If you want to dispose of expensive electronic gear, sporting equipment or recent-year designer clothing, consider offering items at a consignment store. These stores have become more up-scale in recent years and they offer a neat way to sell your more valuable but used belongings at a fair price. Check telephone directory for consignment shops in your area.

Other tips and reminders:

# Get receipts for your donations, so you can take an income tax deduction.

# Take all hazardous wastes (e.g., motor oil, leftover paint, spent batteries) to designated drop-off area in your community.

# Don't stock up on groceries or personal care items right before you move. Instead, use up your canned goods, frozen foods and spare boxes of tissues, so you won't have to move them to your new home. Then restock after you've moved and unpacked.

# Many professional movers don't handle open liquor bottles, so you'll have to give those away to your neighbors, transport them yourself (be mindful of vehicle code rules on this one) or have a party.

# If you really can't bear to part with your unused belongings, consider a storage facility. Be sure to ask about access hours, key control, lighting, climate control and security at storage site.

And while you're laying out your plans on graph paper, you might want to determine focal point of each room first -- a fireplace, a large window, anything that grabs you when you first enter room. Then arrange your furniture around that focal point. And while it's a given, it's well worth repeating that you should consider how each room is going to be used before you design its layout. For example, when you're planning your living room, if you plan to spend a lot of time entertaining there, you'll want to place chairs and/or sofas close together and provide plenty of walking room, as well.

After you've taken inventory of your current home, take stock of your home-to-be, starting with kitchen and its appliances. With any luck, you'll have ensured that all of those kitchen appliances are in good, safe, working order long before your move. Make sure hot water system is both working and correct size for your family's needs. If answer to either of those questions is no, replacing unit will save you both considerable energy and money. Then investigate your new home's heating and cooling system, which is going to represent a predominant percentage of your monthly energy expenses. To figure out if it's running in top condition, determine Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio (SEER) rating for your air conditioning and heating unit. The higher SEER rating, more efficient system. A rating under 8 is considered relatively inefficient. Also check your ductwork to ensure that its size is appropriate and that it's clean. Finally, make sure your thermostat and controls are operating correctly.

Home owners often forget that clothes washers and dryers eat up energy, particularly when stackable units are involved. Because users can't fill them with much clothing, they're forced to run more loads though units, resulting in increased energy consumption and subsequent expenses. On other hand, units that are too large may use excess water or heat. Regardless of type of unit in your new home, make sure that washer drains properly and that your dryer is vented out of your home.

And speaking of energy consumption, study all doors, windows, vents, and other passages to outside for cracks. If you see any gaps or if you feel any air streams, seal them either with caulk or weather stripping. And check your windows to find out if they're double-paned and fit tightly.

Finally, if you can't paint your new home's interior prior to your move-in date, don't unpack until you do. And be sure to consider direction of light in your home -- where it hits walls and shadows it creates. Painting your dining room a deep shade of forest green, for example, could backfire on you if your lot is heavily treed, or if room generally doesn't receive much sunlight. The color that seemed vibrant in can may leave you simply depressed once it's covering walls of an already dark room.