Whether you’re a college student who is heading off to college or you’re an adult who’s lived at home with your parents for your whole life, that first time move can be difficult. While some people move every year, some folks may not have any experience with moving. As a result, it can seem like a scary and foreign experience that they don’t know how to navigate.
Thankfully, we have resources for what you can expect for your first time move and what you should consider when you’re moving. Beyond packing boxes, signing a lease, paying a security deposit, and doing other tasks related to relocating, there’s a lot that goes into moving from one place to another. As you review our suggestions below, you can tailor them to suit your specific situation since everyone has different wants and needs when they move to a new place.
Find a Reliable Dentist
For those who are venturing out on their own for the first time, a first time move may entail changing medical providers. This can include everything from getting a new primary care physician in your area to finding a new dental office that’s accessible in the first place. As you look for a dental healthcare professional, you should take into account the reviews that other previous clients have left on their website or Yelp pages. You should also think about what other people say about this dentist in your area since word travels fast if a dentist is notable.
Dentists sometimes have offices in multiple locations, so moving might not necessarily mean that you have to find a new dental professional to provide essential care for your teeth. Even if a dentist doesn’t have an office in your new area, it may be possible to keep your current dental health team if you only see them so often and your insurance in your new area still covers their care after a first time move.
Make Sure Your Car Gets a Spa Day
Depending on how you transport yourself and your stuff to your new place, an auto repair may be in order after you travel from your childhood home or initial house to the first place you’ve ever moved. Since a first time move can be expensive with closing costs or security deposits and the first month of rent, you should plan to pad your savings more than usual in the months before you move to account for potential issues like car repairs and replacing tires. A long move can do a lot of damage to a car, especially if the drive to your new place is long or you have to haul heavy items for long distances.
When you’re moving somewhere new, you’ll want to know where the emergency car repair shops are and where the best places would be to get your car inspected or maintained. Some shops may be more expensive than others and some shops may have better mechanics working with them, so you should always look at reviews and ask locals what they think about certain mechanic shops before you commit to taking your car there. The difference between getting your car fixed at one mechanic’s shop over another can be thousands of dollars, so it’s not a decision you should take lightly if you’re on a budget.
As you’re waiting for your car to get cleaned, detailed, and repaired, you can rest and rejuvenate with your spa day. After all, it can be stressful to get your car fixed and you deserve to take a load off your shoulders by pampering yourself while your car is in the process of getting pampered. Sometimes, you may be able to find spas that offer coupons or discounts to certain populations like veterans or teachers, so you shouldn’t let the potential price of a spa day discourage you from getting the care and compassion you deserve after a long day or a long week.
Find Hair and Tatoo Shops That Fit Your Needs
While the way you look might be the last item on your list in your first time move, you’ll want to keep your hair and skin looking the way you like no matter where you live. Sometimes, it can be fun to experiment with new haircuts when you’ve moved to a new place since no one will have a comparison of what you looked like before. If you want to commemorate your move, you can do so with a tattoo from a local tattoo shop so you’ll always have a reminder of this exciting experience on your body.
Even if you don’t want to change up your look, it’s still a good idea to make sure you’ll be able to maintain the level of personal maintenance and grooming that you like when you move somewhere new. Some places may only have chain hair salons that might not fit your needs while others may have plenty of high-end hairdressers in the area so you can choose the one with a portfolio and history that best reflects the type of hairstyles you like.
Buy Flowers to Brighten the Place Up
When you move into a new place, there’s nothing like fresh flowers to add a splash of color and life to a dull new home. In the early days of living in a new place, you may find that you don’t know how you want to decorate the place. Additionally, it can take some time to build up a collection of decor pieces that feel true to your style. For most people, flowers from the local florists‘ shops can allow you to start making connections with the local community while also adding some much-needed beauty to your new home.
