Moving in: the first 72 hours

The short route from the day before the keys to the third night: what to check before you unpack, what has to be on, and what can wait. It works on a phone with no setup.

Before the keys

1. Change your address with USPS. Use usps.com (a $1.25 identity check by card) or a post office. USPS says to allow at least 7 to 10 business days for it to take effect, so do it two weeks ahead if you can. Look-alike sites charge more; type the address yourself. Utilities and accounts
2. Check which services are yours. The lease says which utilities the rent includes. For each one that is yours (often electricity, sometimes gas and internet), contact the provider and ask for service to start on the key day. Write the provider, the start date and whose name it is in on the accounts sheet.
3. Pack a first-night box. Bedding, a towel, toilet paper, soap, a phone charger, a flashlight, any medicines, and a few days of what the household needs. It travels with you, not in the truck. First night and safety

The key day, before you unpack

1. Walk every room and photograph it. Before a single box comes in, photograph anything worn, stained, broken or missing, and take a short video of each room. Try every faucet, the toilet, the lights, the outlets you can, the windows, the locks and the appliances. UW Extension's Rent Smart checklist adds: have the landlord or a witness sign the sheet, and keep a copy. Lease and move-in record
2. Fill the condition sheet. Room by room on the move-in record: what you saw, where and how big. Count the keys you received and ask who else has one.
3. Find the safety systems. Press the test button on every smoke alarm. If the home has a gas stove, a fuel-burning furnace or water heater, a fireplace or an attached garage, find the carbon monoxide (CO) alarm. Find the main water shutoff and the breaker panel. Walk two ways out of the bedroom and the main room. Write all of it on the home facts sheet. First night and safety
4. Thermometers in the fridge and freezer. Read them the next day: FSIS says 40°F or below in the refrigerator and 0°F or below in the freezer. A working kitchen

Days 1 to 3

1. Send the condition sheet. Send it to the landlord with the photos, keep a copy, and write the date on the sheet. This manual's default is within three days; your lease or your state may set a deadline (Massachusetts and Minnesota are examples in Lease and move-in record).
2. Secure the router. On the day it is installed, change the default admin password and the network name, and use WPA3 or WPA2 (FTC). Utilities and accounts
3. First-week essentials. Open the essentials list, delete what you have, and mark the rest have, borrow, secondhand or buy. Before a used mattress, couch or chair comes inside, check it for bed bugs. Essentials in phases

What can wait

Furniture beyond a bed and somewhere to sit, storage, a full kitchen, a cleaning routine, a household agreement and the emergency kit all belong to the first weeks, not the first nights. The phased plan dates each one from your key date once you fill in setup.