Getting everything together for your first apartment can be a little intimidating, but fear not! I just survived my first non-dorm move-in experience, and I can tell you, it’s really not as intimidating as it seemed before. Since I’m so excited about where I’m living (and who I’m living with! Love you three!), I wanted to share what we’ve done and how we survived moving in. It’s actually so much fun! There’s so much more freedom now! And, of course, everything is better when twinkly lights are involved.
To start off, I’ll state the obvious: if you’re living with roommates, lots of things will be shared. Don’t stress about buying everything on the list, because it’s highly likely that somebody you’re living with will take care of it. A brilliant thing one of my roommates did was start an Excel spreadsheet with everything we needed. If one of us was out shopping, we could check the list and see what wasn’t accounted for, and when we bought it, we checked it off the list. It was so helpful to see exactly what we needed and really comforting to slowly see things being crossed off.
Also, just a helpful reminder: everything you buy for your apartment is yours! When I first saw this huge list of things I was a little intimidated (and hesitant to spend all that money), but then I remembered that I would keep things after the year ends. It’s okay to splurge on the vacuum you all need or on all of your dishes because you take them home at the end! You’ll need to buy all this stuff eventually anyway, so think of it as an investment!
One of the first things we bought together was a key hook to put on the wall. I constantly forget my ID (I forgot it three times in the same day), so the hook has been a godsend. It’s also nice to come home and see your roommate’s lanyards so you know who is home as soon as you walk in the door. It makes it feel so much more like home!
I had a whiteboard from last year that I didn’t think I would need again, but I’m happy I brought it with me! We hung it in the hallway near the living room and use it daily. It’s a nice way to write reminders for your roommates – what time you’re all going grocery shopping, when friends/boyfriends are coming to visit, and taking note of who owes who money.
We also posted all of our schedules on the wall in the hallway, which is really helpful when it comes to planning stuff together.
If you have bare walls, one of the easiest ways to cover that empty space is with a tapestry. We have one hanging in the living room, and one of my roommates covered a wall in her room with one. She found this one at Five Below, and I absolutely love it!
Another cute thing one of my roommates did was make her own bulletin board. She bought the cork at a discount store, got fabric to cover the cork, pulled the fabric over the board and then stapled the fabric to the back. It looks really cute (I wish I thought of it first!) and it’s pretty easy to switch it out with a new fabric if you want to change it up. This same roommate also has a shelf from Ikea that she turned on its side to use for storage. It’s really practical and makes organizing her stuff a lot easier!
Getting your first apartment together really isn’t that hard! Moving out of a traditional dorm is a huge undertaking (and it’s an even bigger undertaking to learn how to cook for yourself), but it’s a really great experience and one that brings me so much joy. For more ideas on what to do with your first apartment, search “college apartments” on Pinterest and you’ll be sure to find some great tips and ideas. Good luck!
Photo Credits: All photos belong to the author.