Bathroom Essentials Checklist
What every bathroom needs on day one and after, multiplied by the bathrooms you have. 25 items.
New toilet seats on day one. Soft-close toilet seats (about $35) are among the most upvoted answers in five threads, and owners treat the swap as a move-in-day job. A minority says porcelain just needs a hard scrub; the reply is that new seats are what make the house feel like yours. Skip the cheapest slow-close seats: one owner's broke within a month. (Reddit)
Day one
For the first night
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Sellers rarely leave any, and every bathroom needs a roll before the truck is unloaded.
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Every bathroom and the kitchen sink need a bottle on move day, when everyone's hands are filthy.
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Measure first: standard curtains are 72 by 72 inches, but stall showers, extra-long tubs and clawfoot tubs need other sizes.
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Pack one per person in the first-night box so nobody drip-dries after the first shower.
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More bathrooms means more hand towels than an apartment needed, including the powder room guests use.
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Keep one beside every toilet, since a single brush carried between floors rarely gets used.
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Use a flange plunger for toilets, not a flat cup plunger, and keep one by each toilet so you aren't running to another floor mid-clog.
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Put them in a first-night bag, not a box that might end up in the wrong room.
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Sellers sometimes take tension rods, and a curved rod adds elbow room in a standard tub.
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A new seat is one of the cheapest ways to make a previous owner's bathroom feel like yours; check round versus elongated before buying.
Owners say: Swap them on move-in day, not later. Get a soft-close seat; Mayfair's last, cheap no-name slow-close seats tend to break. (Reddit)
First week
The first normal week of living there
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Tile floors are slippery when wet, so choose mats with non-slip backing.
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Every bathroom needs one, and a lidded can matters in shared and guest baths.
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Restock pain relievers, allergy medicine and a thermometer, since medicine often gets tossed in packing and you won't know the nearest pharmacy yet.
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For the first few weeks you'll be finding bathrooms and stairs in an unfamiliar house in the dark.
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A catcher prevents most shower clogs, which take a snake or a plumber to clear once they form.
Owners say: TubShroom and Drain Zipper are the two owners name most. (Reddit)
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Many showers have no built-in niche, and a rust-proof caddy keeps bottles off the tub edge.
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Worth it if anyone at home is very young, older or unsteady, since an unfamiliar tub is an easy place to fall.
First month
Once you’re settled
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A barbed plastic strip or small hand auger clears hair clogs that plungers can't, without harsh chemical drain cleaners.
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Bathrooms in older houses often have pedestal sinks with no cabinet at all.
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Many bathrooms have a single towel bar, and over-door hooks add one per person without drilling tile.
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Failed plastic toilet feed lines are a classic flood story in owner threads. Braided lines are cheap insurance.
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A brittle flapper or a too-short chain is behind most toilets that refill on their own. Having a spare makes it a five-minute fix.
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One owner recommends owning two snakes: a toilet auger for toilets and a separate drain snake for sinks and tubs. They clear most temporary clogs without a plumber.
Owners say: A basic hand-crank auger (about $6 at Harbor Freight) clears what a plunger can't. (Reddit)
Later
Upgrades and nice-to-haves
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Most connect to the toilet's existing supply valve in under an hour; heated models also need an outlet nearby.
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Makes rinsing the tub and bathing kids or pets easier, and swapping one usually takes only a wrench and thread tape.
