Pack a first-week kitchen box

Fill one box with the pan, mugs, soap, and towels you will want before the rest is unpacked.

Choose one sturdy box and mark it OPEN FIRST on two sides, in the same thick marker you use for the room labels. This box is the one you can live out of before the rest is unpacked. Put in a pan, a knife, mugs, soap, towels, a sponge, and any medicine you take daily. Add a roll of paper towels and a trash bag. The first night fails on small things, not on furniture.

Tape a short list to the top so you do not reopen the box to check what you packed. If it is not on the list, it is not in the box. That rule keeps you from slicing the tape six times. Pack the box the day before, when you can still grab a missing mug from the cupboard. A box packed at midnight is how the can opener stays in a random kitchen box on the truck.

Load that box in your own car, not in the back of the truck. If the truck is late, you can still cook and wash. Set it on the seat or in the trunk where it will not be grabbed by a helper who is trying to be useful. Tell the people loading: this one stays. The closing folder and your identification can sit beside it. You are building the car as the place the essentials live.

At the new place, open this box first and only this box until you have washed, eaten, and found the medicine. Then start on the room labels. If you packed a second open-first box for the bath, mark it the same way and keep it in the car too. Two labeled boxes you can carry are a plan. A dozen boxes marked open me first are the same as none. The list on the lid is what makes this one different.

What to do

1. Pack one sturdy box with a pan, a knife, mugs, soap, towels, and daily medicine.
2. Tape a list to the lid and mark OPEN FIRST on two sides.
3. Carry the box in your car, and tell the loaders it stays there.
4. Open that box first, and leave the other boxes until you have used it.