This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Auburn chapter.
When you first start living on your own, you eventually end up Googling some odd things. You find yourself bringing up pages on pages of WikiHow articles- how to hang pictures, how to organize pots and pans, how to cook a vegetable. Everything is kind of overwhelming, but there are definitely a few essential skills you need to get your apartment in order.
- Wall Hanging Skills- Everyone knows a couple of good picture hangings help open up a room, add lots of character and bring color to an otherwise colorless space. However, Command strips only go so far. From personal experience, let me tell you it’s not fun to wake up at 3 in the morning to an artsy old window you hung up on the wall using 2 command strips and 4 tiny nails shattering on the floor. A lot of the heavier stuff you want to hang requires something special, especially if there’s not a wall stud where you want to hang it. This is where you need a drywall anchor, a matching screw, a hammer and a drill. Just drill into the wall using a bit appropriate to the size of your drywall anchor, insert the anchor into the hole you just made and hammer it the rest of the way in. Finally, screw the screw into the drywall anchor, leaving enough space for you to hang your object, and you’re done. For lighter objects, you can use a screw without the drywall anchor, a nail, or even a push pin. Now you’re on your way to a beautiful gallery wall.
- Thrift Shopping Skills- The key to decorating on a college budget is finding cute pieces for cheap, and there’s no better place to find a great deal on a decent piece than a thrift store. Most of the things that end up in thrift stores are slightly tacky, but the real key to thrift shopping is finding something with good bones. If you find a tacky picture but it has a cute frame, pictures can often be replaced with paintings or photos of your own. Knick knacks like a silly animal statue can be spray painted silver or gold to make them artsy focus pieces for a shelf. Even thrift store clothes can be easily sewn into things like chunky sweater pillows or flannel accent blankets. As with everything, practice makes perfect, so make a tradition of frequenting your local thrift stores to see the new things they put out weekly. You can even buy furniture at thrift stores –I got my coffee table for $5 at a thrift store. With a little work, your shelves could look cute on the cheap.
- Basic Craft Skills- As mentioned above, a basic knowledge of how to spray paint things without them dripping all over your apartment would be nice. Basic sewing skills can be useful for making pillows out of fabric or of old shirts. If you have nice handwriting, a sweet little quote for a frame would be right up your alley. There are thousands of DIY tutorials on Pinterest or YouTube if you’re not the most crafty person, and as I said earlier, practice makes perfect.
- Puzzle Skills- Okay, this one sounds kind of crazy, but with a tiny apartment organization is essential. Utilizing every last inch of storage space is top priority. I can’t emphasize how important stacking tupperware is for time-saving. Finding the right place for everything makes life so much easier and so much better. And it’s so satisfying to know where everything is every time you open your cabinets.
- Easy Cooking Skills- When you live off campus, there is no Chick-fil-a or cafeteria right outside your door, and it is way cheaper to make yourself a healthy meal than to go out to eat all the time. Frying an egg is just melting butter in a pan, cracking an egg into the pan, and flipping it a couple times. Spaghetti just involves browning meat, heating sauce, and boiling a couple of noodles. Get yourself comfortable with a couple key meals that you always have the materials to make- my roommate makes pancakes, I do tacos, let your imagination go wild.
- Reasonable Cleaning Skills- Letting cleaning go off the deep end when you live in a dorm is completely acceptable. But when you live in an apartment, you need a different set of tools. Mops, brooms, toilet cleaners and so on are of vital importance to keeping your place clean and mold free. Keep your roommates accountable and clean together.
- Time Management Skills- Unfortunately, being off campus means that classrooms are too far from your home to roll out of bed 5 minutes before class starts. That means your mornings have to be super organized in order to make it to class on time or to make it anywhere on time. Set out your clothes and pack your bookbag the night before you have to go to school, put out the stuff you need to make coffee and a good breakfast.
With all of those skills, you should be able to control your apartment living withough Googling how to do so every few days. Good luck!