Packing

Your Travel Nurse Home

You now have the keys to your travel nurse home for the next 13 weeks.  Now it is time to make it feel like home!

You should have completed the checklist and confirmed the housing is satisfactory.

Hopefully, you have a few days to get settled in before starting work. If you have taken our advice on packing, you won’t have a lot of unpacking to do.  Everyone has their own process for settling into a new travel nurse home.  Most nurses choose to do some combination of unpacking, purchasing groceries, and getting familiar with their surroundings. What order you choose to do these things is up to you!

Here are a few things to keep in mind as you settle into your new home as a travel nurse:

• Take note of anything that might need maintenance.  Although you have (hopefully) already completed a checklist inspection, some things might be found during the unpacking process.
• If any of the furniture is in disrepair, note it and notify the appropriate person.  Sometimes this is the leasing company and other times, furniture is arranged separately through your company.
• Make sure that all locks and keys work.  Check your mailbox, community areas, and the apartment door(s) and window(s).

A few more items to complete:

Organize a grocery list:

• Condiments
• Staples like flour, sugar, salt, pepper, spices
• Coffee and filters
• Paper products
• Trash bags and food storage bags

Remember, as you are setting up your new home, as a travel nurse, you are only in the location for a short while. Some items may last longer than you’d think, so don’t buy large quantities of much up front!

Make your apartment a ‘home’

For cheap home items, try places like Goodwill or Dollar Tree. If your rental is from a site like Furnished Finder, you will probably have more decorations and homey touches. However, if you simply rent an apartment and furniture from a corporate company, you might not have many extras when you get there.

Here are a few cheap items you could grab to help make your travel nurse home feel more comfortable:

• Candles or small decorative items
• Seasonal Items
  • Outdoor furniture/chairs (especially nice if you have a patio)
  • Holiday decorations (Dollar Tree has surprisingly great options!)
• Large items that you may not carry with you
  • Broom and Dustpan
  • Trash Containers
  • Large bowls/storage containers
  • Snow Shovel (depending on the location)

Is there something that you, as an experienced travel nurse, have on your ‘settling in’ list?  Is there an item that you always forget?  Mine is salt and pepper!  I always need it, yet it’s the one thing that I consistently forget to pick up on my initial shopping trip. (or I did until I developed a Move-In shopping list!)