Don’t forget a sewing kit when you move into your first place.
Photo Credit: iStockphoto/Nadzeya_Kizilava
As you prepare to move out of the house or dorm and into your first real apartment, you will have a long list of items you need to buy, borrow or steal. For starters, there is the furniture: a bed frame and mattress, dressers or drawers, a couch and other seating and a table. Then you’ll need staples like dishes and cookware and cleaning supplies.
In the midst of all this shopping and packing, a few things are bound to slip your mind. So before you move, make sure you have these five essential items often left out of a first apartment.
Tool Box
While setting up decorations and picture frames, making small repairs or replacing batteries, you will need a tool kit. However, these handy tools are easily overlooked when moving, especially by girls. You don’t need to make a major investment in your tools (nice and detailed boxes can cost hundreds), but make sure you have the basics: hammer, pliers, screwdriver, wrench, nails and screws. This kit will make your life much easier when a picture falls in the middle of the night or your necklace breaks as you’re about to leave.
Storage Bins
At your childhood home, you are likely to have much more storage room than in your new apartment, so finding places to put all of your stuff in a tighter space may be a challenge. After ciphering through your things and throwing the junk out, buy a few cheap but durable, large plastic bins. Use them to store off-season clothes, school and home supplies, extra blankets, sheets and pillows or books and movies. Then, move the bins to the back of your closet or under your bed.
First Aid Kit
Accidents happen, and you should always be prepared for the medical variety with a first aid kit. Whether you buy it or build it, yours should include: tweezers, ibuprofen, adhesive bandages (several sizes), antibiotic ointment, hydrogen peroxide, medical tape, gauze, rubbing alcohol and gloves.
Lighting
Since most apartments come equipped with the big lighting fixtures, the smaller ones are often left off apartment checklists. You’ll need lamps for your bedside table and desk and perhaps for extra lighting in your living room. You’ll also need a flashlight and candles in case the power goes out. Therefore, make sure you also have appropriate battery sizes and matches on hand.
Sewing Kit
You may not be the next fashion designer or expert seamstress, but you should know how to (or at least have the supplies for) re-sewing a button or quickly stitching up a small hole. Sewing kits are cheap and contain a few needles and small spools of the most common colors.
Tomboy Tools, Inc., an Entrepreneur Magazine Top 100 Brilliant Company, and provider of hands-on education and high-quality tools for women, sponsored this post.
