Things You Need for Your First Apartment

So you got your apartment, and you're getting ready to move out. Maybe you've been away at college, sharing a dorm room, apartment, or rental house with several other people. Maybe you're moving directly out of your parents house. Either way, you're probably going to need to buy a few things in order to furnish your new place. Hopefully this comprehensive list can serve as a starting place!

Living Room Stuff

The living room is a pretty basic room, and very personalize-able. Just make sure you have a couple of basics:

• Places to sit. The quality of these places may vary depending on your budget. Personally, I have a second-hand couch and an old futon from college, plus some rather uncomfortable woods chairs. If you can get your hands on a recliner though, you and all of your friends will love you. Then again, I have a friend who has a living room full of beanbags, so...
• Coffee table and/or end tables. Coffee tables are GREAT because you can put your feet on them. Also, you'll want some place to put drinks, plates, books, remote controls, and other random items
• Lamps - depending on the lighting situation in the room
• Optional: TV and place to store all of your electronics stuff. If you are into video games and have a lot of equipment, I'd recommend trying to find a big TV stand with plenty of storage space. If you're not into that, you can make do with another end table with room for your router underneath.

Bedroom

Another room that you can really do anything with.

• Bed and sheets/blankets. This is a surprisingly easy thing to forget about. It's also highly recommended to have a spare set of sheets in case something bad happens and you need to clean your sheets but also want to go to bed (hello cat hairballs. How are you this evening?).
• Clothes storage. This could mean a dresser, lots of hangers, or some combination of items depending on how many clothes you have. Don't underestimate the number of hangers you need. When I first moved to college, I failed at this and had almost of my clothes double-hung. It was sad.
• Optional: Nightstand & lamp. Personally, I'm a big fan of my nightstand and it stores all sorts of random stuff.

Bathroom

Ah, the room where young adults are MOST LIKELY to forget things...you just get so used to grabbing it from your parents house, than when it's not there to grab...well, things get very sad.

• Personal toiletries (soap, shampoo, conditioner, razors, shaving cream, deodorant, toothpaste, moisturizers, whatever else you use on a daily basis). If it helps, make a list of all of the products you use throughout the course of day.
• BACKUPS of personal toiletries. If you have the storage space, you should have at least one backup of EVERYTHING you use in the bathroom. Why? Because if you run out of soap or deodorant, you have a problem. If you run out of soap or deodorant and don't have time to immediately go to the store, you have a serious problem. Keeping a backup just makes good sense - and when you open the backup, you can add a new backup item to your grocery list.
• "Utensils": Tweezers, nail clippers, cuticle scissors, nail files. And boys? You also should get a pair of tweezers. You'd be amazed at how many random things tweezers can be used for that have nothing to do with eyebrow plucking.
• Qtips and cotton balls. Again, very random, and very useful for more than just personal grooming.
• Hand soap to put next to the sink.
• Trash can.
• Toilet paper. This should be the first thing that arrives at your new apartment, by the way. And you should unpack it immediately.
• Toilet brush, toilet cleaner, other bathroom cleaner for the sink & shower
• OPTIONAL AND HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: A squeegee! There's a good chance that you don't know what this is, and that's okay, because I'm going to tell you about it. The squeegee is my favorite bathroom item because I hate cleaning the bathroom, and a squeegee makes it easier. You basically run the squeegee over the the shower walls after your shower. It takes about 30 seconds. Then, you magically have less soap scum buildup and can quickly wipe the walls down when cleaning, instead of scrubbing and hating yourself. If you can get in the habit of squeegeeing, you will love yourself later. Check out inexpensive squeegees on Amazon here

Kitchen Stuff

My favorite room! I'm only going to the list the ESSENTIALS here; there's plenty of other bakeware, utensils, and assorted items that make your kitchen move up on the scale from 'barely functional' to 'pleasantly workable' to 'comprehensive'. But at the VERY LEAST, get these things:

