I recently moved into my first apartment, and take it from me, it is stressful! I had no idea the amount of stress moving in would cause me. I had to make sure I had everything from the previous place (my friend's place where I stayed between when my dorm contract ended and apartment lease began) and make sure it all made it into the vehicles to the new apartment. By the end of the day, I wanted to pull my hair out! But I managed to survive and am here to offer some words of advice to all of you!
1. Get plenty of sleep!
You're going to have a super long day when you move in. It's important to make sure you get enough sleep beforehand so you aren't cranky. If you're tired and exhausted before you even begin, believe me, the day will not go very positively. I know it might be difficult to sleep, especially if it's your first apartment (I was super excited) but you need to. Buy some Z-quil or something. Seriously.
2. If someone is offering to help, let them!
If you're lucky enough to have friends and family who are willing you help you move your stuff and unpack it, for the love of all that is good in the world, let them. I didn't want help unpacking originally but words cannot describe how thankful I am that my parents and sister and brother-in-law helped my boyfriend and I. My mom tackled the kitchen, my sister the bathroom, and my dad and brother-in-law tackled the living room. This made it way less overwhelming for my boyfriend and I. Plus, I was lucky enough that my sister offered to come back the next few days and help organize stuff. We moved in four days ago and even though I've worked a few days, we have almost everything put away and organized. Trust me, if people are willing to help, it will save you a ton of stress.
3. Buy toilet paper for that day!
No one ever thinks to purchase toilet paper before they move in. Then as you're unpacking your many boxes you realize you have to go to the bathroom and have no toilet paper. Uh oh. Make sure you purchase some beforehand to save you from that urgent trip to the store to buy toilet paper (and use their bathroom).
4. Don't think everything has to be unpacked in one day.
I really wanted to get everything unpacked and put away the day we moved in. Obviously that is so unrealistic. If it's just a college apartment that you're sharing with several other people, it might be. But for me, this is my new home with my boyfriend so we have a lot of stuff. It's okay if you don't have time (or energy) to get everything put away on the day you move in. You'll be fine if some of your clothes are in boxes for a few days or if you can't find your favorite perfume the next day. Your sanity is more important and trust me, if you try to do everything in one day, your sanity may leave you.
5. Know you probably won't want to cook.
We had groceries and had been super excited to get to cook in our very own kitchen. We'd been looking forward to having a real kitchen since we signed the lease two months before.
We ended up ordering pizza.
Like I said earlier, moving in is super exhausting. Even if cooking is your favorite thing, you probably won't want to by the end of the day. You'll most likely just want to sit down and stuff your face and finally relax. That's totally normal and you can pick up your cooking excitement the next day.
6. Have an ongoing shopping list.
If it's your first apartment, you probably won't have everything you need the day you move in. Have a shopping list that you can add to as you work on unpacking and organizing. I know there were a few things I had to go buy the day we moved in but other than that we have a piece of notebook paper and a pen stuck to our fridge to add things to when we realize that we will need them. It's super helpful because this way if we or whoever is helping us organize thinks of something we should get, it can just be added. Then when we go shopping later we aren't sitting there trying to remember exactly what it was we thought we needed as we were emptying out that box of bathroom stuff.
7. Be mindful of your pet.
If you have a pet, be mindful that this is going to be a very stressful transition for them as well. They're being uprooted and they probably don't fully understand why or what's going on. If you have a pet that sheds, know they'll probably shed a bit more than usual. They might hide for quite a while. My cat has been shedding twice as much as usual and has been hiding under my desk or under my futon most of the time since we moved in. But I've been giving him extra love and he's gradually been getting used to his new home. Make sure you show your pet around too! Show your cat the litter box and their food/water dishes. Show your dog their dishes and where you want them to do their business outdoors.
No matter what you do, moving in to your first place is going to be stressful. Hopefully you can use my tips and survive a bit better off than I did. Good luck and happy moving!
