Moving to a new house can be both a stressful and exciting experience. This is especially true if you are moving to your first apartment. Most people will experience this now or later whether they are moving out of you're their parents’ house or are relocating for work/education. When this happens, we suggest you be prepared for it well in advance.
Moving to your first apartment can be difficult because of a lack of past moving experience. You’ll likely make a few common mistakes, but they can be easily avoided if you are prepared for them.
5 Challenges in making your first move
There will be a lot of challenges to deal with during your first move, especially if you don’t have anyone else to assist you. Here we will identify five such challenges and teach you how to deal with them.
- Time management- Time management is difficult when it comes to massive events like moving which have processes that can span over months. Moreover, your most likely issue will be difficulty in organizing the time you have to perform important tasks up until the moving day. A good idea to combat this would be to prepare a moving checklist and adhering to it to make your move successful.
- Moving expenses- If you are moving for the first time, you may not know how much your relocation will cost. Therefore, there’s a chance that you might not be ready to support your move financially. We suggest you calculate your moving costs first and get prepared for them accordingly.
- Cost minimization- Moving to a new house is almost always costly and when you’re moving to your first apartment, you may not know how to minimize your moving expenses. It's a good idea to learn about various cost minimization techniques to make your move cost-effective. For example, you can consider making a DIY move, avoid buying moving boxes, instead you can get them for free from any local grocery store and try to move only the essential items with you to the new apartment.
- Moving by yourself- You would be making a big mistake if you were deciding to make an interstate move by yourself, especially if it’s your first move. Another difficulty you might face will be hiring good professional movers. Don’t move interstate without the help of another person, and find good professional help as well.
- High anxiety level- You may feel anxious about packing your belongings, especially if you are moving for the first time. You will probably face difficulty in deciding which items you should take with and which items you should leave behind in your old house. Take time to thoroughly think about everything that you own and do your packing over the course of several days so that you will have enough time and space to make correct decisions.
Moving to a new house can be a nightmare if you don’t know the right way to execute it. Here we have a few tips on move to your first apartment that can help your overcome the challenges of being a first-time mover:
Keep the right amount of money ready
Always remember that your moving cost is going to be more than what you expect. Here’s a list of factors that you must consider while estimating your moving cost:
- Along with the first and last month’s rent, you should include various move-in charges while calculating the total moving cost. You may need to pay an application fee, security deposit, administration charges, or a pet deposit in case you are moving with a pet.
- You should include the charges you need to pay to tun on utility services at your new house. It’s a good idea to ask your landlord beforehand if any of the utility services are included in your apartment's rent or not. Gas, internet, trash collection, sewage, water, and electricity are a few such services. Also, if you are planning to opt for renter’s insurance, we consider you include the insurance costs in your moving estimate.
- Don’t forget to calculate the fees of professional movers if you are hiring a moving company instead of making a DIY move.
- Calculate the cost of packing supplies like moving boxes, packing tape, markers, and wrapping materials in your moving budget.
- If you are seeking the assistance of friends and family for your move, you should consider the cost of supplying food and beverages to them. Of course, ordering pizza for the whole crew won’t be a cheap option so we suggest you keep sufficient cash with you both for food and tipping the movers.
- Consider the cost of buying food or drinks to stock up in your fridge, as well as cleaning supplies and any other items that might go missing on moving day.
Prepare a moving checklist
To make the moving process easier, here’s what you need to do:
- Create a list of the various tasks you’ll need to perform before moving day. When you finish each task, tick them off your list. Example tasks include registering your new address at the post office, buying packing supplies, and letting your friends know about the move.
- Prepare an inventory list as you pack your moving boxes as this will help you remember which items you are keeping.
- Don’t forget to label the boxes. Otherwise, you might end up searching through a lot of boxes just to find a single important item.
How to pack your moving boxes?
- Avoid packing your towels in your linen wardrobe. They will be useful while you pack your boxes as cushions and protectors.
- It’s a good idea to use towels as padding for the base of your moving boxes. You can also use them to wrap any fragile items such as glass products or electronic screens.
- Another wonderful use of towels is placing them in between vacant spaces inside moving boxes. This will help you keep your fragile items inside the box firm and prevent them from moving around and possibly breaking.
- Keep a towel handy as you may need it to clean your old house one last time after all your boxes have been moved.
