askchapo

I love me some household gadgets, but the one thing that (to me anyway) makes a place feel more lived in is "stuff". What I mean by this is things that fill in empty space. A coffee table book, art on the wall, a guitar case in the corner, a hanging plant, etc. Just stuff. It doesn't have to be nice stuff, or fancy stuff, it just has to be stuff you like looking at. Little tokens of things. Don't go out and buy a bunch of stuff all at once but honestly go find like a flea market or a local art shop or just pick up something kitchy from a coffee shop or whatever, I don't know what you've got around you. Just grab something, anything that has literally no value whatsoever except "I like to look at this thing." And then put that thing somewhere. And then once in a while go do that again. Eventually you've got stuff everywhere and it's all stuff you like looking at and other people like seeing. I'm not saying to cover your house in kitch or clutter or anything but you can always tell a lot about someone by the "stuff" they have. You see people's homes that have nice furniture and things but plain white walls and nothing on any of the furniture and it just looks weird and empty and sterile. Not for me.

In terms of like, more practical things? Definitely a laundry key, I love mine. A cold brew coffee maker is just a jar with a spigot on the bottom and a filter...I also love mine but don't get anything too fancy there. I also love my rice cooker if you eat a lot of rice highly recommend, again it doesn't need to be fancy. I'd buy the space heater once you know you need it, maybe your place is well insulated and you don't need it or maybe not.

My one major piece of advice for everyone moving in anywhere is ALWAYS BUY A PLUNGER BEFORE YOU NEED A PLUNGER. It's much nicer to have one on hand when the toilet starts to overflow instead of needing to go out and get one after it has already made a giant fucking mess everywhere. I think this advice applies to lots of things though. It's nice to have spares of stuff that is like critical. Have an extra towel, an extra set of sheets, things like that, just in case something goes wrong in the laundry or something like that.

Are you renting or did you buy something?

Anyway I have lots of opinions on this apparently so hopefully this was helpful.