Guide to Apartment Living:
11 Things To
Do After You’ve
Moved
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Guide to Apartment Living: 11 Things To Do After
You’ve Moved Into Your New Apartment
2
Guide to Apartment Living:
11 Things To Do After You’ve
Moved Into Your New
Apartment
Congratulations on moving into
your new apartment! You’ve gone
through the hard part of packing,
moving all of your stuff and finding
a perfect place to live, so now
what?
In this guide we will share tips on
how to make your new apartment
feel and look more like “home” in no
time.
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Guide to Apartment Living: 11 Things To Do After
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Unpack your stuff
Unpacking tends to be a bit less stressful and
more fun than packing. It’s a fresh start, you
get to organize, re-decorate and have as much
time as you want to do so.
It’s smart to do a walk through of your
apartment before you move a lot of furniture
in or start hanging things. Most often, your
apartment manager will provide a checklist
to you, however if not, it is a good idea to go through and make one of
your own noting any existing damages. Taking pictures of those existing
damages also doesn’t hurt.
Good unpacking steps to follow:
• Bring in large items, such as furniture, first.
• When you bring in your boxes, place them in the appropriate rooms.
• Start unpacking boxes that have things inside that you will be
needing immediately.
• Set aside designated time each day to devote to unpacking.
• Remember, the unpacking process most likely doesn’t have to happen
as quickly as the packing up process so take your time, relax and
have fun!
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Guide to Apartment Living: 11 Things To Do After
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Familiarize yourself with
safety precautions
During the first part of your move it’s smart to get acquainted with where
things are in your new home, especially things like smoke detectors and
power boxes. Most likely, your power will go off in the time that you are
living in your new apartment and it’s better to know where the power box is
than to be searching around for it in the dark.
•.Make sure smoke detectors are working properly and
have new batteries.
•.Know where the power box is and what each
breaker is linked to. Labeling the different
switches can be helpful as well.
•.Think of a plan as to where your
emergency evacuation route would be in the
case of a fire or other emergency.
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Guide to Apartment Living: 11 Things To Do After
You’ve Moved Into Your New Apartment
5
Get organized
There has never been a better time to get
your home organized than when you are
first moving into a new apartment. This is
the ultimate chance to have your home
organized, the way you had always planned
to. With everything you own being in boxes,
no clutter even exists yet, so organizing
couldn’t get any easier.
• Say no to a junk drawer. Start
off strong with your new move and,
although it is tempting, don’t throw
random objects into one drawer.
• Put instruction manuals and important
papers into binders or a filing system
instead of having them loose in
different drawers, boxes, etc. That way, when you are looking for that
particular paper you know exactly where they must be.
• Get those closets organized while you can. We all know how easy it is
for our closets to get out of control and messy. Hanging your clothes,
using storage boxes for shoes and color or style coordinating will all
help in keeping things tidy.
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Guide to Apartment Living: 11 Things To Do After
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Start decorating
Here comes the real fun part of moving
into a new place, well, for some, if you
like decorating. Being in a completely new
apartment means new places to hang
pictures, a different living room set up
and much more. If you decide you want
to paint, make sure to ask your apartment
manager first on what their rules are for
painting walls.
Before anything, make a plan. This is your
chance to feel like an interior designer, so
have fun with it and do it right!
• Decide on your color scheme and the ultimate “feel” that you want for
your home.
• Map out main living quarters, like your living room, on paper. Draw up a
blue print of where furniture goes before you start moving things.
• Recruit a friend or family member to help. Those big mirrors or
paintings are hard to hang all by yourself.
• Feel free to be creative and try new things. If you end up not liking
your “planned design,” move it around and try a new one!
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Guide to Apartment Living: 11 Things To Do After
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Know when to call
maintenance
Many maintenance issues that occur in your apartment can be handled by
the apartment staff and are not your responsibility as a renter. However,
each apartment complex is slightly different with what services they provide.
Here’s a list of common maintenance tasks that are often handled by
management:
• Broken/clogged garbage disposal
• Broken dishwasher
• Clogged drains
• Broken heating and air
• Bug/rodent issues
• Appliances (if provided by ownermanagement) not working
• Environmental damage such as
flooding, a tree falling, etc.
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Guide to Apartment Living: 11 Things To Do After
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Recognize when to contact
your apartment manager or
law enforcement
Sometimes when living in an apartment, troubles with neighbors occur, since
you are most likely sharing a wall, or are above or below another residence.