Depending on how far you’ve moved from your original home, you may find that the flowers that are available in your new area are entirely different from the popular ones where you used to live. For those who are moving from a green, lush area to the desert, it can be interesting to see how different the flowers that grow in the aran desert are from those that grow in moist climates. It can also be fun to get flowers for your new neighbors as a way to introduce yourself to them and show that you are happy to be a part of their community if you want to give a gift to new neighbors that won’t seem too expensive or lavish.
Clothing Stores to Keep You in Fashion
For many of us, the question of what we’ll wear is one that we face every day. When you move to a new place, you may want to try on a new look that fits in with the crowd in your new area. For those who are moving from a place that has a climate that is completely different from their new area, getting a new wardrobe may be a practical choice. If you’ve never experienced a true winter and you’re suddenly faced with several feet of snow outside of your house, you’ll want to head to the clothing store as soon as possible to get the right clothes to stay warm.
Going to the clothing stores in your area can also be a great way to support local businesses as a new member of the community. Rather than shopping at large box stores, you can put money directly into the pockets of your new community members by purchasing clothes at small boutiques or pop-up shops. This can also be a great way to make new friends in your area if you have a love of fashion. It might even be a great way to get a new part-time job in your city doing something you love if you network with managers and owners of small local clothing shops and boutiques.
Stay Healthy During Your Move
As anyone who has moved before knows, moving can take a toll on your mental and physical health. Although moving is something that people do every day, your first time move may have a huge impact on your well-being if you don’t keep it in check. As you’re moving, you may find it harder to stick with a regular fitness routine that you’ve established if you’re spending all of your time speaking to movers, packing, and planning for where you’ll go next. To avoid getting too far out of shape or getting back on the wagon after you’ve taken some time away from the gym, you can work with a personal trainer to develop a fitness plan that addresses your unique goals.
It can be helpful to wait until after the move to start working on your previous fitness goals again since moving can take up a lot of time and energy. While you may want to get fit by a certain time, you should also be realistic about how much time, energy, and money you can pour into resources to get fit again. Some people might find it easier to balance fitness and moving while others may do better if they focus on one thing at a time, so there’s no “one-size-fits-all” approach to becoming the healthiest version of yourself that you can be.
Find Recreational Leagues to Meet Friends
With any kind of first time move, your first order of business after settling into a new home is finding somewhere to make connections with people in your new city or town and make new friends. Although it can take effort to create lasting connections, it’s worth joining a recreational sports team like a pool league or an intramural volleyball league to make friends while staying fit at the same time. Some leagues may be designed for specific groups of people so it may be easier to meet people in a similar stage or situation in life if you look for leagues that fit your overall interests and lifestyle.
Keep the Children Busy
When you’re a parent who is making that first time move dream a reality, you’ll want to ensure that you have somewhere to send your child during the day while you work and keep your child occupied. After all, many people find that it’s harder to coordinate childcare with family members if they don’t live with those family members. Unless you have an arrangement with a family member, friend, or babysitter for childcare, you’ll need to look into your options for daycare. You won’t want to wait until the last minute to find childcare and enroll your child in a program.
If you have children who are old enough to go to school, you should plan where you move based on their educational opportunities and school district quality. Although it’s possible to make the best of limited educational opportunities, your children will have an easier time succeeding if their community is set up for success, too. If you have older children who no longer live at home, you won’t need to factor these into your decision of where to move but it can be helpful to find activities that you can do as a family when your children visit your new place.
When you’ve never moved away from your childhood home before, the first time move can feature some experiences that you’ll never have again. For example, you’ll probably never have the same feeling that you’ll have of homesickness and excitement that you’ll get when you move to an apartment for the first time again. You’ll also have a rental or home-owning history after the first move, which you won’t have when you try to move out of your family home for the first time. Every move will look different depending on various factors.
For many people, a fear of the unknown can make the first time move feel more daunting. Although it can be scary to move to a new place, you should focus on how exciting it is to live somewhere new. It can also be exciting to feel confident in your abilities to survive on your own even if you never thought it would be possible. Moving out can come with highs, lows, and everything in between, but it’s still a worthwhile endeavor in growing up or gaining further independence from your family of origin.