First Apartment Checklist

When to use this checklist

Use it once you’ve signed the lease, while there’s still time to plan what to buy and when. Still looking? Take the apartment hunting checklist on your tours. The list runs room by room: what to set up before you move in, then the kitchen, bathroom, bedroom or sleeping area, living area, cleaning and laundry, and tools and safety. A one-bedroom gets 75 items; the essentials for the first week are 42 of them.

It’s a shopping and setup list. To record the unit’s condition before you unpack, use the move-in checklist, and to plan the move itself, week by week, use the moving checklist.

How to use the generator

1. Add your budget, if you have one, and your move-in date. Your name is optional and only goes on the printout.
2. Pick your layout: a studio or the number of bedrooms, the bathrooms, and whether you work from home or have a balcony.
3. Tick Show only the essentials for a shorter list of what the first week needs.
4. Add a cost to each item as you plan, in whole dollars. The list adds them up and shows what’s left of your budget, and what you’ve bought so far.
5. Check off each item as you get it, and print the list or download the PDF to take shopping.

Your answers stay in your browser. A draft is saved on this device so you can keep adding to it. Press Clear to delete it.

Sample first apartment checklist

Here’s a list for a studio with a budget, part-way through. The name and amounts are made up: they show how the budget works, not what things cost.

What to get first

• Somewhere to sleep: a mattress and bed frame, sheets, pillows and a comforter.
• Privacy: curtains or blinds for the bedroom and living area. The curtain size calculator works out the width and length for each window.
• Simple meals: a skillet, a saucepan, a knife and cutting board, dishes and silverware, and dish soap. For the food itself, the first apartment grocery list covers the first trip to the store.
• The bathroom: towels, a shower curtain and liner, toilet paper and a plunger.
• Cleaning and laundry: a vacuum or broom, an all-purpose cleaner, and laundry detergent. The apartment cleaning checklist has a move-in clean to use them on, and a weekly list after that.
• Safety: a fire extinguisher for the kitchen, a flashlight with extra batteries, and a first aid kit.

Everything else, like a sofa, a rug or a TV stand, can wait until you know the space. Measure first: the will it fit calculator checks a sofa against the doors and stairs, and the rug size calculator sizes a rug to the room.

Set up before you move in

• Renters insurance. Check whether your lease requires it, and have it start on move-in day. The renters insurance calculator helps you pick the coverage.
• Utilities and internet. Find out which ones the lease puts in your name, and order internet early. The apartment utilities cost calculator estimates the monthly bills.
• Your address. Change it with USPS and everyone who sends you mail.
• The move-in inspection. Walk through with dated photos before you unpack, with the move-in checklist.

Safety basics

Ready.gov says a working smoke alarm significantly increases your chances of surviving a home fire, and to keep a fire extinguisher in the kitchen. Test the smoke alarms when you move in, and if one doesn’t work, tell your landlord in writing. Ready.gov’s basic emergency kit includes a flashlight, extra batteries, a first aid kit, a manual can opener and a phone charger with a backup battery, which is why they’re on the list.

Stay on budget

• Set the number first. Enter your budget before you add costs, so you can see what’s left as you plan.
• Buy the essentials first. The first-week list is short on purpose; the rest can wait for a paycheck or two.
• Look secondhand for furniture and kitchen basics, and ask family and friends what they can spare.
• Plan the monthly costs too. The rent affordability calculator checks the rent against your income.