What to buy first for your first home

The first night

Write down only the things that stop you sleeping, eating or washing in the property on the first night. Each line is a need to cover for day one — not automatically something to buy. You might already own it, be inheriting it with the property, be able to borrow or hire it for the first few weeks, or find it second-hand. Buying is one way to cover a day-one need; everything that is not on the list is a decision you are allowed to postpone.

• Somewhere to sleep — a bed and a mattress, with bedding that fits it.
• Somewhere to keep food cold, and some way to heat it.
• A way to wash clothes, or a worked-out plan for the first few weeks without one.
• Electricity, gas, water and internet arranged before moving day, wherever possible.
• Meter readings taken as soon as you arrive — photograph each meter before you begin unpacking.
• Light in the rooms you will be in after dark. Not every room arrives with a working fitting or a shade.
• Something at the windows of any room you sleep in.
• The unglamorous box: cleaning things, bin bags, toilet roll, a few tools and the means to make a hot drink.

Several of those are sequencing problems rather than shopping problems. A bed can be the thing to order first, because it is hard to improvise for more than a night or two; a washing machine may need fitting rather than just delivering; utilities can be arranged before the move; and meter readings belong at the very start of moving day.

Now, soon and later

Everything that did not make the first-night list still exists; it just has not earned a date yet. Sorting the rest into three groups is quicker than ranking it, and it survives contact with a changed completion date.

• Now

  The first-night list, plus anything with a lead time long enough to become a first-night problem.

• Soon

  The things that make the place work rather than survivable: somewhere to sit, somewhere to put clothes, a second set of bedding.

• Later

  Everything you want the finished rooms to have. Worth writing down precisely so it stops competing for attention now.

In the app those three map onto the priorities an item already has — Urgent, Normal and Can Wait. Nothing has to be deleted to be deprioritised, which is the point: a list you trim is a list you re-remember later.

Own, borrow or buy

A need on the list is not automatically a purchase. Before anything gets a price, it is worth asking which of four things it actually is — because three of them cost nothing and the fourth is the only one that has to be budgeted.

Own

Already yours, in storage or coming with you.

Inherited

Staying with the property. Worth confirming in writing rather than assuming from a viewing.

Borrow or hire

Enough to cover the first few weeks while you choose properly.

Buy

New or second-hand. The only group that belongs in a budget.

Delivery and fitting

The two things most likely to go wrong on the first night are not budget decisions. They are dates, and they are usually set weeks earlier by someone else.

• Order the bed early

  Beds and mattresses are frequently the longest lead time in the list, and the hardest thing to improvise for more than a night or two. Order before you have a completion date if the return terms allow it; check the terms first.

• Delivery is not fitting

  A washing machine may need plumbing in, and a delivery slot is not a fitting slot. Check whether installation, connection and removal of the old appliance are included, or whether they are three separate bookings.

• Measure the route in

  Measure the route in, not just the room: doorways, stair turns, lifts and parking. A sofa that fits the living room and not the stairwell is still a sofa you cannot use.

• Keys come first

  Nothing can be delivered to a property you do not have keys to yet. Keep the first-night items portable enough to carry in yourself.

Open it as a plan

The list above is the useful part, and it works on paper. If you would rather keep it on your phone — with each line carrying its own price, priority, notes and deadline — the iPhone app ships a First home template that starts you with a flat 10-item checklist instead of an empty project.

1. 1Add a project
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   In the app, tap the + control in the centre of the tab bar. Its accessibility label is “Add a project”.

2. 2Start from a template
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   The “New project” sheet opens. Use the “Start from a template” row rather than typing a name into an empty project.

3. 3Pick First home
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   Choose the “First home” chip. The sheet says how many starter items it will add and pre-fills the project name, which you can edit here.

4. 4Create project
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   Tap “Create project”. The project opens with its checklist already written, and every line is yours to rename, delete or re-prioritise.

The project name arrives pre-filled as First home essentials and is yours to change before or after you create it. The checklist is a starting point in the same way: rename a line, delete one you do not need, or add the thing your particular property turned out to want.