Moving house - what do you need in the first bag you unpack?

[thereistheball]

We are moving gradually over the course of a week into a newly built flat that has never been lived in and has no kitchen. While I pack the boxes, I'm trying to think of what we want to have in the first bag/box we unpack - not the important pieces of paper so much as the practical things you would be lost without.

So far:

kettle
tea bags
UHT milk
a couple each of mugs, plates, knives, forks etc
loo roll
light bulbs

and so on. What have I missed?

tin opener
corkscrew/bottle opener
matches
torch (just in case - we didn't realise the vilage had no street lights till we actually moved it)
pen
paper

Some microwaveable food or the number of a pizza delivery place.

Tea towel, washing up liquid, cloth.

Thanks. I'd got most of those. Also with the pen and paper suggestion you've reminded me that I'll need the phone number of the electricity company too.

Corkscrew also vital (unless we get champagne :))

Thanks!

All your paperwork for the move/solicitors/estate agents etc plus all the meter readings you need to make.

Have some ID handy in case you have to go to the bank (if the mortgage gets cocked up - I've heard of it happening).

Mobile - in case your dcs are stupid enough to forget to go to the new house after school (yes, that was my ds).

Have tool kit in car (not in removal lorry - big mistake).

Telephone number of Indian takeaway (you will not want to cook after the move).

Precious photos - put them up as soon as you walk in to new place - it'll make it feel like home.

A case of red wine.

A plastic folder with a press stud for all the important bits of paper. A radio! Music while you work makes things much better

Rubber gloves (in case the previous occupants were mingers)

Yes binbags are crucial! Also the radio. Because we're doing it bit by bit it's very likely that we'll get stuck at one end wanting something that's at the other. So maybe the most important thing is a duplicate phone charger so I can have one in each place.

These are great, keep them coming.

sooz28 - the place is pristine at the moment! All we are going to do is defile it...

Bedlinen! You will be knackered and not want to rummage for your bedlinen before going to sleep.

wine and plastic cups

Definitely and facilities for making !

Handwash/soap and towel for the bathroom, cleaning stuff/cloths and biscuits to go with the tea.

Maybe step ladders?

When I move(d) I packed the kitchen stuff in s boxes and labelled them with contents and wrote a big 'A' on the ones we'd want first and a 'B' on the ones we wouldn't need for a few days or a week.
Dood labelling is key as is numbering your rooms with a post-it on the door and numbering boxes to match, as writing 'our bedroom' or 'kids room' on the box doesn't tell the people helping you to move which room it should go in, especially in your case where the rooms may all look pretty much the same.

Bed? Who said anything about a bed??

We are moving from a furnished to an unfurnished flat. Although we own plenty of furniture, it is mostly in our house which is rented out, furnished, to someone else. In another country.

For the first two weeks we will have:

• inflatable camping mattress and duvet (DD has her own bed and proper bed linen)
• camping table and chairs
• kitchen appliances only (but no dishwasher). That means no worktops, no cupboards. Though I might redeploy DD's old changing table. We will have this shelving unit though.
• no chairs or sofas apart from the camping ones above. Within 2 weeks of moving we should have inherited some sofas though.
• no TV / DVD player (do most stuff on the PC though)

Thank goodness there are some fitted cupboards and an underground storage space, or we'd have nowhere to put anything.