Like anything else, there are so many pros and cons to apartment living. It’s great having this transitional space where you aren’t living at home with your family and don’t have a house of your own yet. On the other hand, you have this smaller living space that you don’t own and therefore you need to be more careful with keeping it in pristine condition as a renter. Not to mention the joys of trying to move things up and down what feels like a thousand flights of stairs. Whether this is your first apartment or you’ve been renting for years, here are some tips for apartment living:
Conserve Energy and Save $$$
In most apartments, you will have to pay additional fees for utilities such as water, electricity, cable, internet, gas and even trash! With so many extra costs being added on, you want to do everything in your power to be as conservative with your energy usage as possible. Of course, there are the obvious things you can do like unplugging appliances and turning off lights as you leave your apartment during the day, but here are a few other tips:
Keep your heating/AC at a reasonable level
I generally keep my apartment at average temperature between 70 and 80 degrees throughout the year while I’m inside. When my roommates are out of town and I know I will be out of the house for a longer period of time, I turn the temperature to about 10 notches away from the outside temperature. This avoids shutting the power off completely and returning to an uncomfortable temperature; if done regularly, it will save you a large amount of money. If I’m going to be gone for a full day or more, I will turn the air off completely.
Avoid doing small loads of dishes or laundry
If there are only a few things that need to be cleaned, either wait until you can clean more things together or opt for hand washing.
Use reusable cloths
Paper towels will build up in your trash and can get pretty costly as you continue to buy them. Towels or other reusable cloth materials can be used with a cleaning solution to wipe down countertops or any other area that needs to be cleaned. Then just toss them in with the rest of your laundry for reuse. I like to recycle old socks and t-shirts by turning them into cleaning cloths, rather than throwing them away.
Think about what you really need
If your apartment charges for trash pick up, is it mandatory? Otherwise, you may want to consider just taking the extra time to carry your trash to the dumpster yourself and cut out that monthly fee completely. If you don’t watch that much TV or have an online streaming service that you prefer, that’s another subscription that you could opt out of.
Take Control of the Stairs
Even if your apartment has elevators, chances are they take forever. Whether you live on the second floor or the 19th floor, living in an apartment tends to mean living with stairs.
- When going grocery shopping, the idea of leaving items downstairs in my car and having to make multiple trips is just not an option. Pack large and sturdy reusable bags in the trunk of your car. Whenever you need to carry anything in from your car, you can pack it in these large bags for a simpler delivery.
- Get a helping hand when you need to move new furniture or appliances into your apartment. Moving Helpers™ are affordable expert movers who can handle the stairs when you can’t or maybe just don’t want to.
Homier Apartment Living
Even though you may not be living in an apartment forever, you want it to feel like home while you do.
- Make use of adhesive hooks or tape. These can be used for putting up artwork as well as creating space to organize other belongings that may not appear to fit otherwise. These will keep your walls from being damaged by nails or drills that may prevent you from getting your deposit back.
- Be cheap! Add life and color to your apartment with simple things like fake flowers and decorative pillows.
- Keep it clean. Depending on how often you have guests over or how quickly messes seem to build up in your apartment, designate a regular time for yourself to do those chores you need to do around the house. This may vary between different tasks. Laundry and dishes will need to be done more frequently than mopping or other larger tasks. This will also make things so much easier when it comes time to move out.
(via flickr cc: paulcross) (via flickr cc: lelik)
Do you have any tips for apartment living? Share them in the comments below!
