Recently I met one of my school friends who is constructing a new home and planning to move in there within a couple of months. Although it is a moment of pride for him as he is moving to a home, he is puzzled about how to setup the new home and where to start. Based on my personal experience and suggestions from my interior designer friend, I prepared a checklist of all the essential household items needed to setup new home and gave it to him. If you are also planning to move into a newly built, unfurnished home and wondering about how to setup and make it perfect for living then here’s the post worth reading. In today’s post, I am going to discuss about the list of household items needed along with how to budget and get it right.
But, just before you start to prepare the list of essential goods you require setup your new home, make sure to plan for your relocation. Because, to move your household goods safely and conveniently, you have to plan everything well in advance. Therefore, start taking quotations from local moving companies to meet your move schedule, without rushing at the last moment.
A home is something that is very dear to us and everyone wants to have one that is properly setup, spacious, comfortable and luxurious. Owning a house gives the liberty to build it the way you dream of and can make changes or modifications whenever you wish to. But then, nothing can beat the excitement and enthusiasm of setting up a new home from scratch.
Nevertheless, for starting off, you do need to buy some basic essential things that you simply cannot do without. But before buying these essentials, you ought to allocate the budget, take proper measurement of the space and setup your priorities. And that is what I am going to discuss in today’s post.
I will share the list of the most essential things that are in high priority and cannot be missed out. I will also discuss about what to buy first and how to buy things within your budget.
Type of property
It may be a bit confusing to you but yes the kind of property you own plays an important role in setting up your new space. My friend has built his new independent home but it may not be the same in your case. You may have other plans to buy a ready to move apartment, bungalow, studio apartment for vacation or a semi furnished flat. Now depending on the type of property you own, you can decide on the list of essential thing you would require to setup your home.
But before getting into detail, we need to setup a budget and priority
Set up your budget and prioritize what to buy
This is very important if you plan to buy new stuffs for your first property. Not everyone has the same budget, so it must not happen that you are investing so much from the very beginning that you are running out of money shortly. To avoid such a situation, you need to plan early. Just sit, take a paper, and calm yourself down, do some net search and accordingly jot down how much you can afford to spend for your new home. Remember to consider the basic needs expenditure first and then think about the decorations or luxury items.
Prioritizing the things you need to buy is important and I will help you do that depending on your property type.
For resale house or apartment
In case you have planned to buy a resale property, the most important thing that you have to take into account is what the previous owners have left behind. Sometimes the price that you have paid for buying the resale house or apartment include the existing goods like furniture, refrigerator, washing machine, freezers, lights, fans, etc. So whenever you are doing any agreement, check these issues with the previous owners. All theses goods are generally the essential ones, so if you are lucky enough, you will not have to buy these and save quite lot money.
However, if you find that your previous owner has left behind lot of useless things, ugly furniture or utensils for you, then it is better to get rid of them. There is no need to keep the excess things and unnecessarily make your home look congested. For this, you may consult any local furniture outlet where they take second hand stuffs at low prices or donate the items to some charity.
Another important thing that you must not forget before shifting is to get the services in your new home checked by a professional. In other words, the basic things like your electrics, fans, central cooling or heating, doors, windows, locks etc must be checked to avoid any inconvenience or accidents later. In the process, if you find any fault or damage, then change it immediately.
Before shifting, you must change the ownership of telephone numbers, internet connections, cable TV subscription etc in your own name. You must have every documents transferred in your name to avoid problems in future.
If you have a garden or a lawn in your second hand home or apartment, then you need to buy the basic things that are required to maintain the garden. You may take the help of the previous owner before buying the gardening tools to get an idea about the basic tools required to maintain the garden. This will give you an idea and save you from spending excess. However, the basic things generally required for gardening are lawnmower, rake, shovel, trowel, gardening gloves etc.
To sum it up, before shifting to your newly owned second hand property, consult your previous owner, carefully check the documents regarding what the buying cost includes and accordingly buy the basic items. If you are lucky enough, you may get a readymade living space along with the basic necessities.
For newly built house or apartment
If you have brought or planning to buy a house or apartment that is newly built then for you the first thing you need to check is whether there are any standard specifications. In most cases, the contract includes common standard specifications like the dishwasher, deep freeze, refrigerator, washing machine, dryer, sinks, showers, tiling in bathrooms, lights, flooring all over the house etc and if it is your case also, you will be able to save a lot of money. Therefore, before buying any new thing for your newly built house or apartment, please do check with your builder regarding the standard specifications and then buy the rest things.
Checklist of essential household items needed for new home
In case you are planning to set up your new property from scratch, you need to buy all household items starting from bigger furnishings like beds, sofas, chairs, tables to small but important things like curtains, carpets, glasses, dishes, knives, forks etc.
