First Home

[Sunflower91]

Hello lovely tattlers, Ive just had a completion date for early Jan for my first home after years of renting and wondered if any of you had any tips?
Top of my list is getting a kettle (can’t live without coffee) and I’m keen to start decorating but thinking it might be best to hold off until I’m a bit more settled.

 

[rlouisep9]

Congrats! I completed on a house in October and made a lot of lists to try and be organised. Make a list of addresses you'll need to change and the 'day 1' bits you'll need to do like signing up for utilities, changing locks etc. We were lucky that our new kitchen had a built in hob/oven etc but needed to order a new fridge freezer so we did that as soon as we could.

We didn't give notice on our rented place until we had our house keys in hand in case something went wrong so we had 4 weeks notice where we could still live there whilst we decorated the new house. We wanted to decorate before we moved all our furniture in as it's a lot harder to navigate around otherwise!

 

[Tommyb]

Iv had the exact same thing!. Completion date early January. Here my list so far and il be watching with interest for any tips.

Over Christmas I'm getting paperwork organised and everything relating to the house filed away.

We have a list of what we need to get ordered but are keen to wait for January sales. We have a washing machine cooker and fridge freezer included. So we are ordering the big bits soon such as: dishwasher, tumbledryer, bed etc.

We have decided on bedroom furniture but as we are extending and remodelling we are looking for cheap/second hand sofas and table etc.

Aiming to order what we can to arrive the week after completion date. Also will be looking for pots and pans and other kitchen bits plus towels etc in between Christmas and completion.

Day 1 - change locks, update bills.
Week 1- try to set up internet! , Take deliveries, deep clean and get rid of the awful yellow paint in the kitchen .
Week 2- change address at work and register with dentist, doctors etc.

 

[Babyyoda88]

Congrats on the house. That’s exciting.

We moved into our new property in August.

Things we got sorted asap were internet and changing our address. Washing machine.

we had a couch ordered and that took 14 weeks .
we ordered blinds.
a new bed for spare bedroom.
new appliances like toaster etc.
and everything else was as and when.

 

[silkytoes]

Congratulations!

Get on ordering a sofa and sorting out the internet asap, those two things took the longest. We had 5-6 weeks of sitting on camping chairs, using our mobile data.

Also I recommend looking at getting a deep clean of the new place when you move in. The previous owners left ours quite dirty so I had someone professionally deep clean it for us so it was a fresh start.

 

[Oohthedrama]

I bloody love that your priority is getting a kettle

 

[Sheabutter]

Hello lovely tattlers, Ive just had a completion date for early Jan for my first home after years of renting and wondered if any of you had any tips?
Top of my list is getting a kettle (can’t live without coffee) and I’m keen to start decorating but thinking it might be best to hold off until I’m a bit more settled.

Find a buy nothing group and unless you’re super handy, down fall down the IKEA hacks rabbit hole. Love them for what they can offer you

 

[Sunflower91]

I bloody love that your priority is getting a kettle

I think I might actually do a murder if I have no access to coffee and have my parents round “helping” (I am very grateful for them but it’s sometimes overwhelming) plus I can’t get time off work the week I move in.

Thank you everyone so far for replies- my brain is so fried I never even thought of address changing and having new locks.

I’m quite fortunate that I’ve inherited a lot of furniture from the previous owner so I already have things to put me on. I have a lovely dining room dresser that I am thinking of upcycling into a bar.

 

[Wowitsme]

Oh wow I love all your organising when I brought my first house I had a bed and a deck chair and that’s it was a tough first year haha.
I’d say book broadband providers in as that can take 3 ish weeks so book that early

 

[Bubblesandflowers]

I'm hoping to move in next month and my first priorities have pretty much been summed up here.
On day 1 I am hoping to change locks, measure up a few things to order furniture and book internet installation. I will also be getting a cleaner in to do a deep clean. My logic is that we are going to be so busy painting and decorating that it will be easier to have a cleaner in to deepclean the kitchen/bathroom etc.

 

[footylass2021]

Check over everything during the handover and then once in, get the snagging survey completed quickly

 

[BelleAmie]

Congratulations! How exciting

I bought my first house last year and I think a kettle was also the first thing I bought haha. If you can, hold off on decorating for the first 12 months - it helps to live somewhere for a year to get a sense of how you’ll live, what the light is like etc.

As someone else said, I would order a sofa as soon as possible because they take an age to be delivered.

On the first day, make sure you take meter readings and check all the locks/keys work for windows and doors. Make a ‘first day’ box with milk, sugar, tea/coffee, teaspoons and something to wash up with - plus loads of snacks!

