Tip #97: Don’t do everything at once.
One more note on unpacking. And the hardest one for me to remember:
Try to avoid making too many big changes in the first few weeks in a new place.
Light fixtures can be swapped next week, new rugs can be purchased a month from now, radiator covers ordered once your baby is born.
As long as you empty your boxes and get the stuff of the move unpacked and sorted, you can figure out the “final decision” details later. (And change your mind again after that.)
Even when it comes to smaller investments, it’s nice to give yourself time to get to know your new place first. Living in it for a few weeks will help you to know where a lamp might be useful or whether a shelf might make all the difference.
I can rush through this period because I’m so eager to have things feeling settled. But if you think you might want to hang a set of hooks, you might as well shop around a bit before rushing to the local hardware store to buy whatever it is they happen to have in stock.
But like everything else, a little moderation goes a long way. No need to obsess about everything. Two hooks from the hardware store on the inside of your closet might be just the solution you need. And right away.
Tiny apartment survival tips #1-96, here.
9 Comments
Hah, I love this, as a person who is married to someone who just wants to GET EVERYTHING DONE. Our baby is due the same time as yours, and our crib still has no mattress, because I am just not willing to buy anything baby until after my baby shower! I don't want duplicates, and I don't think its a huge deal that our in-utero baby has a mattress to not sleep on for 3 months….but of course every time my husband walks into the 75% finished nursery, it drives him insane. I'll admit, when first moving it can be really hard to not just go to Target and spend $1×3*305 dollars.
I'm one of those people who itch to get everything done at once but you're right, things can wait. The importance is just unpacking it all.
xo
Rachel
Such good advice, my husband and I have lived in our rental house for nearly 10 months now and I would have saved a lot of nail holes in the walls and random purchases if I had applied this rule to when we first moved in! Now 10 months in I've repainted our walls white to not only update the shabby crème color they were before but to cover over the 'first moved in set up' impulses. 🙂
Absolutely. You don't really know exactly what you want or what you need until you've settled in a little. You don't want to get stuck with something that doesn't work for you, or have to buy it twice.
Very good advice. Thank you. I'm really bad at waiting, so I need to be reminded of this often.
This is such a good thing to remember. Whenever we move I try to do waaay too much too fast. I now love white walls, but I used to hate them, so every time we moved to a new apartment I would paint several walls…talk about unnecessary stress! Also, when we moved out I would have to prime and paint the walls back to white again… I was crazy! It's important to remember to just get the basics out of the way and move on to the more knit-picky projects later. Thank you!
-Emily
msmelange.com
i am still adjusting things in our apartment four years later! there is always time for updates!
Can I ask about your radiator covers.. Where did you find them/were they expensive?
Oh my goodness, I needed this today! I’m orchestrating a cross country and international move at the same time. It’s all so daunting and my tendency is to have everything set up IMMEDIATELY, but that’s just not going to happen, and it’s not the smartest (or most economical) thing to do.
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