Here is the list of essential things you need to buy to set up your new home
Things needed to setup a fully functional kitchen and dining
- Kitchen table
- Refrigerator
- Dustbin
- Kettle
- Toaster
- Microwave/Gas oven
- Blender/ Mixer
- Bread bin
- Paper towel holder
Cooking utensils:
- Baking tray
- Can opener
- Board for chopping fruits, vegetables etc
- Knives
- Jug
- Ladle
- Bowls
- Frying pan
- Small pots
- Colander
- Spatula
- Oven gloves
- Tea towels
- Vegetable or fruit peeler
- Wooden spoons
- Condiment holders
Items for eating and drinking purposes:
- Placemats
- Serving dishes
- Bowls (including salad bowl, soup bowl, fruit bowl)
- Forks
- Knives
- Spoons (including tea spoons, soup spoons)
- Drinking glasses (including glasses for wine)
- Cups and mugs
- Plates (including side plates, dinner plates, serving plates)
To clean the kitchen:
- Wiping clothes
- Scrubbers
- Sponges
- Washing liquid
- Cleaning sprays
- General disinfectant
- Sweeping brush
- Bucket
- Mop
- Dustpan
- Brush
- Vacuum cleaner
Things need to set up the bedroom
- Bed
- Bedside table
- Mattress
- Bedside lamp
- Bed sheets
- Duvet and its cover
- Pillows and their covers
- Wardrobe
- Alarm clock or any wall clock
- Chest of drawers
- Dressing table
- Hangers to keep your clothes
Essentials to setup the washroom
- Shower/ Bathtub
- Sink
- Shower curtain
- Shower rings
- Towels (hand towels, bath towels, face cloth)
- Towel rack
- Toilet brush
- Bathroom mat
- Toilet roll and its holder
- Plunger
- Soap dish
- Air freshener
- Wastebasket
Things required for the living room
- Couch
- Coffee table
- Curtains (including the rods)
- Bookshelves
- Lamp
- TV along with a stand or table to keep it
- CDs, DVDs and rack to keep them
- Wall hanging
- Photo frames
- Sofa cushions
Apart from the various necessities for each room, we require some other miscellaneous must haves. Here is a list of few of them.
First aid box is essential as well
- Plasters
- Bandages
- Thermometer
- Antibiotic ointments
- Antiseptics
- Tweezers
- Small scissors
- Painkillers
Items for emergency and safety
- Torch
- Fire extinguisher
- Fire blanket
- Generator
- Smoke alarm
- Property alarm
- Carbon monoxide alarm
DIY hardware tools and equipment
- Plug extension lead
- Step ladder
- Hammer
- Batteries
- Spare light bulbs
- Measuring tape
- Pliers
- Drill
- Screws
- Screwdrivers
Essential laundry items
- Washing machine
- Iron
- Laundry basket
- Ironing board and cover
- Clotheshorse (for indoor drying)
How to prioritize before buying the things
All the items mentioned above are important for setting up a new home but you do not need to buy everything at a time. You need to understand what are the mandatory things that you need on a daily basis and what are the other things you can afford to skip or buy later. Home decoration and luxury items can be brought later when you save a bit more money or have ample time.
So, here is a list of what to buy immediately and what you can buy later.
Must have – buy now
- Bed frame
- Sofa
- Mattresses
- Cooking accoutrements
- Dishes to eat
- Glasses for drinking
- Windows treatments
- At least one proper desk and chair (mainly if you work from home)
- Lighting
Good to have – buy later
- Side tables
- Rugs
- Headboard
- Serving dishes
- Dining tables and chairs
- Storage
- Decorative items
- Luxury items
How to save money while buying the essential things to setup new home
I have already told you to fix a budget before planning to set up your new living space. If you have a low budget, then there are ways to buy new things in a cheaper way. Here are few options you may consider before buying the essential household items to setup new home.
- Buy your things from the shops that sell second hand items. If you are a good bargainer, then you can buy the things at affordable prices. However, do consider the condition of the items before buying.
- You may search from some charity shops that have good furniture and other household things. Here you can get the things at decent prices at the same time it will give you the opportunity to do charity as well.
- You can buy from auctions. Here you can get good unusual stuffs and decorate your home.
- You may keep a track on the internet ads where various websites sell their unwanted or second hand things at a low rate. Many websites like eBay give such ads. You can buy from there. However, make sure you are buying from a reputed seller.
- You may buy during sales in furniture shops, home-ware stores, carpet shops etc. Good items are sold at reasonable prices during that time.
- If any of your known friends, relatives or neighbors wants to sell their old or spare stuffs, you may buy from them.
Over to you
A new home is always special and you have every right to decorate it the way you want. However, if you want to begin the set up, then you must buy the most important things that you need on a daily basis first and then buy the other good to have household items. So, list out the items as per their priority and use, and then start buying one by one.
To make things easier for you, I have already listed out the items that I feel are must haves. But then, different people have different functionalities and priorities, so feel free to make required changes in the list of essential items needed to setup new home.
Your budget is important and so do keep that in mind to avoid excess expenditure. Take a note on my suggested ways on how you can cut off the expenditure and utilize these tricks to set your home in an affordable and systematic manner.
Are you planning to set up your new home? Have you checked out the list of essential items that you have to buy? Do share me your feedback in the comments below and if you have such experience of setting up a new home, feel free to share your views.
Until then, stay happy and do not forget to like and share if you find the post valuable.
