First thirty days · layer one

First night

The truck is “on the way.” That sentence means the bed is not in the house. Neighbors can see in. There is no shower curtain and nothing on the towel bar.

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House keys alone on an empty kitchen island — Keys on the island. Everything else is still on a truck.

Sleep before the truck arrives

Raised air mattress in an empty room at dusk with paper shades — Raised, pump already in the bed. Not a pad on cold subfloor.

Volume sits on raised queen air beds with the pump built in. Intex’s high-rise Dura-Beam queen keeps landing at the top of that pile. Twin is cheaper. Two people will hate you for it. Put a protector on it. Air beds sweat.

View raised queen air beds

Cover the windows before you dress them

Paper shades you cut with scissors. Frost film on sliders that face a sidewalk. Measure the glass, not the trim. Multi-pack. One window is never the only window.

Temporary paper shades Frost film

Shower, then something to dry off with

Empty hall bath with liner, toilet past the sink, towel bar on the opposite wall — A liner with no towels is only half a bathroom.

Weighted liner so the first shower does not flood the bath. Then a four-pack of cotton bath towels — Utopia and Tens are the packs that already move by the thousands. Not a spa set. Two for tonight, two for the person who shows up unannounced.

Shower liner note 4-pack bath towels

The rest of night one

Empty remote, flashlight, and a light bulb on a bare floor — The remote is already dead. The house was staged with no batteries.

Protector and a cheap sheet set. Tall kitchen bags. Toilet paper. Soft-white bulbs. Paper plates if first dinner is the floor picnic.

Protector Sheets Trash bags Bulbs Toilet paper

Nov – Feb

Blackout paper, not light-filter. Extra sheets. Dark comes early.

Mar – May

Film on the slider first. Ant bait is week one, but the first warm night is when the line shows up.

Jun – Aug

Raised bed, not a pad on hot slab. A bottle that holds ice.

Sep – Oct

Same stack. Add hangers before work clothes come out of bags on Sunday.

Next layer: first week →