosphere. Also, engage all the senses, especially smell, and invest in a few autumn-themed home fragrances to complete the welcoming environment.
• Create light: As the days get shorter, make sure to open the blinds and window treatments to allow natural light to flood the house. Also, make sure your windows are clean and free of dust and smudges. If you need artificial light, try to use floor lamps, instead of harsh overhead lighting, to create a warm and inviting feeling.
• Check the air: Make sure the air in your home is as fresh smelling as the crisp autumn air outside. Check to see if your HVAC filter needs to be changed or if your ductwork and/or fireplace need cleaning.

Oftentimes selling your home is the most difficult part of moving. Once that’s checked off your list, visit Allconnect to help to you breeze through setting up new utilities and home services.

Allconnect can assist with your move to a new home, by offering free mover quotes, an online change of address form, and help transferring your essential home services.  You can also compare services available at your new address to make sure you are getting the best deal.  See tips to help you during your move.

Your child is making the move to college, and, along with all the dorm and apartment decorations and planning, you have to consider whether your current insurance plans will cover your student while they’re away.

Coverage can vary widely based on companies and plans, but here’s a break down of things to keep in your mind.

• Rental insurance – Many landlords and apartment complexes require renters to obtain renters insurance, which is beneficial to both the renter and the landlord. Parents may be able to extend their renters or homeowners policy to cover the student’s new apartment, but, if not, renters insurance is easy to come by through any insurance agency. Renters insurance typically covers fire or smoke, lightning, vandalism, theft, explosion, windstorm and water damage, but not flooding. Additionally, like homeowners insurance, rental insurance also covers your responsibility to others injured at your home or elsewhere by you, a family member or pet, according to Insurance Information Institute.
• Health insurance – Full-time students are generally covered under their parent’s insurance plans, if not, colleges offer student health insurance plans for enrolled individuals. Selecting a health insurance plan may be challenging, but consider your personal doctor and health needs like frequency of office visits, prescriptions and urgent care needs. Additionally, under the recently passed Affordable Care Act, young adults under the age of 26 can now be insured as a dependent under their parent’s insurance plan regardless of school or employment status.
• Automobile insurance – If a student is covered by his parent’s insurance, the policy usually extends to the at-school student. Insurance companies typically offer good-student discounts to students who maintain a high grade-point average, and coverage is usually cheaper if it is filed under the parent, as insuring individuals under 25 is considered higher risk.

Other things to take into consideration include differences in state insurance laws, insurance minimums required by law and whether your current coverage will cover all of your liabilities and/or belongings in case of an unfortunate event. Additionally, many insurance companies offer discounts and savings by bundling products like renters and auto insurance, which can lead to greater savings for you and your student.

Allconnect can assist with your move to a new home, by offering free mover quotes, an online change of address form, and help transferring your essential home services.  You can also compare services available at your new address to make sure you are getting the best deal.  See tips to help you during your move.

• Help your student track their money – Spend three to four weeks tracking where your student’s money goes – trips to Starbucks, dinner with friends, rent, utilities. Make a list of expenses that are essential and ones that are extras.
• Determine your student’s finances – Calculate income, whether through work, loans or scholarships, and calculate essential bills (rent, utilities, basic food, etc.). These are the base numbers for determining your student’s budget and cash flow.
• Make a budget calculating in their income and necessary expenses. Try using Mint online or through a smartphone. The application allows you to link your bank accounts, credit cards and other accounts to a secure website to easily view your overall portfolio of accounts. Additionally, you can set up budget limits for categories, such as groceries, entertainment and home supplies, and whenever a purchase is made it is automatically sorted to the correct category, which helps track your expenditures. Mint has highly customizable settings so you can make it reflect your personal spending habits and budget needs.
• Don’t forget “fun” money – Students, like everyone else, need to factor in money for fun activities, whether it’s dinner with friends, seeing a concert or buying the latest CD, make sure to add a little extra spending money into your student’s budget.
• Plan according to the budget and get real – Help your student to learn to plan activities within their financial constraints, but not to freak out if they blow their weekly fun budget in one day — simply adjust the budget and make up for it the next week.
• Be cautious with credit cards – Use credit cards wisely, and preferably only in emergencies. Make sure your student understands the financial responsibilities of credit cards. A good tip – only charge what you can pay off at the end of the credit card payment cycle.
• Plan ahead – Whether it’s an upcoming trip, insurance payment or books for school, help your student understand the financial benefits of planning ahead and saving up for big purchases. Also, explain that spacing out large expenses helps to ease the budget hits.
• Make sure your student knows you’re here for them in case of financial issues – Students shouldn’t be afraid to ask for help. Sometimes things happen, but don’t waste time or the problem may snowball with interest or financial charges.

