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Never shared an apartment...what do we need?

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firstbase32

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Hey guys my fiancee and I have lived in dorms since we are in college for the past couple of years and are getting married in May and will move into an apartment of our own...she asked me to come to you guys and ask you what are the little things that we''ll forget that we will need...she wants to start buying some of the little things so that way when we get married we don''t have to go out and buy a ton of stuff....she said people stated like window cleaner, disinfectant wipes...stuff like that.....so fire away anything you guys think will be something most people forget to get........thanks!
 

sumbride

Ideal_Rock
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I wouldn''t buy anything specific until you know what your apartment will be like. Case in point... I thought my first apartment was going to have hardwood floors and ended up with carpet. The floor sweeper thing I bought was completely useless... I needed a real vacuum cleaner.

Use your registry for a vacuum cleaner, towels, sheets, etc... Will you be having any showers? That''s a great time for people to give you laundry baskets full of cleaners and such... there''s no sense buying all that if you don''t have anywhere to store it right now.

The real things you need for an apartment are best left to your own discovery.
 

firstbase32

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yea we''ve registered at a few different places like Wal-mart, Bed Bath and Beyond, and Kohl''s....i tried telling her that people will buy that stuff for us and give it to her at her showers or they will give us gift cards to the places we registered at and we can get the stuff we need then...but she''s convinced we should start buying paper towel and stuff like that now....the wedding is 3 months from tomorrow
 

sumbride

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Sounds like she''s got a bout of "nervous nesting". I''ve done that too. She doesn''t NEED to buy anything for the apartment now, but maybe she feels like she needs to so that she''ll feel like she''s making progress on it. All I can say is a bale of paper towels makes a lousy coffee table. Maybe she should try to find some furniture or something like that? Do you have any being given to you or will you have to buy new? If she can find an old coffee table or dresser that she likes, maybe she can focus on painting or refinishing it or something so she''ll feel like she''s doing something.
 

FacetFire

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Bath mats...SO necessary, and often forgotten. :)
 

Fancy605

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Get some Mr. Clean magic erasers to try out. =)

Actually, the first time I went out shopping for cleaning supplies for my first appartment with my room mate, we spent what we thought was a ridiculous amount of money on things like tub and toilet cleaner, kitchen cleaner, trash bags, etc. It was almost painful to spend so much on stuff we had to have that just wasn''t that much fun to use... But once we had everything, it got a little less depressing to buy cleaning supplies because you only have to replace a few items each month rather than restocking every time.

oh, PS, you''re going to need a garbage can. But of course you''ll want to wait to see your space before you buy that.
 

sumbride

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Date: 2/11/2007 3:53:38 PM
Author: FacetFire
Bath mats...SO necessary, and often forgotten. :)

True, but how big is the bathroom?
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what color is the tile? If buy blue bathmats and your tile is a hideous shade of pink (it happens!) you''ll have to replace them. these are all things to check first.

I think the thing most forgotten when preparing for a new apartment is to wait and see how big the new apartment is before buying stuff.
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firstbase32

Shiny_Rock
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366
the best thing is...here dad is an assistant manager of a furniture store...so he''s got like a leather couch and a matching love seat....a book shelf...a coffee table..and he''s working on getting us a bed....so all of that stuff is going to be a great wedding gift from her parents :) well the best gift of all being her of course :)
 

JulieN

Super_Ideal_Rock
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Clorox bleach wipes.

Knives, utensils, cookware, cuttingboard. Definitely bath mats/towels. It's not a big deal, you can always run to the nearest grocery store.

Lamps!
 

Blenheim

Ideal_Rock
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Feb 27, 2006
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Hey, we have the same wedding date!

Plastic shower curtain liner. You can add a fabric one over it after you decide how to decorate the bathroom, but FI and I couldn''t take a shower for the first day or two after we moved into our apartment because our bathroom didn''t come with one. Even if yours does come with one, I''m a little skeeved out by them and would want a new one -- I read somewhere that they generally have a lot of germs and mold on them.

Paper towels and some sort of cleaner. Dish soap.

