Moving to a new apartment is a stressful process. Even after you move into the new apartment, there are still more things to do. While the actual move-in is the most stressful part, there are ten things to do when you move into a new place.
Things to Do When You Move Into a New Place
Make sure to complete each item on this list to set yourself up for success in your new apartment.
1. Be Courteous and Meet the Neighbors
If you are going from a house to an apartment or a townhouse, you need to be aware that you are now likely sharing a wall or you are at least very close to your neighbors. With that in mind, it is important you be courteous to your neighbors. This means being fairly quiet at nights and keeping things like hanging pictures or moving big items reserved for the daytime. Also, make sure to make an effort to meet your neighbors as it is not only a chance to make some new friends, but they can also tell you about the building or neighborhood.
2. Notify Companies of your Address Change
If you are like most people, there are a number of different services or companies that know your address and might send you mail from time to time. These include your bank, cell phone provider, insurance provider, driver’s license issuer, and many others. It is very important to let them know your new address so you still get your mail, but also so the person in your old house or apartment doesn’t continue to get yours as well.
3. Settle Old and New Utilities
This is one that people might often forget until the last minute, in the midst of all the other stressful things involved with moving. Changing your utilities over is obviously very important for a number of reasons. First of all, you don’t want to continue paying for power, internet, and energy for your old place. Secondly, you want to have power, internet, energy, and water at your new place, of course. This is one that it is better to think of beforehand, as to prevent living somewhere with no power or energy.
4. Take Photos and Document the Place
When moving into a new place, this is one of the absolute first things you should do. You don’t want to be at fault or have to deal with the damage that someone else has created. By taking photos of everything in the home, you can have definitive proof of the condition the home was in when you moved in, which can save your butt from costly expenses later on. This is often done during the inspection, but sometimes that isn’t enough. It could also even be a good idea to do this a little bit on your own after the inspection as well, to make sure nothing was missed.
5. Unpack As Soon as Possible
After packing and moving all of your personal belongings and finally having it all in your new place, there is nothing you likely want to do less than go and unpack it all. This can often lead to people prolonging the unpacking process for weeks (or even months). Not only can this often lead to you not being able to find certain things, but it can also prevent your new apartment or house from feeling like a “home” if there are boxes laying around everywhere.
6. Inspect Personal Belongings
The moving process doesn’t always go as smoothly as we’d like it to. Some items can get damaged in the move, and you should make sure to inspect them all before setting them up and using them. The last thing you want is to set up a nice $1,000 TV on a TV stand that you didn’t realize was broken during the moving process. If you moved your own things there really isn’t anything you can do, but if a company destroyed some of your belongings during the moving process, it is likely a good idea to bring it up with them.
7. Notify Your Friends and Family
While there is a chance many of your close friends and family will be aware of the move, some friends you don’t speak to all that often might not be. Instead of having them awkwardly showing up at the wrong address next time you hang out or sending your birthday card to an old address, you should let everyone in your circle know about your move. Or update your Facebook status.
8. Set Up Mail Forwarding
While many people may think notifying companies of an address change, it might not always be enough. For example, the previous tenant or your new apartment or home could have contacted companies or the post office to cancel deliver to the address. Before you end up missing a ton of important mail because it is never delivered, make sure that delivery of mail/flyers hasn’t been canceled.
9. Change Your Address on Delivery Sites
In today’s modern day and age, many people hardly ever need to go to the store again thanks to the magic of online shopping. However, when you move, do not forget to update your address on these sites. If you do, the person now living in your old house will have a ton of unexpected deliveries and you won’t be getting any of your things. This is very easy to do and often only takes a few minutes, so there is no reason not to do it.
10. Update the Driver’s License
This one applies only to those who are moving to a new city, state, or country, but that is still thousands and thousands of people, so we felt this deserves a spot in the article. Once you have moved and settled into your home, it is important to head down to the DMV and update your address and get new plates and a new license. In addition to that, you will likely need to find a new doctor, dentist, vet, and mechanic. A simple Google search and reading some testimonials can often help with those. But don’t leave it to the last minute, just in case something were to happen.
Editor’s Note: We updated this article to enhance readability.
