The First 48 Hours in a New House

Everyone plans the move and almost nobody plans the two days after it. That is a shame, because the difference between a bearable first night and a miserable one is about ninety minutes of the right work in the right order.

While the crew is still there

This window closes and does not reopen. Before anyone leaves:

• Check the inventory against what came off the truck, and note any damage on the delivery sheet before you sign it. This single step decides most insurance claims.
• Have furniture placed where you actually want it. Moving a wardrobe alone at 11 pm is a bad evening.
• Get beds assembled — this is the one thing you cannot postpone.
• Test the essentials: water, power at the main sockets, the geyser. If something is wrong, you want to know while there are people around who can help.

The first two hours after they leave

1. Make the beds. Properly, before anything else. However late it gets, the beds are done.
2. Set up one bathroom. Soap, towels, toilet paper, toothbrushes.
3. Open the kitchen survival box. Kettle, two mugs, tea. Then stop and have one.
4. Find the electrical distribution board and the main water valve. Not in an emergency at midnight — now.
5. Get the internet or a hotspot working.

That is the whole first evening. Do not try to unpack the living room. It will still be there tomorrow and you will do a worse job of it tonight.

Before you switch things on

• The fridge stands upright for a few hours before being powered. The compressor oil needs to settle; switching on immediately is how compressors fail.
• The washing machine's transit bolts come out before the first cycle. Running it with them in damages the drum suspension.
• Electronics acclimatise for two to four hours if they came out of a hot truck into an air-conditioned room, or the reverse. Internal condensation is the risk, and it is invisible.

Day two

• Kitchen properly — it is the room that makes a house function
• Children's rooms next, with their own things visible on the shelves
• Photograph the meter readings at the new address
• Walk the neighbourhood: nearest chemist, vegetable shop, ATM, clinic
• Introduce yourself to the immediate neighbours. In Dehradun this pays back quickly — the neighbourhood WhatsApp group is where you will learn the water supply timings and find a plumber.

Safety checks worth doing once

• Every lock and every key, including the terrace and the meter box
• Smoke detectors, if fitted
• The gas connection point and the regulator, once the new cylinder arrives
• Window latches and grilles, particularly on the ground floor
• Where the building's water tank is and how it is filled

What can genuinely wait

Hanging pictures. Arranging books. Deciding on the living room layout. Anything decorative. Live in the house for a week or two first — you will make better decisions once you know how the light moves and where you actually sit. The boxes marked "study" and "decor" can stay closed, and nobody is judging.