Reference
Glossary
Plain-language definitions of the terms this manual uses, from lease and deposit to GFCI and contact time.
Each term links the chapter where it is first explained. Where a definition comes from an agency (CDC's cleaning terms, the Maryland insurance regulator's condo terms, FMCSA's mover terms), the chapter names the source. Terms tied to one state are labelled as that state's example.
| Term | Meaning | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 30-day review | One sitting about a month after the keys to read each record and write what changes. | Your household binder |
| 90-day review | The same at about day 90, focused on the routine, storage and chore balance. | Your household binder |
| ABC | The multipurpose extinguisher label USFA says covers most home fires. | First night and safety |
| Account holder | The person whose name is on a service account. | Utilities and accounts |
| Actual cash value | Pays an item's value at the time of loss, after depreciation, minus the deductible. | Utilities and accounts |
| Alterations | Changes a tenant makes to the home, such as paint, nails or wall anchors. | Lease and move-in record |
| Anchor | A strap or bracket kit that ties a piece of furniture or a TV to the wall. | Limited space |
| Anti-tip bracket | A metal bracket fixed to the floor or wall that holds a free-standing range's back leg so it does not tip forward. | A working kitchen |
| Appliance thermometer | A small thermometer that sits inside a refrigerator or freezer and reads the air temperature there. | A working kitchen |
| Automaticity | How automatic a behavior has become (the habit study's measure). | Your household binder |
| Bed bug | A small, flat insect that feeds on blood and hides in seams and cracks of beds and furniture. | Essentials in phases |
| Bed bugs | Small blood-feeding insects that hide in mattresses, furniture and cracks and travel on furniture, bedding and clothing. | Cleaning safely |
| Breaker panel | The metal box where the home's electricity divides into circuits. | First night and safety |
| Carbon monoxide (CO) | A gas with no color or smell produced by burning fuel. | First night and safety |
| Care label | The permanent label in a garment that gives its washing or drycleaning instructions, required by the FTC's Care Labeling Rule. | Weekly routines |
| Change of address | The request that tells USPS to send your mail to the new address. | Utilities and accounts |
| Chloramine | A harmful gas released when bleach and ammonia are mixed. | Cleaning safely |
| Chore rotation | Chores that move between people on a set schedule. | Sharing a home |
| Circuit breaker | A switch that opens its circuit when demand exceeds a safe level. | First night and safety |
| Cleaning | Removing most germs, dirt and impurities with soap or detergent, water and scrubbing (CDC). | Cleaning safely |
| Clutter | Things kept with no place and no use (as MSU Extension's method treats it). | Limited space |
| CO alarm | A device that senses carbon monoxide and sounds. | First night and safety |
| Common elements | The parts of a condo building owned by all owners through the association (roof, hallways, structure, shared pipes). | Repairs and requests |
| Common share | The part of a shared cost that pays for shared space, split equally; the household sets it (calculator default 50%, this manual's own). | Sharing a home |
| Condensation | Water droplets forming on windows, pipes or cold walls, which can signal high humidity. | Cleaning safely |
| Condition record | A dated description of the home's condition at move-in, with photos. | Lease and move-in record |
| Contact time | How long a surface has to stay wet with a product for it to work as its label claims. | Cleaning safely |
| Cross-contamination | The spread of bacteria from one food or surface to another, such as from raw meat to a salad by way of a board. | A working kitchen |
| Danger zone | The range between 40°F and 140°F, where FSIS says bacteria grow fastest. | A working kitchen |
| Deductible | The part of a covered loss you pay before the policy pays. | Utilities and accounts |
| Disinfecting | Killing most germs on a surface (CDC). | Cleaning safely |
| Dye test | Food coloring in the toilet tank to find a tank-to-bowl leak. | Repairs and requests |
| Emergency kit | A larger store of water, food and supplies for a storm or outage (Ready.gov). | First night and safety |
| Emergency repair | A problem that threatens health, safety or the building now; the lease and state rules define it. | Repairs and requests |
| Encasement | A zippered cover that closes around a whole mattress or box spring. | Essentials in phases |
| Endorsement | A change added to an insurance policy. | Utilities and accounts |
| Entry notice | The notice a landlord gives before entering the home. | Lease and move-in record |
| EPA registration number | The "EPA Reg. No." on a registered sanitizer or disinfectant; a product without one is a cleaner. | Cleaning safely |
| Equal split | The total divided by the number of people. | Sharing a home |
| Escape plan | A household's agreed way out in a fire: two exits from every room, an outside meeting place, and practice. | First night and safety |
| Essentials | The things a household needs for daily life in its home; this manual's working term, not a standard list. | Essentials in phases |
| Exclusions | What a policy does not cover. | Utilities and accounts |
