First Week in a New Home: A Checklist

First week in a new home checklist

The jobs that are worth doing in your first seven days, in a sensible order. Ticks are saved in this browser only.

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Day one: safety and basics

• Walk through every room with your phone and photograph any damage or problem you notice.

  Dated photos from day one help if you later need to raise something with the seller, landlord or mover.

• Urgent: Change or re-key the exterior locks, or ask the landlord about doing so.

  You cannot know who still holds a copy of the old keys.

• Urgent: Test every smoke alarm and carbon monoxide alarm, and replace batteries that are old or unknown.

  The previous occupant may not have maintained them. Test using the button on each unit.

• Urgent: Find the main water shutoff and make sure everyone in the household knows where it is.

  In a leak, knowing where it is saves minutes.

• Urgent: Find the electrical panel and, if you have gas, the gas shutoff, and label the breakers if they are not labeled.
• Put a fire extinguisher in the kitchen and know where the exits are.

Unpack in a useful order

• Set up beds and the bathroom first.

  Sleeping and washing well makes the rest of the week easier.

• Unpack a small kitchen kit: plates, a pan, a kettle, utensils, and coffee or tea.
• Open the boxes you labeled as first-night or essentials boxes before anything else.
• Work through the remaining rooms one at a time, finishing each before starting the next.

  A finished room beats five half-done ones.

• Flatten and recycle boxes as you empty them, and check your local pickup rules for bulk cardboard.

Addresses and paperwork

• Check that your USPS change of address has started, and look for the notification letter at the new address.

  USPS sends a letter with your confirmation code to the new address about 5 business days before the start date.

  Source: USPS, Standard Forward Mail and Change of Address

• Urgent: Update the senders you can reach in minutes: banks, your employer, insurers, delivery apps.

  USPS says a change of address order does not change your address with any sender. You must do that yourself.

  Source: USPS, Standard Forward Mail and Change of Address

• Confirm electricity, water, gas, internet and trash service are all working.
• Put the lease or closing papers, warranties and manuals in one labeled folder.

Settle in

• Find your mailbox, its key and the rules for packages.
• Say hello to a neighbor and save the landlord's or property manager's contact information.
• Write the address, the nearest hospital and your emergency contacts where everyone can find them.
• If anything arrived damaged, photograph it and keep the paperwork before you throw packing material away.

  Claims are easier when the evidence is still there.

• Start a running list of repairs and improvements, and rank it by what affects safety first.

Sources (1)

1. USPS, Standard Forward Mail and Change of Address usps.com

In short: Do the safety jobs on day one: locks, smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, and the water, electric and gas shutoffs. Then unpack by priority and update addresses.

This is a list for the first seven days after you get the keys, whether you rent or own. The unpacking will take longer than a week, and it does not need to be finished. What does need doing early are a handful of safety and paperwork jobs that are easy to put off and awkward to discover later. The list is ordered so that the first section takes an afternoon and the rest can spread across the week.

How to use the list

Start with day one. Before the boxes come in, walk through with your phone and photograph anything damaged, since the photos are your record of the condition you found. Then take care of the locks and the alarms. You cannot know how many copies of the old keys exist, so re-key or change the exterior locks, or ask your landlord to. Test every smoke alarm and carbon monoxide alarm with its test button, and replace batteries you cannot vouch for. Local rules about alarms differ, so for anything beyond a basic test, ask your landlord, your insurer or your local fire department.

Next, find the shutoffs. The main water shutoff, the electrical panel and the gas shutoff, if there is gas, are worth locating before an emergency, and everyone in the household should know where they are. Label the breakers if no one has.

What changes the order

A new house with a long list of urgent repairs needs the fixes list earlier, so start it on day one. If you have small children or pets, add a safety walk-through for what they can reach. If the move is in winter, check the heating before anything else. Renters can report problems to the landlord in writing while the move-in photos are fresh.

Unpacking order matters more than speed. Beds and the bathroom first, then a small kitchen kit, then the essentials boxes you labeled before the move, then the remaining rooms one at a time. Finishing a room is more rewarding than touching five.

Updating addresses

Do the quick, high-risk updates in the first week: your bank, your employer, your insurers and the delivery apps. Because a USPS order reaches the Post Office alone, every sender still needs to hear from you. USPS also says it sends a notification letter to the new address about 5 business days before the start date, which tells you the request is active. Use the change of address checklist for the full list.

Worked example: a Saturday arrival

You pick up the keys at noon. Before unloading, you photograph each room and test the alarms, which takes twenty minutes. The one in the hall chirps, so you change its battery. You find the water shutoff in the basement and the panel in the hall closet, and put a piece of tape on the unlabeled breakers. The movers bring the beds into place first, so by evening you can sleep and shower. On Sunday you open the kitchen kit and the essentials boxes. Monday morning, on your phone, you update your bank and employer. By Friday the rest of the paperwork is done, and the living room is half unpacked. That is a fine week.

When to call a professional

If a smoke or carbon monoxide alarm sounds, leave and call emergency services. If you smell gas, leave the home and call from outside. For electrical problems, odd smells from the panel, or water you cannot stop, call a licensed electrician, plumber or your landlord. Where utilities are not yet connected, see the utilities transfer checklist.

Questions people ask

Should I change the locks if I rent?

Ask your landlord first. Many leases limit what a tenant may change, and the landlord may prefer to re-key the locks itself.

What if a box is damaged?

Photograph it and the contents before you discard packing material, and keep your paperwork, as the moving day checklist explains.

Sources

1. USPS, Standard Forward Mail and Change of Address usps.com