Just Got the Keys

The first eight weeks in a place that is yours, read straight through: the move, the record that protects your deposit, the first night, and the furniture that has to go somewhere.

7 chapters, about 41,000 words.

A watercolor of moving-in evening: two stacked cardboard boxes with a folded blanket in the open top one, a ring of keys with a blank paper tag resting on the lid, a bare window showing a city skyline at dusk, a lit floor lamp with its cord trailing, and a mug, a roll of packing tape, a tape measure and a flashlight set down on the bare floorboards.

Contents

  1. The move calendar: working back from moving day
  2. Before you move in: the lease, the walk-through and the condition record
  3. Your first night: smoke alarms, exits, shutoffs and a first-night box
  4. Privacy by day and by night: what can be seen from outside, and when
  5. How to measure a room and draw a floor plan to scale
  6. What to buy for a first apartment, and what can wait
  7. Building a home maintenance calendar from your own climate

Compiled from chapters in these LearnThings manuals: Plan Your House Move, Learn First Home Basics, Learn Window Treatments, Learn Space Planning and Learn Home Upkeep.