- Try not to directly buy new moving boxes. A better choice is to visit your local business or grocery stores and get these boxes free of cost. We suggest you call nearby stores in advance and ask for the best time you can get empty moving boxes from them. This should be fairly easy since stores usually have empty boxes in abundance after they’ve received shipments and deliveries.
- Make sure you have a few moving blankets ready as you might need them to wrap big fragile items such as a television set. You can simply cover the whole TV set with the blanket and seal it with good quality packing tape.
- Don’t forget to click pictures of your electronics before you detach their wires. Do the same for your furniture before disassembling them. This will help you remember the way these things are supposed to look when they’re ready to be used which will make it easier for you to set them up at your new house.
- Last, keep a durable bag with you to keep all the screws, nuts, and bolts you’ll remove while disassembling your furniture for the move. This will help keep those small parts in a single place and allow you to find them easily at the time of reassembly.
Read your rental contract and ask any questions you might have
You may feel tempted to flip through the pages of the contract and put your signature on it, but that isn’t advisable due to the following reasons:
- An agreement will have a lot of valuable information so we don’t recommend you sign it until you read it thoroughly. With this knowledge, you may either put your security deposit at stake or breach your agreement.
- Also, your lease agreement will contain everything you can and can’t do inside your apartment. It will specify your rent cost along with your responsibilities and accountable events as a tenant. It will also give you all the information you need when it comes to having roommates, guests, and pets with you. Try to understand every specification and rule before entering a contract with your property owner and ask as many questions as possible you can.
A final walk-through is imperative
Don’t hesitate to make a final walkthrough of your new house with your real estate agent or landlord before signing the contract. Here’s what you should do during the walkthrough process:
- Click sufficient photos and videos of the vacant apartment before you move into it. This will help you record any scratches, shaky handles, carpet stains, impaired cabinets, and malfunctioning kitchen appliances that are important to be aware of.
- Make sure you email those photos and videos to your landlord on the same day. This will let both you and your landlord have a record of the condition of your new house.
- With this record, you can get back your security deposit if you ever plan to move out of the new house. If you are accused of damaging something that you didn’t break, you can show those pictures and videos to your landlord and claim that these damages were made before you moved into the house.
- Most likely, the landlord will maintain a checklist during the final walkthrough. In any case, you’ll want them to make repairs before you move in, but you can also request the landlord for them then and there. To ensure the agreement, record the agreement in writing if the landlord agrees to get the repairs done.
Tips for getting help from your friends and family to help you
- Make sure you ask your friends for help far in advance if you need them to help you on moving day. If you leave such a request for the last moment, your friends might not be available on that day.
- It's a good idea to ask for help graciously and let them (those you asked for help) know that you will appreciate their immense help. If they don't agree or cannot help you, don't be rude to them since you will be asking them to do a huge favor that simply isn’t feasible sometimes.
- You should try moving on a weekend since more people will be available to help you. Exercise your control; it's your move but it could be a good idea to leave certain things with your friends since you will have enough time later to collect those belongings without having to worry about their condition during the move.
A List of essentials for your new apartment
Here we will explore a list of necessary items that you will most likely need on your first day in your new living space. Furniture, decors, and small appliances are a few such items that can be sorted out later even after you have settled into your new house.
Bedroom requirements
- Box springs and bed frames
- Mattress pad and mattress
- Pillows and pillowcases
- Blankets and sheets
- Hangers
- Laundry basket
- Curtains
Bathroom needs
- Shampoo and soaps
- Toothbrush, toothpaste, and toothbrush holder
- Toilet brush
- Shower curtain
- Plunger
- Toilet bowl cleaner
- Trash bin
Kitchen necessities
- Glasses and mugs
- Bowls and plates
- Sponges
- Pots and pans
- Scissors
- Knives
- Silverware
- Plastic storage containers
- Spatula
- Dish towels and paper towels
- Toaster
- Trash bags
- Cutting board
- Dishwashing liquid
Household items
- Broom, mop, and dustpan
- All-purpose cleaner
- Laundry detergent
- Bucket
- Vacuum cleaner
- Glass cleaner
- Light bulb
- First-aid kit
The night before your moving day will be stressful. However, you shouldn't stay awake the whole night before the moving day since you’ll need all the energy you can get. If you stay awake the whole night, you will probably feel extremely tired and even more stressed on moving day which can lead to you making a lot of mistakes. Just try and stay calm and follow the tips above so that you have a plan ready for every situation. Before you know it, you’ll be relaxing in your newfound home with a lot of new experiences under your belt!