When you move into your first apartment, there are so many items to remember that you are bound to forget something small or large, yet essential. A good way to avoid having to head back to the store three or four times that first weekend you move in? Make a new apartment checklist. Or, just use ours! Our first apartment checklist has everything you need, sorted out by the rooms you’ll need to be populating with new stuff.
Download our first apartment checklist image above and print it out when you head to the store this August.
Cleaning Supplies
The first day you move in, you’ll want to make sure your new place is clean. The day you move out, you’ll want to make sure your place is clean. In between? Well, hopefully, you’ll at least spend a few days tidying up so things won’t get out of control.
General cleaning supplies include a vacuum, a Swiffer, paper towels (buy in bulk so you save money!), sponges, an all-purpose cleaner, and a few trash cans scattered around the place.
Uncategorizable Necessities
We’re trying to help you think ahead about those things that you don’t think about until you need them. If we work together, you can avoid the 2 AM run to the 24-hour pharmacy desperately in need of a charger for your phone.
Essentials include extra phone chargers (bonus points for a 10-foot charging cord), a Bluetooth speaker, a fan if you’re without air conditioning, and a space heater (because chances are good that your landlord won’t be kicking the heat on the first day you get cold – click here for cheap heating & cooling apartment hacks).
Bedroom Essentials
As a college student, you’ll likely be spending the majority of your time here, asleep in your bed, debating whether or not that early morning class is worth attending. So make your bedroom experience a good one. Get a mattress that gives you some extra room to move around in and is comfortable enough that you’ll have trouble getting up in the morning. Those are the best beds.
Your bedroom should include a bed (duh) and a mattress (duh), but beyond that, backup sheets, a warm comforter, extra pillows, a full-body mirror (you gotta make sure you’re looking good on the weekends), a nightstand, a lamp, a dresser and plenty of hangers will go a long way towards making your bedroom everything you want it to be. Need some decorating ideas? Click here for 5 decorating ideas.
Living Room Essentials
You may be sharing a place with some roommates, so they could be bringing a great couch or huge television. That’d be great. If they don’t, you can probably find a cheaper, but still big, TV on Amazon or at Target. There are tons of couches on Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace, just be careful about the listing you’re reading – there are as a ton of scammers out there. But you want your living room to be a cool enough place that you’re not embarrassed when your friends come over to pre-game.
A living room should include a couch, a table, a television and stand, extra chairs for company, side tables, light sources, a shelf or two, some decorations or art up on the walls, extra blankets, and a router so your roommates can still functionally be online while you’re watching Netflix.
Bathroom Essentials
You’ll be in here every day at some point or another. You’re starting your day in the shower, you’re ending your day brushing your teeth and you’re in here a few more times throughout the day. The key to a nice bathroom is keeping it clean, organized, and smelling fresh. You’ll need supplies and organizational skills to pull that off.
Start with a shower caddy, that’ll save you some space in the shower itself. From there, stock up on hand soap, a shower curtain and rings, towels, shampoo and body wash, a toothbrush, toothpaste, a toothbrush holder, a bath mat, cotton balls and Q-Tips, a razor, a plunger, a toilet brush and cleaning fluid, some headache medicine (we get the feeling you’ll wake up with a headache on certain weekend mornings), cold medicine, a comb or hairbrush, and some styling products. Use the space as best you can and if necessary, buy some extra bathroom shelving.
Kitchen Essentials
Money is going to be tight for the next couple of years. If you want to go out and enjoy yourself on the weekends, you’ll need to be smart at home. That means you’ll have to do some grocery shopping and cook some food for yourself. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy. Grill up some fish. Make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Microwave a potato. Cooking doesn’t take too much time, it just takes thinking ahead. And the right supplies.
Get a least one good pot for making fancy ramen and a pan for cooking burgers, those will likely be staples for you. You’ll also need a toaster, a cutting board, a microwave, bowls, plates, glasses, a can opener, a spatula, measuring spoons, and a dish drying rack too. If you’re going to entertain at all, maybe pick up a few shot glasses and a cocktail shaker. And Tupperware. Tupperware will help you save a ton of money in the long run. It keeps your food fresh and makes multiple meals out of one. Long live Tupperware.
The first thing you need though? A place to live. We should be able to help you out with that one though.
Callie Kollenbroich
Callie Kollenbroich has been the Operations Coordinator and Content Writer/Editor at Rent College Pads since 2015. When she's not working, you can find her at home, eating peanut butter out of the jar and bingeing an unhealthy amount of Forensic Files. She's not as lame as she sounds.
It was really helpful when you said to get general cleaning supplies. My daughter is wanting to move into her very first apartment in a couple of months, and she wants to make sure that she has all of the right supplies. I’ll make sure to pass this information along to her as she searches for an apartment to rent.
I like your tip about getting an apartment with a bed and a mattress. That makes sense considering you want to be able to sleep in your new home. We’ll have to make sure that our new apartment has the proper amenities.