When you leave your family home for the first time to live in your very own home, it can be hard to know what items you’ll need. After all, living with your family you’ve never really had to think about how many essential items that are required to run a home.
So, to help you know what you will need after moving into your first home, we have put together this handy guide to help you separate the essentials from the luxuries and ensure you’re properly set up to thrive in your new home.
For The Whole House
While each room of your house will have different needs and essential gear, there are a plenty of important items that you will need for your whole house, to keep it clean and safe. So, before moving into your first home make sure you have:
Cleaning Essentials – After shelling out money for your first home, you’ll want to make sure that it remains in decent condition, so stocking up on cleaning essentials is a must!
You should have your cleaning items ready, so that you can do a big clean whilst moving in, so that your new home is in good shape. From day one you should have: a vacuum cleaner, washcloths, kitchen towels as well as bleaches and sprays for cleaning each room of your home.
Basic Tool Kit – Owning your first home will give you your first taste of DIY in no time, whether you simply want to put up a shelf, or if you have some grand renovation ambitions you will need a toolkit at some point or another.
While you can build out your toolkit as much as you like, some essential items to have from day one would be: a step-ladder, a hammer, a screwdriver, a drill, a tape measure, a spirit level and some assorted nails, screws and wall plugs.
Window Blinds or Curtains – When you move into your home, you want it to be a nice private space for you and not every Tom, Dick and Harry that passes your home on the street. So, to secure your privacy you should invest in some window blinds for your home ASAP.
While most windows can be covered with any blind to provide some privacy, in your bedroom you will want to make sure you have blackout blinds, to prevent light pollution in the outside world from disrupting your sleep.
Safety Alarms – Living in your very own home for the first time means that you’re now responsible for your safety as well as the safety of your home. Having various alarms in your home will help keep you and your house safe!
A few basic safety alarms to have in your home include smoke detectors/fire alarms, carbon monoxide alarms as well as security alarms.
For The Kitchen
Your kitchen is one of the most important spaces in your new home, it’s where you’ll make your morning cup of coffee, cook your dinner, and eat with friends and family, so you’ll want to make sure you have the right gear in your kitchen.
Essential Cookware – Unless you plan on eating nothing but takeaway pizza and microwave meals you will need some cookware for your kitchen, so that you can cook!
While you don’t need to get all the tools of a professional chef, at the minimum you will need: baking trays, saucepans, a frying pan and utensils like spatulas and tin-openers.
Crockery & Cutlery – Again, unless you intend to eat all your meals directly out of a saucepan, you will need some crockery and cutlery so that you can eat your food without running the risk of getting messy.
If you’re living in your new home by yourself, you won’t need too much to get by unless you’re expecting guests, but you should have some: plates and bowls, a cutlery set, cups and mugs, and some sharp cooking knifes.
For The Living Room
Next up, we’re looking at what you will need for your living room. While you can easily get by with the bare minimum in a living room, you should want to aim a bit higher and invest in some items that will keep you comfortable and entertained in your living room.
Comfortable Furniture – First off, you will want somewhere to sit in your living room. For your first week or so in your new home, a camping chair will do just fine, but long term you will want to invest in some cosy seating.
If you’ll be spending most of your time at home alone, you could just buy yourself a nice comfortable armchair, but if guests will be over, you would be much better off getting a nice multi-seat sofa so that everyone has a space to sit.
Entertainment – You’ll want some sort of entertainment in your living room, it’s where you’ll spend most of your time relaxing, so you should have some items to keep you entertained whilst relaxing.
Televisions are always a good form of entertainment, allowing you to watch TV and movies whenever you please, but if you’re more old school, you could instead use a radio for listening to music and talk shows, or install a bookshelf so that you have plenty of books to keep you occupied. Also Read – How To Prepare For A Solar Panel Installation
For The Bedroom
You’ll be spending at least eight hours a day in your bedroom whilst you’re sleeping, so it makes sense to invest in essential items for your bedroom to ensure you get the sleep you need.
Bed & Bed Linens – After a long day at work, when you get home you will want nothing more than to climb into a cosy and comfortable bed to fall asleep in.
So, when you move into your first home, you’ll want to make sure you have these items at the ready: a solid bedframe, a comfortable mattress, soft bed linens and a pillow to rest your head on.
For The Bathroom
Finally, we move onto the bathroom, luckily in a bathroom most of the essentials are built into the room itself, like the bath, sink and toilet. However, there are still some items you will need for your bathroom.
Towels & Bath Mats – Unless you want to constantly drench your bathroom floor and be wet all day, you will need some items to help keep you and your bathroom dry.
To keep both your bathroom and yourself warm and dry you should make sure that you have: towel set including small flannels, a bath mat to keep your floor dry and a toilet mat.