Your First 30 Days in Sober Living: What to Expect

Before move-in day

Pack light: photo ID, two weeks of clothes and work boots, toiletries, a phone and charger, and any medications in their original bottles. The house provides the bed, linens, cookware and cleaning supplies.

On move-in day you'll take a drug screen, sign your resident agreement, make your first payment, and get your bed. The house manager walks you through the rules and your chores.

Week 1: learn the house

• Meet every man in the house and learn the chore rotation.
• Find your meetings. Aim for at least three a week from the start.
• Set up or confirm IOP, counseling and prescriptions if you have them.
• Keep the earlier Phase 1 curfew and check in with the house manager.

Weeks 2 and 3: get to work

The biggest job in the first month is finding your daily structure: a job, school, volunteer hours or IOP. At Merit you need one of those within 30 days. Use the house: other residents often know who's hiring.

Get a sponsor or a recovery coach if you don't have one. Show up to the weekly house meeting and speak up.

Week 4: prove the basics

By the end of the first month you should be working or in IOP, paying rent on time, passing random tests, doing your chores and keeping curfew. That's the Foundation phase. Keep it up and you move to Build, with the standard curfew and more freedom. Nobody moves up on time served alone.

What gets men in trouble early

• Skipping meetings once work starts.
• Old friends and old places.
• Letting rent slide.
• Keeping problems to yourself instead of bringing them to the house.

Using in the house means leaving the house. If that happens, the house will help you get to detox or treatment and talk about a path back.

Published September 30, 2026 by Merit Sober Living. This guide is general information, not legal, medical or financial advice.