The Absolute Minimalist’s List of What You Need to Move Into a New Place

The Absolute Minimalist’s List of What You Need to Move Into a New Place

Yes, You Really Do NEED The Tweezers.

When you move into a new place on your own for the first time, getting everything you actually need to get through a month of independent living can be quite a challenge. If you were accustomed to taking advantage of parents, roommates, or a college to provide at least some of your everyday stuff, you may be surprised at what you’re missing. Rather than find out too late, we suggest you check out this basic list of goods before you decide to strike out on your own.

Start In the Kitchen
The kitchen is, in general, the most important place to stock. You can sleep on a couch or shower with dishsoap, but if you can’t make food, you’re going to burn through your budget way too fast calling for delivery. Start with these basics:

• Knifes: a chef’s knife, a paring knife, and a serrated knife are the basics for cooking.
• You’ll need a cutting board to use with those.
• Openers for cans, metal-topped bottles, and corked bottles.
• Basic eatware: plates, bowls, and glasses.
• Basic flatware: spoons, knives, and forks.
• Basic cookware: a flat pan, a deep pot, and a baking dish at the minimum.
• Cooking utensils: A wooden spoon, a rubber scraper, a spatula, a ladle, and a serving spoon.
• Dishsoap and a green scrubby to keep those things clean.
• A dishtowel.
• An ice cube tray.
• Some basic spices — we suggest a six-spice rack with pepper, salt, garlic powder, onion powder, Italian seasoning, and chili powder as an absolute minimum.

And of course a trash can.

The Next Most Important Room: The Bathroom
The bathroom is where you keep all of the important items of household cleanliness (assuming you don’t have a laundry room for the purposes of this list.) So it’s the second most important place to fill out properly with:

• A plunger.
• A toilet cleaning brush.
• Comet or some similar abrasive cleanser.
• A shower curtain (presumably; you may be lucky enough to have a shower with a glass door on it.)
• Personal hygiene vitals: toothpaste, toothbrush, deodorant, nail clippers, razor, shaving cream, and tweezers.
• First aid vitals: Band-Aids, hydrogen peroxide, cotton balls, antibiotic cream, larger bandages, and an Ace bandage at the minimum.
• Shower vitals: soap, shampoo, conditioner.
• Laundry vitals: laundry soap, fabric softener, and some sort of spray-and-wash type stain remover.
• A bucket.
• Dusting spray and rags.
• A broom. (You can sweep carpet if you’re tenacious enough, so the vacuum shows up down below.)
• Another trash can.
• And any gender-specific hygiene items you may need.

For Comfort
The next items aren’t necessary for life in general, but they’re necessary to live in comfort.

• A mattress (and hopefully a box spring and a bed frame, but those are less vital.)
• Sleeping accoutrements: sheets, pillows, pillowcases, blankets.
• A dresser.
• Hangers.
• A nightstand and sleepytime vitals: an alarm clock, a lamp, a spill-proof water bottle, and anything else you regularly need in the middle of the night.
• Curtains (or a blindfold or some other way of keeping sunlight or other brightness out when you want to sleep in.)
• A personal computer.
• A vacuum cleaner.
• A teapot and/or coffee maker.
• A laundry hamper.
• You guessed it: another trash can.

For Entertaining
Now that you can get by on your own, you might want to invite some people over, at which point you’ll realize you need:

• A couch.
• A coffee table.
• A TV (preferably on some piece of furniture that will have it a bit off the ground.)
• Lighting for any rooms that don’t have enough of it built-in.
• A dining table with enough chairs for your anticipated number of guests (plus one, naturally.)
• Febreeze, or some other way of dealing with unanticipated and unwanted smells.

That’s the complete list — everything you need to get by on a basic level on your own. Are there a whole boatload of other things that could be on this list? Absolutely; you could have a duvet cover, a food processor, a full-length mirror, and any number of other items…but these are the ones you can’t really replace or work without. Good luck!