Allconnect is a free online resource to review and compare the costs and choices for essential home services, including mobile phone service, high speed Internet, phone, cable TV, satellite TV, and home security systems.

But the right tools can help you lift all those boxes and appliances more efficiently.

Most people start with hand trucks when they are moving, but there are a number of other tools to help you lift heavy boxes or awkwardly shaped furniture.

A 16-foot nylon hump strap makes it possible for one person to lift large boxes or items that are difficult to grasp.

Forearm straps allow two or more people to lift large objects more easily. The straps are looped under an item, such as a washing machine or refrigerator. Two to four people can lift up on the straps and carry the appliance balanced on the straps.

Even a blanket can help during a move. A blanket can protect flooring while dragging a large item — or it can be used to drag an item through a doorway where there is not enough clearance on the top or the sides to carry the item.

The Home Depot’s Moving Club offers more advice for moving day, including this tip: a healthy adult male should lift objects no more than 50 pounds, and smaller adults should lift no more than 35 pounds.

For charging in the car or on the plane, the CyberPower AC Mobile Power Adapter is an easy solution when a 12-volt power source is available. The compact unit has a three-prong plug, a USB port and allows you to use an AC device and a DC device at the same time.

If you can’t always recharge, pack a back-up battery such as DigiPower’s ultra-thin battery pack.  Slightly larger than an index card, this battery pack for smart phones and other portable devices provides up to three hours of talk time, seven hours of video playback, and twenty-one hours of audio playback.

Stopping at a coffee shop to recharge yourself and your computer is a great idea unless the outlets are taken. A PowerSquid lets you share an outlet and maybe make a new friend. Even packing a small multi-outlet power tap that creates two or three plugs from one will solve the problem.

If these charging options aren’t available, there’s always the sun. The SolarGorilla has both a 24 volt socket and a 5 volt USB socket creating a renewable power station for your laptop, mobile phone, iPod and many more devices. If you don’t need quite that much solar power, Brunton makes a line of solar charging options for handheld devices such as phones, iPods and GPS devices.

To make sure you are getting the best rates on internet and phone, contact Allconnect. Allconnect is a free online resource to review and compare the costs and choices for essential home services, including high speed Internet, phone, cable TV, satellite TV, and home security systems.

• Move.mil is the official Defense Personal Property System portal

• Tips for a Do-It-Yourself Move

• Moving 101 and Relocation Budget Plan offer advice on moving by the Department of Defense. The site helps with everything from moving to making sure your spouse’s travel is covered if you get married en route. The site also has an FAQ.

• Use “Plan My Move” by the Department of Defense to create checklists, and find links to critical moving processes and information. You can also find housing applications and household goods customer satisfaction surveys.
• Top 10 Tips May Make Moving Smoother for Sailors, Families  
• Moving Tips for the Military Family  
• Moving Tips from the Air Force  

Allconnect can assist with your move to a new home, by offering free mover quotes, an online change of address form, and help transferring your essential home services.  You can also compare services available at your new address to make sure you are getting the best deal.  See tips to help you during your move.