| Export (binder file) | A file with the setup, sheets, progress and notes, which imports only into this manual. | Your household binder |
| Fake listing | A listing for a place that is not for rent or does not exist. | Lease and move-in record |
| Fire extinguisher | A pressurized container that sprays an agent onto a small fire. | First night and safety |
| First-aid kit | A household kit for small injuries; this manual uses the Red Cross list. | First night and safety |
| First-night box | One box, packed last and opened first, with what the household needs for the first night and morning (our convention). | First night and safety |
| Flange plunger | A plunger with a soft sleeve that fits a toilet's drain opening. | Repairs and requests |
| Flapper | The rubber seal at the bottom of a toilet tank. | Repairs and requests |
| Full value protection | The interstate mover valuation that makes the mover responsible for replacement value (the default). | Utilities and accounts |
| GFCI (ground-fault circuit interrupter) | An outlet with Test and Reset buttons that cuts power when current leaks to ground; tested monthly. | Weekly routines |
| Hard-wired alarm | An alarm wired into the home's electrical system, with a backup battery. | First night and safety |
| High-touch surfaces | Surfaces many hands touch, such as light switches, doorknobs, faucet handles and counters. | Cleaning safely |
| Hijacked listing | A real rental's photos and description reposted with a scammer's contact details. | Lease and move-in record |
| HO-6 | A condo owner's policy for the unit's interior, belongings and liability inside the unit. | Utilities and accounts |
| Household | The people who live in one home and share its costs, space and work. | Your first-home plan |
| Household agreement | A short written record of how the people in a home share money, space and work; not a legal contract. | Sharing a home |
| Household binder | All this manual's sheets together, the household's record of what it found, set up, agreed and asked for. | Your first-home plan |
| Income-proportional split | Each person pays the total times their income divided by everyone's incomes. | Sharing a home |
| Integrated pest management (IPM) | An approach that combines methods with an emphasis on preventing pest damage, at the least hazard to people, property and the environment (EPA). | Cleaning safely |
| Interconnected alarms | A set of alarms in which one sounding makes all of them sound. | First night and safety |
| Interstate move | A move in which goods cross a state line with a mover involved at any point (FMCSA). | Utilities and accounts |
| Ionization alarm | A smoke alarm type NFPA says responds faster to flaming fires. | First night and safety |
| Joint lease | One lease signed by several tenants. | Lease and move-in record |
| Key date | The day you get the keys (or move in, if earlier); this manual counts it as day 0. | Your first-home plan |
| Landlord | The owner who rents the home out. | Lease and move-in record |
| Lead-based paint disclosure | The federal rule that landlords and sellers of most pre-1978 housing give the EPA pamphlet, known information, records and a warning statement before signing. | Lease and move-in record |
| Lease | The contract between tenant and landlord setting the rent, the term and who does what. | Lease and move-in record |
| Liability coverage | Covers claims over injury to others or damage to their property, with a legal defense. | Utilities and accounts |
| Lifeline | The FCC's phone or internet discount for eligible households. | Utilities and accounts |
| LIHEAP | The federally funded Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, run through local programs. | Utilities and accounts |
| Loss of use | Pays extra living costs when a covered loss makes the home unlivable for a time. | Utilities and accounts |
| Lumens | The measure of a bulb's brightness (ENERGY STAR). | Essentials in phases |
| Mail forwarding | The USPS service that redirects mail after a change of address (12 months standard). | Utilities and accounts |
| Main breaker | The breaker that turns off the whole panel. | Repairs and requests |
| Main water shutoff | The valve that stops all water into the home. | First night and safety |
| Manufacture date | The date printed on a smoke alarm, from which its 10-year replacement is counted. | Your household binder |
| Master policy | The condo association's policy for common areas, exterior and structure. | Utilities and accounts |
| Mediation | A meeting where a neutral person helps people in a dispute reach their own agreement; the mediator does not decide. | Sharing a home |
| Meeting place | The agreed spot in front of the home where everyone gathers after getting out. | First night and safety |
| Mold | A fungus that grows on damp surfaces, seen as dark spots or fuzzy patches, often with a musty smell. | Cleaning safely |
| Move-in cash | The money a move asks for before the first month's routine: rents, deposit, fees, utility deposits and setup fees, first-week essentials. | Essentials in phases |
| Move-in inspection | An inspection at the start of a tenancy; in Minnesota a tenant may request one (one state's example). | Lease and move-in record |
| Move-out inspection | A walk-through at the end of a tenancy; some states require the landlord to offer one. | Your household binder |
| Need (category) | The part of daily life an item serves (sleep, bathroom, kitchen, cleaning, laundry, light, seating and surfaces, storage, tools, safety, paperwork). | Essentials in phases |