If you''re into cooking, you''ll probably want to stock basics in the kitchen when you get there. Flour, sugar, spices you often use, coffee, tea, canned tomatoes, etc.
 

poptart

Brilliant_Rock
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May 23, 2006
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Get a little bit more kitchen stuff (as in groceries and pans) than you think you will need. I can''t grocery shop without DH because I never know what to get... but I have noticed that we end up getting more food than I think we need but it really is a good amount. I only lived in a dorm before, too so I understand your FI''s fears. Make sure that you have furniture that will really last. Don''t bother getting a cheap futon if you don''t need it because it won''t last anyway (yea... ours broke really early). Get more plates than you will think you need because you can''t really ever have enough and you''ll probably break some along the way. Target has some pretty patterns right now. You will probably want a real dresser, too. I know it sounds obvious, but we got this little mini dresser and it just doesn''t cut it so now we have to spend more money getting a good one. You can also get some cheap dinner tables at Wal-Mart, by the way. Lastly, make sure you know exactly what you are allowed to do with your apartment, i.e. hang curtains, pictures, paint, etc. because unless you have stuff on the wall the place will look pretty bare. Sorry this is so long! We just moved into our apartment less than a year ago, and these are things I wish people had told me.

*M*
 

Mara

Super_Ideal_Rock
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oh my gosh what do you need? i can't even start to list it all....it took me like 10 years after college to feel like i wasn't constantly running out to get something at the store...so i really would just focus on getting into the apt when it happens and buying what you really NEED right then when it happens. it will all come over time. it's so hard to 'predict' what you will need when you first get in gthere. i'd play it by

if she feels like nesting, then maybe she can start buying some cute things like picture frames, soaps or candles, things that you don't really need but will make her feel good, etc. when we bought our house a few years ago, we basically had all the necessities based on many years of being out on our own, but i focused on the bathrooms, i was so excited to have three of them....so i ended up buying a bunch of stuff to deck out our bathrooms even down to things like 'bath glass'...the day we moved in nothing was setup but the bathrooms sure looked awesome! hehe.

whatever else, have fun with it.

oh and the total first apartment staple? a papasan!!!!
 

rainbowtrout

Ideal_Rock
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Dec 2, 2005
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sheets, pillows, toilet paper, bathmat, a pot and a knife+cutting board. everything else you can buy when you know what you need..
 

sarie_j

Shiny_Rock
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Jan 15, 2007
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130
You need so many little things you can''t even begin to list them, and as someone else mentioned it may take years before you really have everything you think is necessary, however here are the three things I forgot when I had my very first apartment -- Garbage Cans, A Can Opener, and Salt/Pepper

I have been where she is though, all you can do is tell her to relax (as long as that doesn''t infuriate her like it used to do me) -- If nothing else let her buy some paper towels, that is most likely not something she will get at a shower and of course better that than the blue bath mat in the pink and green bathroom that you might wind up with.
 

Mara

Super_Ideal_Rock
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oh and if you are talking about just getting in there ''the day of'' what do you need, i''d bring cleaning supplies, toilet paper, paper towels, soap, hand towels, and bottled water. oh and a phone so you can call for take-out. hehe.
 

eks6426

Ideal_Rock
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Nov 19, 2004
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I don''t think I would buy much until after your showers. You should get a lot of the basics that you will need then. Someone may even get you a basket with cleaning supplies etc. I would make a list of basic housekeeping stuff and check off the things you get from the showers and go from there. You should be able to find a basic "provisioning" list on the internet to give you some ideas.
 

monarch64

Super_Ideal_Rock
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Date: 2/11/2007 10:05:38 PM
Author: Blenheim
Hey, we have the same wedding date!

Plastic shower curtain liner. You can add a fabric one over it after you decide how to decorate the bathroom, but FI and I couldn''t take a shower for the first day or two after we moved into our apartment because our bathroom didn''t come with one. Even if yours does come with one, I''m a little skeeved out by them and would want a new one -- I read somewhere that they generally have a lot of germs and mold on them.

Paper towels and some sort of cleaner. Dish soap.

If you''re into cooking, you''ll probably want to stock basics in the kitchen when you get there. Flour, sugar, spices you often use, coffee, tea, canned tomatoes, etc.
OMG, to me that is the most important thing you could possibly buy ahead of time. and shower hooks, just in case the last tenants didn''t leave any behind. At the end of a long day of moving, all you want to do is take a nice hot shower, and guess what? You can''t do it without flooding the bathroom unless you have a shower curtain liner!
 
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