Congratulations on your move! All of your stuff has arrived at your new place, now what?
It’s not as simple as just unpacking and decorating your new home. There are many other things you have to do outside of just the “moving” part of it.
Here are 24 things to do after you move in:
- Change Your Locks
- Get Your Utilities Set Up
- Inspect Your Boxes & Furniture
- Plug-In Your Refrigerator & Appliances
- Unpack Essentials First
- Get Organized
- Learn Your Home
- Childproof Your Home
- Get Your Pets Acclimated
- Go Grocery Shopping
- Unpack and Organize Everything
- Recycle Packing Materials
- Update Your Address
- Transfer Medical Records
- Find New Health Care Providers
- Create A Budget
- Decorate & Organize Your Home
- Install A Home Security System
- Explore Your Neighborhood
- Meet The Neighbors
- Register Your Children In School
- Map Out The Best Routes To Work & School
- Tell Your Friends About Your Move
- Have A Housewarming Party
1. Change Your Locks
The absolute first thing you should do is change your locks. Who knows who may still have a key to the home – past pet sitters, babysitters, random uncles, etc. Get those locks changes as soon as you move in to keep your family safe from possible intruders.
2. Get Your Utilities Set Up
If you haven’t already, make sure your water, electricity, gas, cable, and internet are all set up in your home. Otherwise, you’ll be taking cold showers and reading books!
3. Inspect Your Boxes & Furniture
Do a quick run through and make sure all of your items are safe and still intact. Most movers are professional and do a great job, but nobody is perfect.
4. Plug-In Your Refrigerator & Appliances
Since your movers don’t do this for you, make sure you plug-in and set up your major appliances. If you’re not sure exactly how to do it, you can always hire someone to come out or visit the school of YouTube.
5. Unpack Essentials First
Not everything has to be unpacked all at once. Make sure you go through your boxes and unpack the essentials first.
6. Get Organized
It’s best to put in organizing tactics before you start to unpack your items. Otherwise, you’ll be handling items multiple times and moving things around non-stop.
7. Learn Your Home
When moving in, you should know certain things about your new home that you probably don’t know yet. Here are some things to learn about and teach everyone in your home.
- Know locations and operations of the fuse box, gas valves, water valves, sprinkler systems, ac unit, and pool filter – teach everyone.
- Teach everyone about evacuation routes and what to do during a fire, earthquake, etc.
8. Childproof Your Home
If you have small children, don’t forget to childproof your home. You never know how quick a child could stick something in a light socket or slip and fall onto the corner of the fireplace hearth.
9. Get Your Pets Acclimated
Dedicate some time to take your dogs for a walk and get used to where your home is. Give them ample time to sniff around to get a full understanding of where their new home is. Take them for a few walks a day to get them acclimated. If you have cats, keep them inside for some time and consider putting them on a leash for the first few days so they can get acclimated to where you live.
10. Go Grocery Shopping
Make sure you go grocery shopping and make a large list of everything you need to buy again. Since you’ve likely thrown away old condiments or spices, you’ll have to re-purchase those the next time you go. Here’s a shopping list for your first week in your new kitchen.
11. Unpack and Organize Everything
After doing a quick unpacking, now is the time to dive in and get everything unpacked. It’s best to give yourself a 2-week time period, but no longer. If you wait too long, you won’t realize if you’re missing anything or if it’s buried in some box, you don’t know about.
12. Recycle Packing Materials
Don’t just throw away your cardboard boxes in the trash or recycling bin. Stack it all in a pile and post it on Craigslist, OfferUp, or Letgo. The best way to recycle something is to literally allow someone to use it again right then and there.
13. Update Your Address
Make sure you update your address with these places:
- The post office (you can also ask them to forward your mail for up to a year)
- Your bank
- Your credit card company
- Your miscellaneous financial companies (401k provider, stockbroker, commuter program, or FSA/HSA plans)
- The gas, electric, and water companies
- Your cable/internet provider
- Newspaper and magazine services
- Companies you use on a regular basis (like Netflix, Amazon, mail-order prescriptions)
- Your employer (as well as recent former employers)
- Your children’s schools
- Your doctors
- Your friends
- The DMV
- Your insurance companies
14. Transfer Medical Records
Getting your medical records transferred to your new doctor is important. Check out this article on how to transfer your medical records so you have a full understanding of what you can and can’t do. In any case, a phone call to the doctor’s office might be your best choice.
15. Find New Health Care Providers
If you moved far away, it’s important to find a new health care provider that accepts your insurance. Do this sooner than later since the moving-in process can take some time, you don’t want to be left with no way to see a doctor if something happens.
16. Create A Budget
Even when saving money for a move is essential, people still spend a lot of money on their new home after a move. Make sure you have a budget after you move since you’ll likely be spending a lot of money. Check out this simple way on how to create a budget.
17. Decorate & Organize Your Home
Now for the fun part! Let’s start to decorate and organize your home to function and look exactly how you want it! If you have a good eye for decorating, you probably already know exactly what kind of furniture you want. But if you need a little help, you might want to go onto websites like Wayfair to get an idea of what kinds of furniture or art pieces you’ll want in your home.
18. Install A Home Security System
Whenever you move into a new home, check to see if there’s already a home security system. It might be as easy as switching the system into the new homeowners’ name. If not, consider having someone come out and assessing your home and educating on what kinds of home security systems are best for you.
19. Explore Your Neighborhood
This is a great thing to do with your family. A couple of times a week, head out and drive around to see what’s nearby. Sure, you can just sit in your home and see what’s close by but use this one as an opportunity to get out of the house and go exploring with the family!
20. Meet the Neighbors
Neighborhoods aren’t the same as they were 50 years ago. Thanks to people desiring television, internet, and video games, too many people simply don’t know their neighbors. Meeting and knowing the people who live nearby can create a sense of belonging and shared identity in your local area.
21. Register Your Children in School
If you have kids, this step is very important. Registering your kids for a new school takes a bit of planning. When you register, make sure you have the correct documents you need to get them enrolled. This includes birth certificates, proof of residency, immunization records, emergency contact forms and the school application itself. If they are transferring schools, you will need the transcripts from their previous school.
22. Map Out the Best Routes to Work & School
Spend some time driving around your new area getting to know what’s around and the best routes you will be taking on a daily basis. Drive to work, your kid’s school and other common stops you make to see how long your commute times will be. No one wants the hassle of a stressful commute when they first move in, so it is important to figure out what your best routes will be.
23. Tell Your Friends About Your Move
Nowadays telling your family and friends about your move may seem a bit outdated. However, it is still important to keep everyone up to date with where you are. Send them an e-vite to a housewarming party so they can be the first to enjoy your new space with you!
24. Have A Housewarming Party
Moving into a new space is exciting and is definitely a good reason to have a party. Having a housewarming party is a must, for many reasons. First off, it will motivate you to unpack and get settled into your home faster than you normally would. It also gives you the opportunity to get to know your new neighbors by inviting them over to enjoy a few bites to eat and a social gathering. For your other friends and family members, sending them an invitation to your party will also make them aware of your new address. Lastly, having a housewarming party is the perfect opportunity for you to break-in your home and start this new chapter off right.
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