When an incident occurs, say a neighbor is being too loud in the middle of
the night, it is first common courtesy to ask politely for them to quiet down,
if you feel comfortable doing so.
If a disturbance occurs again, that is when you should alert your apartment
manager of the problem. If you need immediate assistance, or there is an
emergency, that is when you should contact law enforcement or the correct
emergency personnel for that particular issue.
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Guide to Apartment Living: 11 Things To Do After
You’ve Moved Into Your New Apartment
9
Understand your renter
responsibilities
As a tenant who is renting, you have some responsibilities that the
apartment complex expects you to take care of. However, these do vary
depending on where you are renting. When signing the lease to your new
place you will be notified of what your responsibilities are and what those
are of the apartment manager or landlord, such as:
• Batteries for fire detectors.
• Replacing light bulbs that burn out.
• Keeping premises clean.
• Being a respectful tenant not causing disturbances or engaging in
illegal activities.
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Guide to Apartment Living: 11 Things To Do After
You’ve Moved Into Your New Apartment
10
Get to know your neighbors
Take advantage of living in an apartment complex, and meet your new
neighbors! Knowing who your neighbors are not only provides an opportunity
to meet new friends but to also create a relationship with someone in case
there is ever an emergency situation in or near your home.
Living in an apartment naturally provides a social setting. There are people
you may be seeing everyday when
you walk to your car, grab your
mail or BBQ outside. Knowing who
your neighbors are and creating a
relationship with them is not only
beneficial for your social life but you
will have extra sets of eyes to watch
your residence when you are gone.
Tips for how to meet your neighbors:
• Interact with people you see around your complex when you are
getting the mail, at the pool or in the community room.
• Attend community gatherings/activities that your complex puts on for
its residents.
• Be open and friendly to those you see around your complex. Along with
saying hi, don’t forget to introduce yourself as a new tenant.
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Guide to Apartment Living: 11 Things To Do After
You’ve Moved Into Your New Apartment
11
Make sure services and mail
have been transferred
This is something that you want to have
done prior to your move,
however once moved
in it is smart to
call and check in
with the postal
service and the
different services
you receive to
ensure they are
forwarding things
to your new address. If
you do not turn off or transfer
your services from your prior address you will
continue to be charged.
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Guide to Apartment Living: 11 Things To Do After
You’ve Moved Into Your New Apartment
12
Think about buying
renter’s insurance
Having renter’s insurance allows for
you as the tenant to know that in the
wake of a natural disaster or in the
case of a fire or break-in the price
of your valuables are covered under
insurance.
Reasons to invest in
renter’s insurance:
• You own expensive jewelry
• You own fine art
• You own lots of electronics such as a laptop, flat screen TV, iPad, stereo
system, etc.
Renter’s insurance policies vary in the amount of liability coverage. Some
policies can cover just the items that are stolen or damaged, whereas
others will also pay for additional temporary living expenses if your home
is damaged beyond living standards. If interested it is best to compare plans
with your insurance agent.
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Guide to Apartment Living: 11 Things To Do After
You’ve Moved Into Your New Apartment
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Become familiar with your
new community
Moving into a new apartment, which is often in a different area than the
last place you lived, offers a time to venture into the neighborhood and see
what it has to offer. Become familiar with what stores, parks, businesses and
community groups are in the area. Going on a walk or bike ride is a good
way to learn different routes as well as see things in the area you wouldn’t
normally see while driving in a car.
Community groups to look into:
• Rotary
• Chamber of Commerce
• Neighborhood watch
• Local volunteer services
• Sports groups
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Guide to Apartment Living: 11 Things To Do After
You’ve Moved Into Your New Apartment
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Most importantly, remember to have fun when decorating, organizing and
becoming acquainted with your new place! The hard and stressful part of the
moving process is over; it’s time to enjoy your new home. We hope this guide
will help you to settle into your new apartment and make it your very own.
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Guide to Apartment Living: 11 Things To Do After
You’ve Moved Into Your New Apartment
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We love living in Chico and we hope you do too!
LivingInChico.com was launched in 2010 by The Hignell Companies to make
searching on the internet for apartments in Chico California more enjoyable.
Living in Chico provides information about renting apartments, as well as life
in Chico, including current events and local restaurants. Living in Chico offers
some of the best places to live in the Chico area and strives to fulfill the
mission of creating caring communities while making apartment searching
“funner.” (We know “funner” isn’t a word, but let’s face it, it is way more fun)!
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