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So many people will want a place to “crash for a bit.” Don’t let them take advantage.

ya. move back in with your parents. lol

legit tip - do not dump bacon grease down the sink. no matter how small of an amount. I knew better but did it anyway. it was just a very small amount. well - plumber had to come out and I lost my deposit.

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Buy a plunger

Get a spare key

Buy an air diffuser

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Get a little fire extinguisher for the kitchen. use a daily shower cleaner and a magic eraser in the shower, clean it while you're in it, keep essentials like rice and potatoes and olive oil and chicken breasts (individually frozen) broccoli, on hand so you're not blowing money and your health on fast food. An air fryer is a fabulous thing!

Apartments are something of a crap shoot. You may have fantastic neighbors or really terrible ones.

Be kind to your neighbors, even if they're dicks. If someone is playing music until late at night, fighting, making noise, stinking up the building with cooking, the most you can do is say something to them, but use tact. Being on good terms with them will go a long way. Don't threaten or try to retaliate. Deal with it the best you can.

Moving out of the city to the burbs? If you don't already have one, you'll probably need a car.

Read your lease and rental laws. Knowing your rights and responsibilities will prevent so much headache.

Hope you aren't doing this with the belief that you will get more financial aid and not your parents dependent. Gonna come back on you all

Definitely a good tip! That said, That sounds like your sink was already older or in rough condition. I poured bacon grease down my sink for a few months before realizing that it’s bad and never ran into issues.

Fully document the conditions when you move in.

Don't have the bills sent to your parents, pay them yourself. (Even if they are giving you the money.) This will help establish good habits, and give you a track record for paying bills. (Make sure to pay on time, you want the record to be a good one.)

Take pictures of everything!

Keep your head on a swivel. Avoid looking like prey. Do all of your homework on the first possible day. Keep up with your laundry. Living exclusively on pizza is ok. Rock that shit, kid. You’re gonna be fine

Learning how to prepare tasty food at home before moving out really helped me a lot. Bulked me up a lot too but not so hard to get back in shape when young and full of energy. Get mom’s recipes that you like and put your own spin on them.

My favorite saying is "habits are for lazy people". Being said start good habits from day one. Clean as you go, immediately throw trash away. Don't let laundry pile up(they have pods and I suggest buying them over liquid detergent).The diffuser is a great thing, no chance of fire(unless you're a complete idiot). Maintenance everything you can(you'll thank yourself later). Use cleaning vinegar instead of bleach also I use hydrogen peroxide on everything as well. If you don't want to do dishes buy paper plates and plastic silverware.

I second this and CANNOT stress this enough!

Try to sublet in a house with roommates instead. It'll be cheaper, easier to move out of if you need to, get you connected to locals right off the bat, help you save on expenditures for furnishing that then will turn into higher moving costs and allow you to learn more about the area, including where you'd actually want to live in an apartment and give you time to search for one.

Stick to a monthly budget and keep track of what you purchase

Spend money/acquire cleaning products; use them Clean & rundown > filthy & brand-new The difference between messy and dirty is your health and how often you get sick.

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Yeah I think you just have to have hot water running for a minute before you dump it and then keep it running for a few after.

Also, egg shells can’t go in a garbage disposal

Almost everything can be bought used. Furniture, kitchen stuff, bedroom stuff…. Or a cheap futon from Walmart can be a couch and a bed.

New stuff to buy: bedding and cleaning supplies.

Make your bed every morning. Do your dishes every night. Change your sheets once a week. Divide the housework into wet and dry.

Dry is dusting top to bottom then vac or sweep. Get the ceiling and floor corners.

Wet is kitchen and bath. Once a week. Use DIY products to save$ and your health. Peroxide and baking soda for tiles. Dilute vinegar for everything else.

Newspaper as a “rag” and vinegar water to clean windows once a month.

This is essential self-care and self respect. Keep your home in order and your life will be better.

Absolutely! Don’t call your parents the minute you have a problem. Seek advice from “seasoned” adults and/or professionals who have, most likely, encountered that problem before. Narrow down some good options and then tell your parents the problem you’re dealing with, and the options you’re considering. For example, if you realize you lost your credit card and you call mom in a frantic state, you’re basically dropping that problem on her. Or, you call and tell her you lost your credit card so you called the bank, and found out there were 2 fraudulent charges so they reversed them, cancelled that card and are reissuing you another. Now you’ve told her about the problem but showed you’re capable of handling it, effectively, yourself. * Also, by “seasoned” adult, I mean, not a twenty something. Ask an older person or someone in the business. Don’t ask someone with years and experience </= your own.

