At the end of my freshman year, I decided that I wanted to live in an apartment the following year instead of living on campus. While this was mostly a financial decision, back when me and my future roommates were apartment hunting, it seemed just fun and lighthearted, like we were truly living the “girls moving to a big city” dream. However, once I actually had to move in, there were so many things that made me realize I was a bit over my head, and these are 5 things I wish I knew before moving into my first apartment.
1. Set up everything beforehand.
I can’t even begin to explain the sad first 9 days of living in my apartment with no cooking gas and no internet. I didn’t realize the process of getting these things would take almost a week since I moved in the first of the month and didn’t contact my cooking gas company until the next day. While I thought my cooking gas would easily be turned on within a couple of days, I couldn’t get an appointment for nine days, leaving me with no way to cook food. If I would have contacted both companies before I moved in, everything would have been a lot smoother.
2. Buy everything in the first couple of days.
My mom helped me move in and we were able to rent a car to haul all of my things around and buy furniture. However, after she left, I had no other way to bring large amounts of things for my apartment, or bigger things into my apartment and I wish I would have realized this while I still had a car. Now, after living in my apartment for a couple weeks I keep realizing all the things I need that I didn’t think to buy or thought I could just buy later. It would have been so much easier to get these things, whether pieces of furniture, organization boxes, or trash cans, when I had a pair of helping hands and a vehicle.
(courtesy of rent.com)
3. Figure out everything with your roommates beforehand.
This may seem like a no-brainer, but there are so many little kinks that should be worked out before you move in. While my roommates and I facetimed multiple times and texted all throughout summer, looking back it seems like we didn’t get anything truly figured out. Bigger agreements such as bedroom assignments, who’s buying what furniture, etc. should be dealt with, but also conversations should be had such as whose name will be on what bill, when is everyone moving in, etc. Little things can easily be overlooked, but they still need to be talked about before even moving in.
4. Make a list right away of what is not working.
I didn’t realize that when you first move into an apartment that there will be things that don’t work because (usually) people have not lived there for a while. I also did not realize that you can tell your landlord and they will fix it ー at least mine will. Within the first week, make a list of all the things that may be broken and send your landlord an email. It’s so much easier to have someone come in and fix all your problems in one day (or at least try to) then spreading everything out.
(courtesy of nytimes.com)
5. Make it feel homey.
This is not your dorm anymore and while you can’t do whatever you want to it if you’re renting, you can still add so many more things to make it feel like your home. I wish that I would have brought more things from home to decorate my apartment with because I have so much bare wall space.
Moving into my first apartment has been one of the most stressful and exhilarating moments of my life. While I wish I knew these five things before getting myself into it, this experience has still been amazing.
(courtesy of offbeathome.com)