The Latest: May 1, 2018

Don’t get me wrong— I love New York City. The caliber of cuisine, the convenience of cabs, the irreplaceable energy of eight million pavement-pounders who are craving to shake up their industries. But after living there for years what I wanted more than designer sample sales or expertly crafted cocktails or spontaneous adventures in the city that never sleeps is, well, sleep. I was tired of the town and ready to relocate.

So you just bought your first home—congrats! Now comes the fun part: settling into your new digs by filling it with necessary items. But after you spent all that money on securing your new home, you might not want to spend any more on the boring organization and maintenance tools homeownership requires. Save your dough for nesting, and get moving-in done with these essential 12 finds from Home Depot, all under $30.

Missing Persons once famously sang “Nobody walks in LA,” but that makes me think they never lived in Los Feliz. You can spend a day picking up tchotchkes and vintage wares on Vermont or Hollywood Boulevard. You can shop at five different grocery stores of your choice (plus a Sunday farmer’s market). Use your MoviePass at not one, but two, vintage theaters.

My husband and I have our own outrageous life bucket list—big stuff like visiting all seven continents, going to a Super Bowl (him), touring Dollywood (me). Also on the list was to live in New Orleans—and after eight years of bustling city life in NYC, we drove a U-Haul filled with 800-square-feet worth of furniture along with one fat cat to the Crescent City. Check! There’s just something about New Orleans that gets to you.

More than half (57%) of new homeowners believe they could remodel an entire room without any help from a professional. Millennials are even more confident in their DIY abilities, with 64% ready to tackle a remodeling project on their own. That’s according to a Home Depot survey of 1,000 new homeowners, age 25 and up, who had purchased a home in the past year.