Moving Into Your First Apartment
The stuff nobody tells first-time renters: what to set up before day one and what you actually need to buy.
- Step 1
Set up utilities before you have keys
Power, water, gas, and internet can take days to activate and some need an in-person appointment. Schedule them to start the day your lease begins so you are not eating takeout in the dark on night one. Internet especially books out a week or more.
- Step 2
Buy the first-night kit, not the whole apartment
Resist furnishing everything at once. Night one you need: a way to sleep, toilet paper, soap, a phone charger, and something to eat off of. Everything else can wait a paycheck. First-time renters overspend in week one and regret it by month two.
- Step 3
Document the move-in condition
Before you bring in a single box, photograph every wall, floor, appliance, and any existing damage. Email the photos to your landlord and yourself with the date. This is the single highest-leverage thing you can do to get your deposit back later.
- Step 4
Learn where the shutoffs are
Find the breaker box, the water shutoff, and the thermostat on day one. The first time a toilet runs over or a breaker trips, you want to already know where to go, not be googling at midnight with water on the floor.
- Step 5
Meet one neighbor in week one
A single friendly neighbor is worth more than any app when a package goes missing or you get locked out. You do not need to be close. A two-minute hello in week one makes the favor easy to ask in month three.