Most importantly, make sure it is legal to transport your plant. Some states have laws against the import of certain plants in order to prevent the spread of disease and organisms that can harm plant species. Check with department of agriculture in the state where you are moving to see if there are any restrictions. California, Arizona and Florida have some of the strictest regulations.

For plants too tall to fit in your car upright, you can pack sphagnum moss on top of the dirt in the pot and wrap the pot in plastic before tipping the plant on its side to fit in your car.

If moving plants in a truck, protect the plants from wind by wrapping them with cloth or heavy plastic.

When moving in the winter, be careful not to expose plants to cold temperatures event for short periods of time. A “coat” made of newspaper will help protect the plants.

When moving in the summer, try not to leave plants in hot cars for an extended period of time. Water is important, so plan accordingly — and line the floor of your car with plastic.

Even if you line the floor of your car with plastic, you should tie a plastic bag around each pot. This will catch both dirt and water that might fall out of the pot.

If you are working with a mover, don’t assume they can move your plants. Here are some questions to ask:

• Are you willing to move houseplants?
• Is there a maximum distance you will move houseplants?
• Do you have any guarantees when it comes to moving houseplants? (The company probably won’t guarantee the health of the plant after the move.)
• Is there an additional cost to move houseplants? You’ll probably need to tell the moving company representative how many plants you need to move in order to find out if you’ll need a bigger truck or additional van for your move. Plants take up a lot of room since they cannot be stacked.

Finally, consider whether the plants are worth the cost and the hassle. Often, you’d do better to sell the plants or give them away, starting over when you settle into your new home.

As you prepare for your move, let Allconnect help you. Get free moving quotes from top moving companies across the U.S. by filling out one form.

Today, there are many more options.

Green Moving Boxes

• Rent a Green Box: This eco-friendly option allows homeowners to borrow reusable boxes made from 100% post-consumer trash mined from landfills
• ZippGo delivers moving boxes made of 100% recycled plastic to your door before your move.
• UsedCarboardBoxes.com allows you to buy, well, used cardboard boxes. The boxes are inspected to ensure all boxes are sturdy; any boxes not deemed moving-worthy are recycled. The company offers free one- or two-day shipping so the boxes arrive quickly.

(If you’re looking to green your move beyond the boxes, My Plastic Free Life has a post about green boxes as well eco-friendly packing materials — such as an alternative to bubble wrap.)

Cheap Moving Boxes

• UsedCardboardBoxes.com also powers a site called FreeCardboardBoxes.com, which allows people to post boxes that they are willing to give away.
• You can search your local Freecycle Group or Craigslist — or post a “Wanted: Moving Boxes” message.
• Check with local businesses: restaurants, wine stores and bookstores often have very sturdy boxes delivered daily.

As you plan your move, read some of our posts on moving for additional tips — and let us help you find a moving company. Once you’ve reached your new home, use this change of address form to change your address, and let Allconnect help transfer your essential home services.  You can also compare services available at your new address to make sure you are getting the best deal.  See tips to help you during your move.

Gabriel Davis’ “The Moving Book: A Kids’ Survival Guide” helps kids ages 9 – 12 plan for and cope with a move.

The first part of the book deals with the emotions a child has about the move, encourages the child to write down memories about the home and community that will be left behind, and offers suggestions for saying goodbye to friends and neighbors.

The second half of the book covers moving day and settling into the new home. The book offers advice for dealing with the high stress of packing and moving as well as the fun (but nerve-wracking) process of learning about a new school and a new community.

Whether you’re struggling to talk with your child about an upcoming move or just want to give you child a gift that shows you understand how hard this is for him or her, “The Moving Book: A Kids’ Survival Guide” is a good way to offer support and encourage the preservation of memories and a great beginning in a new home.

In the meantime, know that Allconnect is here to make the move less stressful for parents, too! We help you compare costs for all the essential Home Services at your new address, and can connect your new TV, phone, Internet,  and home security services. We also help you change your address.