Change blogger template without losing widgets and plugins

install new blogspot template without having to loose your exisiting widgets or plugins step by step explanation... recently one of my good old buddy Shruthi asked me on how to change the template so i thought of writing a detailed steps for the casual computer users like her.
Changing theme or templates sounds easy but it requires a lot of carefulness so the transition can be done smoothly without any loss below are the steps that guides you in overall process.

1. tips for Choosing the appropriate theme
There are lots of free blogger templates available out there just download the template that suits your needs
a. Know your purpose check whether it suits your blogging context
b. Make sure the real estate for the text, ads and widgets are appropriate let the theme/template be simple
c. More importantly template should be from a trusted source
d. make sure whether it looks good on major browsers such as firefox, ie, opera, safari to name a few

2. Download the template (will be in XML format)
below are some of the sites where you can get free templates
-->http://mashable.com/2008/05/17/70-plus-new-and-beautiful-blogger-templates/
-->http://blogger-templates.blogspot.com/
-->http://www.finalsense.com/services/blog_templates/
-->http://freetemplates.blogspot.com/

3. Backup up the widgets
because changing the template will automatically deletes all your existing widgets it is good idea to backup all your widgets if you have more than one so that you can use it with your new template to backup your widgets follow the steps below

login to blogger-->dashboard-->layout and click on "edit" link and copy the content of each widget in the notepad as shown in below pic

4. Backup and upload new template template
if you want to get back your old template its better idea to backit up too click on "edit html" and select download full template as shown in below pic to upload new template click on upload as shown in below pic and browse the new xml file(template) you downloaded and click ok

in case if it displays any message to remove old/existing widget click confirm and save button as shown in below pic now your new template should be ready for use.