You just got the keys
The first eight weeks in a place that is yours: the move itself, the record that protects your deposit, and furniture that has to go somewhere tonight.
Read in the order the work arrives, not the order the manuals sit on the shelf. Each step below names the one chapter to open first, so you are not starting at the top of a manual at two in the morning.
Buying or renting the place. We do not publish on mortgages, offers, closing or lease law. This route starts the day the keys change hands.
The route
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Four weeks out
Plan Your House Move
Work the calendar back from moving day, and settle early whether you are hiring movers, renting a truck or filling a container. That one choice sets the cost and the order of everything after it.
Open atMoving Timeline: A Move Calendar Worked Back From the Day
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The day you get the keys
First Home Basics
Photograph every room before a single box goes in. The move-in condition record is the only thing standing between you and someone else’s damage at the end of the lease.
Open atMove-In Checklist: Lease Questions and Condition Record
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The first night
First Home Basics
Smoke alarms, the water shutoff, the breaker panel and the way out. Twenty minutes, done before you are too tired to care.
Open atFirst Night in a New Home: Smoke Alarms, Exits, Shutoffs
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The first weekend
Space Planning
Measure the rooms and the furniture before you drag anything heavy across them. Draw it to scale, tape the layout on the floor, and walk it.
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Week one
Window Treatments Coming soon
Bare windows are the first thing you notice after dark, and the first thing the neighbors notice too.
Open atWe will name the chapter here when the manual is published.
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As the boxes empty
First Home Basics
What to buy now and what can wait, so a first home does not get furnished on a credit card in a fortnight.
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Month three
Home Upkeep Coming soon
The seasonal jobs nobody hands a new householder a list for.
Open atWe will name the chapter here when the manual is published.
Everything here is free, needs no account, and can be opened at any chapter. The other routes · all the manuals.