Welcome to Gaia! ::

I am moving off campus for the first time in my college career and I'm super excited. I've been searching the net for tips and info about what could help me and my first apartment experience. The place pays for water and cable and it's small but that's fine since I'll be living alone. I will graduate in the fall and I am not going to buy much furniture or decorate the place much (only a bed, sofa, and a couple of folding tables).

What are your guys' experience with your first apartment? And feel free to offer tips; I could really use them.

I've had three apartments in the last four years, and only one of those was a one-bedroom deal, so here's my advice:

Lock your doors and windows.
I came from a small hometown where we leave our doors unlocked at night to a city with a crime rate that's highest around my campus. I quickly got into the habit of locking my doors and windows every time I leave, and sometimes while I'm home but upstairs instead of downstairs. I read in my school paper that nationwide 80% of theft on off-campus areas happens because renters just leave a back door or front door unlocked while they go to run an errand, and thieves just let themselves in, grab electronics/valuables, and get out quickly. Take your home seriously enough to lock up each time you leave, and you'll prevent a LOT of damage to your stuff.

Get renter's insurance.
Something might happen to your stuff anyway.
It's between $15 and $30 a month (mine's $25, and I've got over $5,000 of coverage) and covers your stuff if it gets stolen or ruined by a fire/flood in your building/house. Your landlord is in no way responsible for your personal items, and if you don't insure them, you'll have nothing to wear or surf the net on when they've burnt to a crisp or been stolen by fake "moving men" someone esle let into your building. This actually happened to one of my old roommates, and luckily she was insured, so she got a new computer and tv, but if she hadn't been, she'd have been SOL.

Take dated photos and document preious tenants' damage.
BEFORE you begin moving your things in, make sure you take a good hour to scan your apartment for scuffs on the walls/baseboards, scratches in the hardwood floors, stains on the carpet, tiles falling off the wall in the bathroom, etc. and take pictures and write down everything you see. Even the smallest detail, because the security deposit you gave your landlord will be used after your lease is up to "fix" the damages you cause to the apartment, and if you don't properly document damage that was already there when you moved in, you WILL have to pay for it, which means a smaller deposit returned to you, or none at all. Make sure your photos have a date of when they were taken in the corner and make a copy of the write-up and photos for yourself and one for your landlord. This way you get as much money back as you can.

Clean your apartment.
This may sound like a no brainer, but you're responsible for cleaning top to bottom your apartment before you move out. Some landlords even require that you have your carpets professionally cleaned or they'll take it out of your deposit. Even if your carpets are pristine, trust me, they like to money grub. So take necessary precautions like not drinking red wine in a room with white carpet or just vacuuming once a week to keep up with it. Cleaning your windows and dusting once or twice a month will help immensely in keeping your last few days of the lease from being hectic with all the packing/cleaning you have to do to get your deposit back. Trust me. PLUS if you just leave dishes around and don't clean often, you'll attract bugs like ants and *cringe* roaches, which your landlord will not hesitate to blame on you if your neighbors are even a little bit cleaner than you. My poor neighbor had to shell out $200 for her roach problem because her roommate was disgusting with never washing dishes or cleaning.

Only use utilities when you need to use utilities.
Again, sounds like a no brainer, but when you get that first electric/gas bill in the mail, you'll rethink leaving the light in the hallway on while you sleep or taking a 45 minute 120 degree shower. Only use lights when you're in the room with them. Only turn the air conditioning on when it's absolutely unbearable to leave windows open (fresh air is better anyway!) and have a couple fans on to move air through the house/apartment. Only turn on the heat when the temperature outside drops below 50 degrees (keeps the pipes from freezing). Buy door runners and clear plastic window insulation to keep more heat inside and heating bills down. Bundle up under blankets when you're watching TV or sleeping instead of cranking the heat to 85 degrees and wandering around your place in a bikini. It costs a lot more money than you'll want to pay, trust me. As cool as it sounds.

Um...I think that's it? If you have any questions, just let me know. I hope it helped. biggrin

you can also find kewl things for your house from the salvation army, goodwill, and whatever thrift stores you have around where you live. i bought most of my dishes there. they were like 25 cents each and they were having a memorial day sale where everything was 30% off on top of that. they were really nice plates and saucers. almost new. no chips or cracks. also furniture can be a good find there as well.