| Notice date | The last day to tell the landlord you are leaving or renewing, counted back from the lease's end. | Your household binder |
| One-out-before-one-in | Before a new item comes into a full space, one item of the same kind leaves (MSU Extension). | Limited space |
| One-time setup cost | A first-month cost that will not recur (fees, setup purchases). | Your household binder |
| PASS | Pull the pin, Aim low, Squeeze, Sweep (USFA). | First night and safety |
| Personal property coverage | Pays to repair or replace belongings after a covered event. | Utilities and accounts |
| Phase | A window of days counted from the key date (before the keys, key day and first night, first week, first month, first season). | Your first-home plan |
| Phased plan | This manual's list of household tasks, each dated from the key date. | Your first-home plan |
| Photoelectric alarm | A smoke alarm type NFPA says responds faster to smoldering fires. | First night and safety |
| Poison Help | The national number, 1-800-222-1222, that connects to a local poison center, free and 24 hours. | Cleaning safely |
| Property manager | A person or company acting for the landlord, collecting rent and handling repairs. | Lease and move-in record |
| Provider | The company or public agency that supplies a service and bills for it. | Utilities and accounts |
| Recall | A maker's or regulator's notice that a product is unsafe and should be fixed, returned or destroyed. | Essentials in phases |
| Recurring cost | A cost that comes every month (rent, phone), circled on the CFPB tracker. | Your household binder |
| Relative humidity | The water vapor in the air compared with the most the air can hold at that temperature. | Cleaning safely |
| Released value | The no-cost mover valuation that pays no more than 60 cents a pound per article. | Utilities and accounts |
| Rent escrow | A court process some states offer in which rent is paid to the court instead of the landlord while a repair is decided. | Repairs and requests |
| Renters insurance | A policy covering a tenant's belongings and liability. | Utilities and accounts |
| Repair request | A dated, written notice to the landlord of what needs repair. | Repairs and requests |
| Replacement cost | Pays for a new item with no deduction for depreciation, minus the deductible. | Utilities and accounts |
| Router | The box that makes the home Wi-Fi network and connects it to the internet. | Utilities and accounts |
| Routine | A written list of household tasks, each with a frequency, a day or time, a person and an estimate of minutes. | Weekly routines |
| Safer Choice | A voluntary EPA label for products whose every ingredient EPA has reviewed against health and environmental criteria. | Cleaning safely |
| SaferProducts.gov | CPSC's public database of consumer reports of harm from products; reports are not CPSC findings. | Essentials in phases |
| Sanitizing | Lowering germs on a surface to levels public health codes consider safe (CDC). | Cleaning safely |
| Security deposit | Money held by the landlord against unpaid rent or damage, returned under the lease's and state's terms. | Lease and move-in record |
| Shallow containers | Low containers used so leftovers chill quickly. | A working kitchen |
| Shared purchases ledger (shared ledger) | A list of household purchases with who paid and who shares the cost. | Sharing a home |
| Smoke alarm | A device that senses smoke and sounds a loud signal in the home where it hangs. | First night and safety |
| Smoke detector | A sensor connected to a whole-building fire alarm system, without its own sounder in the home (NFPA's distinction). | First night and safety |
| Source (have, borrow, secondhand, buy) | The way an item reaches the home. | Essentials in phases |
| Statement of condition | Massachusetts's move-in form: the landlord gives it within 10 days, and the tenant has 15 days to add to it (one state's example). | Lease and move-in record |
| Storage map | A list of every place in the home that holds things, with what each holds now. | Limited space |
| Tamper-resistant outlet | An outlet with built-in shutters (CPSC). | First night and safety |
| Tenure | The terms on which you hold the home (renting, renting a room, student housing, owning, rent-free). | Your first-home plan |
| Tip-over | Furniture, a TV or an appliance falling onto a person (CPSC). | Limited space |
| Tripped (breaker) | A breaker that has switched itself off. | Repairs and requests |
| Two-hour rule | Perishable food out of refrigeration more than 2 hours (1 hour above 90°F) is thrown out. | A working kitchen |
| Utilities | The services that run a home (electricity, gas, water and sewer, trash). | Utilities and accounts |
| Walk-through | A room-by-room tour of the empty home, trying everything and photographing it. | Lease and move-in record |
| Water meter | The device that measures water use, next to which the main valve usually sits. | First night and safety |
| Weekly reset | One block of time on the same day each week for the weekly tasks and setting up the week ahead. | Weekly routines |
| Weighted split (area-weighted split) | A common share split equally plus the rest divided by bedroom area and any extra weight for private features. | Sharing a home |
| WPA3 | The newer Wi-Fi security setting the FTC recommends (WPA2 if WPA3 is not available). | Utilities and accounts |