What You Need the First Day You Have Moved into a New Home

There are few things worse than trying to rummage through all your stuff to find just one thing, the saying "like trying to find a needle in a hay stack" comes to mind.  You know when you can't find your car keys, and you've looked everywhere in the house?  It is an awful feeling to not be able to find something, and it feels like it always happens at the worst time  

It is about one million times worse if all your stuff is in boxes, trash bags, storage, etc., and all you need to find is one single item.  You opened up and emptied half the boxes where you think the missing object might be.  Even if you have labeled all your boxes, and boxed everything it has now turned into catastrophic mess, and you haven't even found the missing tooth brush.  Putting a house together is hard enough without putting a house together from a catastrophic mess!  So I'm going to suggest some things that you may need while you are trying to put your life together in your new home.  

  

Phone Numbers and Addresses:  You may not have the internet set up the first day that you move in, and even if you do it can be good to have emergency contact information on hand.  If someone hurts themselves while moving, it is good to know hospital and emergency numbers.  Also, it can be good to have an electrician and plumber number available, just in case there are any unpleasant surprises with your utilities.   Don't forget the number to the movers, if you have hired any, in case they are late in delivering your stuff. 

After all the moving, no one is probably going to feel like cooking, so you may want to pick out a place that will deliver your dinner.  You'll never enjoy seeing the pizza delivery guy more than after having a long day of moving.   

Clean Clothes:  Sweaty, dusty, grimy and all sorts of undesirable odors will be clinging to you after your move.  Make sure everyone has a set of clean clothes to change into after you move.  Then again, if it is just you and your significant other, you can celebrate your first night in your new home in your birthday suits. 

Toiletries: Have a towel for each person, toothbrushes, hairbrushes and all things related to personal hygiene ready for your first day.  There is nothing like taking a hot shower then changing into clean clothes after spending a hard day doing one of everyone's least favorite things, moving. 

Cleaning Supplies: If you are going to take a shower, you're probably going to want to clean the shower first.  I remember one apartment I move in the guy I had dumped his kitty litter into the shower before he left, and I was glad to have my cleaning product on hand to take care of that disgusting disaster right away.  Bringing basic cleaning supplies to sanitize your new kitchen and bathrooms will probably be something you'll want to have.  Even if the house looks in good condition when you move in, after kicking up a bunch of dust with all your stuff you may want to give everything a wipe down. 

Entertainment for everyone:  Something to keep the kids distracted is a big one in this, because sometimes the kids need to be occupied while the parents get some of the work done.  When I would move with my parents the whole family would watch a VHS movie together, because the cable/internet wouldn't be hooked up yet.  In more current technology a DVD or bluray player can be a fun way for the family to spend the night together in your new home.  Although you may just want to pass out after all of that work.