I’ll be honest, it’s a mega stressful time but it’s also ridiculously exciting and I wish I had enjoyed the first few days more instead of being so stressy so try to enjoy the process of moving in to your new home!

 

[Hottie_Pottie]

Congratulations! So exciting

I will be keeping and eye on this thread as our home is currently being built. Hoping to move in on Summer but everything is being slower and harder than expected as we are self building.

 

[Bleurghgram]

Ah congratulations! I’m buying my first house, I don’t have an exact date yet but my searches are back and mortgage is in place so I’m hoping to complete late January/early February.

I inherited a furnished flat from friends so I’m lucky that I can take most furniture and bits that I need, and then slowly change them once I’m in and can afford to. I’d like a new sofa but will probably put it on 0% finance, waiting to order until my mortgage is done and dusted knowing the wait times are so bad is killing me

Love all the tips, I’m itching to get started with packing up my flat but I don’t want to be surrounded by boxes when I could still be a while 🥲

 

[Tommyb]

Ah congratulations! I’m buying my first house, I don’t have an exact date yet but my searches are back and mortgage is in place so I’m hoping to complete late January/early February.

I inherited a furnished flat from friends so I’m lucky that I can take most furniture and bits that I need, and then slowly change them once I’m in and can afford to. I’d like a new sofa but will probably put it on 0% finance, waiting to order until my mortgage is done and dusted knowing the wait times are so bad is killing me

Love all the tips, I’m itching to get started with packing up my flat but I don’t want to be surrounded by boxes when I could still be a while 🥲

I'm the same! Waiting on the January sales to start buying. Instead of packing my stuff now I am going through everything and having a big sort out!

 

[Sunflower91]

Congratulations for everyone else also starting to move! I hope you all have a smooth process

So as an update. I just ordered/ bought a fair bit of stuff:
kettle and toaster - ASDA sale and chose collection for the day before i move in
Went to B&M bargains and of course left with a trolley bar and side table and other stuff I probably don’t even need.
my sofas (from DFS- I took advantage of the 0% apr.)
bed (123 furniture- heard mixed reviews about their delivery and the standard their stuff comes in but I guess I’ll see)
And I got my internet sorted - if anyone is looking atm, I went via money supermarket but there’s also Quidco cashback for places like Vodafone plus gift card/ bill credit. Get internet as soon as you have a date if you can- because of the short notice im without internet for a week (need WiFi for work).
My dad is lined up to change my locks and check my boiler/ general DIY

my vet friend has told me to flea spray the entire place before I move my cats in. They are flead anyway and indoor
but it’s as a precaution.

I’m already packed since I moved in with my parents after a breakup so my life is pretty much in boxes.

 

[Newbie mcnewface]

Congratulations!

Give yourself time to get the feel of the house. Clean a room at a time and move from bedroom to bedroom if you need to. If you have essentialls like bed and kettle and cooker a sofa can wait a few weeks!

I have renovated a house and the first room we done was a bedroom as sleep in a nice room is essential!

 

[Steph’s]

hi all. We move into our first home on the 31st January. I was trying to be organised and arrange for our sky / broadband to be installed on the 1st February. Sky have come back saying an engineer will be attending on the 1st to install sky tv but our broadband activation date is the 14th January. We obviously will not be in the property then so just wondering what the implications of this would be? Will it interfere with the people who currently live there or will nothing happen until we connect the router when we get in on the 31st? TIA

 

[Tommyb]

hi all. We move into our first home on the 31st January. I was trying to be organised and arrange for our sky / broadband to be installed on the 1st February. Sky have come back saying an engineer will be attending on the 1st to install sky tv but our broadband activation date is the 14th January. We obviously will not be in the property then so just wondering what the implications of this would be? Will it interfere with the people who currently live there or will nothing happen until we connect the router when we get in on the 31st? TIA

I talked to sky today to get mine set up and they told me the hub is delivered to the address 5 days before the activation date. On the activation date you need to physically plug the hub into the house for them to activate it. I would call sky and change the date.

Fyi I'm only getting broadband set up then deciding if we want to add sky TV later.

 

[HoGi]

hi all. We move into our first home on the 31st January. I was trying to be organised and arrange for our sky / broadband to be installed on the 1st February. Sky have come back saying an engineer will be attending on the 1st to install sky tv but our broadband activation date is the 14th January. We obviously will not be in the property then so just wondering what the implications of this would be? Will it interfere with the people who currently live there or will nothing happen until we connect the router when we get in on the 31st? TIA

Definitely need to get this pushed back to after 1st February.

This would cancel the current provision so leave the current occupants with no broadband!