• Coffee maker. This is first on my list because it's my most important item.
• Dishes (plates, bowls, cups, coffee mugs). I'd recommend at least having enough for 4 people, and if you can get service for 8 that's even better. It's also helpful to have larger serving bowls, platters, and various sized plates....but that's getting into optional territory.
  • I'd also recommend buying Correlle dishes because they don't break. And if you're anything like me, you're going to drop a lot of plates on the tile floor.
• Travel mugs because keeping coffee hot is vital to your existance. Well, it's vital to my existance anyway.
• Silverware. Including some sharp knives
• Chef's knife - the most versatile kitchen tool ever
• Paring knife - the only knife that does things that a chef's knife can't.
• Basic pots and pans
  • Fry pan - nonstick. There's several sizes; I like to have 12-inch and an 8-inch, but you can make do with just one big one, depending on how much you cook
  • Dutch oven (i.e. a big pot)
  • Saucepot (i.e. a smaller pot)
• Measuring cups & measuring spoons
• Mixing bowls
• Utensils
  • Mixing spoons. I prefer wood or plastic; metal will scratch your nonstick pans, which not only may or may not cause cancer, but also defeats the purpose of a nonstick pan
  • Spatula (i.e. the thing you use to flip pancakes)
  • Tongs
  • Potato masher (because potatoes are both cheap and delicious)
  • Potato peeler (because peeling potatoes and carrots with a knife sucks)
• Oven mitts
• Colander/strainer: for draining stuff like pasta or washing large quantities or fruits or vegetables.
• Plastic wrap, aluminum foil, and Ziploc bags of varying sizes. Most. Useful. Stuff. Ever.
• Tupperware containers (of any brand) to store leftovers and other stuff in.
• Plenty of dishtowels
• A dish-drying rack (you can also lay your dishes to dry on a large towel if you'd prefer)
• Dishsoap and sponges. If you have a dishwasher, get dishwasher soap AND regular soap - you'll need to wash your pans and stuff by hand.
• Trash can w/ trash bags. Or, you can use an empty kitty litter can and the plastic bags that you get at the grocery store, like I do, but whatever.
• Basic spices (salt and pepper in particular) and food staples, like oil, flour, and sugar.

Other Cleaning Stuff

• Vacuum
• Broom & dustpan (most important cleaning supply ever)
• Mop or similar item for cleaning kitchen and bathroom floors. I personally use a steamer, which I like because it's easier to use than a mop, and makes less of a mess.
• Duster
• Laundry soap, fabric softener, and stain remover

Miscellaneous

• Paper towel
• Rags - it's amazing how often random pieces of cloth come in handy
• Power strips and extension cords - because whoever installed the electrical outlets will inevitably not be thinking about the way in which you decided to arrange your furniture.
• Extra lightbulbs
• Fan(s). They don't just keep your cool and take less electricity than AC, but they help in blowing odors or smoke out of your apartment. Funny thing about apartments - if you use high heat to cook anything, they get smokey no matter what you do.
• Extra charger for your phone. Kinda like with the bathroom backups, if your charger breaks, you have an issue. And if you live alone, you can't borrow your mom's or your roommate's in a pinch.

Optional, but Highly Recommended

• Kitchen table w/ chairs. Sure, you can eat on your couch, but you will have less mess on your couch if you eat at a kitchen table. Besides, with a table, you can invite friends - or significant others - over for drinks and feel like a real adult.
• Basic Kitchen Appliances: microwave, toaster and/or toaster oven. Sure, you can do all that stuff on the stove, but it's a pain in the butt, takes forever, dirties more dishes, and uses more electricity.
• Blender - nice for making adult beverages, as well as other stuff.
• Ice packs - if you plan on packing your lunch when you go to work, which you should do because it saves a gazillion dollars per year, you need an ice pack. If you don't have one, don't complain when you eat bad meat and puke.
• Whiteboard. This was a relic of my college days, but I actually found it super useful when living alone. I write down random things I need to buy throughout the week (i.e. 'more toilet paper' or 'vegetable oil'), which makes me less likely to forget. I also leave myself reminder notes sometimes, or make a note of dentist appointments. You don't need a whiteboard, but I find it helpful.
• Bookcase(s) These can store books, movies, games, or any assortment of random stuff.

Wow, overwhelmed yet? You need a lot of stuff to move out! Don't worry, a lot of this stuff you might be able to pawn off family members, pick up cheap at garage sales, or get at secondhand stores. A lot of the cleaning supplies can be purchased at warehouses like Costco or even at the dollar store. It's not as bad as you might think, and once you get all the basics, maintaining your home will come much, much easier, I promise!

Good luck!