Make sure your apartment has rent control. In Ontario Canada for instance, any building that was occupied Nov 2018 or before is safe. New buildings have no rent control so your landlord can raise the rent to whatever they want. Even doubling the rent or worse. Thanks, Doug.

Edit: Added Location.

Take pictures of everything when you move in. Then take pictures of everything when you move out. This will help if there is a security deposit issue. Have copy of all of your important documents (birth cert. Vaccination records, social security card) and keep them in a safe place that you can grab easily if you have to run or evacuate. Take time to enjoy doing nothing. It's OK to spend a whole day in bed once in a while.

Was coming here to say this, when I moved into my apartment, I took pictures of every square inch of the place. Then, I emailed the pictures to the apartment complex. That way, you have a time dated proof if anything was damaged upon moving in so they don't try and blame you for any pre-existing damage. Even take pictures of the AC closet. They tried to get me for water damage that happened because of a leaking AC unit. I then directed them to the email I sent when I moved in, where I had picture's and even raised concerns about it. I was able to get my full deposit back because of that email.

TIL

Even better take a video of the place, you can always grab screenshots from a video and it is easy to just walk around with your phone and capture 95% of the space.

> Buy an air diffuser

Don't. Its bad for your health.

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Worst thing to do is eat take-out pizza and not recycle the boxes. Cook at home. Eat real food.

The worst for the disposal is peels, like potato and carrot. They'll plug up your drain for days. Throw them outside if you're in a big natural setting, or into the trash if you are in an apartment.

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Be overly kind and get friendly with the maintenance folk. Admin staff too, for that matter. Don't be too demanding or impatient when something breaks, show you want to be mindful of their schedule. Thank them for random things. Chat here and there like a buddy. Hell, be a buddy. No reason not to.

The leeway and deference it grants you when you have a busted fridge, a couple day delay on rent because you were busy or waiting for a check to clear, the general feeling of safety...it is totally worth the social effort.

Costco sells a fire extingisher that is really good for $35.

Find a friend who has a costco membership and shop with them once every month or two. Frozen single-serving meals are in wide varieties there and quite inexpensive.

The water has to be pretty much boiling for this to work.

Seconding the plunger thing. Hadn't thought to buy one in a new apartment, hosted a New Years party, friend got trashed and destroyed the bathroom and wouldn't come out. Had to turn off the water to it and keep leading people to the least visible place in the yard so they could piss.

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Really? How so

If you're by yourself and lonely, music is your new best friend

Edit you're

Breathing in stuff (like big particles) is generally not very good for you. It of course all depends on the stuff - for example if you are just using water to increase humidity, that's fine. But if you use anything smelly, it will affect your throat and lungs.

Maybe you meant air purifier? That's opposite of air diffuser :)

Wow I never knew that thanks for the heads up :0

If you need kitchen basics, try a Dollar Tree if there’s one nearby. You can get plates, cups, and all the utensils!

Don't be an asshole, be courteous to your neighbors, especially if you live above 1 of them.

If you don’t already know how, learn to cook. One of the most easy ways to improve your life.

Replace screws in your front door jamb with longer screws. Makes it tougher for Crooks to break in. Get a high powered airsoft gun or another form of defense against a crook.

Get renters insurance.

Just did this for the first time this year, go to goodwills, thrift stores, and bargain places for lots of kitchen stuff and furniture. I did this and saved a ton of money. Glasses for like 25 cents, plates for 50 cents, utensils and a knife block for like 10 bucks. avoid old nonstick due to toxins but seek out old used cast iron. I got a nice kitchen table and chairs for 15 bucks. I got my couch of Craigslist for 25 bucks. Got a desk and office chair for 40. Really really will save you money, and if you have cheap furniture and don’t wanna spend the money moving it, you can donate it back to the thrift stores

OfferUp, Facebook marketplace, goodwill.. all the thrift spots for furnishings, especially for small kitchen stuff you don’t think about until you need it e.g. can opener, pots/pans, utensils, etc.

So at Good Will for kitchen stuff you don't have or need.

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Meal prep, exercise, meet people, complete your work, and don’t do anything too dumb. Know where and where not to go in the city you’re in.

Here are several things that I think will be helpful:

1. Find a good place --outside of your home-- to focus on your work
2. Use amazon fresh delivery, if available
3. Work out and eat healthy
4. Find a community with people that support you and whom you can support --low key, churches are a good place to find this community

Buy anything you can on Facebook Marketplace!! Buying new stuff is rarely worth it, especially at that stage of life.

Take pictures of the apartment when you first move in and document anything that is broken, holes, chips in paint, or anything you could be fined on when moving out.

Sometimes you will need all of this as proof to get your full security deposit back

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Appreciate the fact that you have parents who are willing and able to help you. Try to gain independence and learn not to rely on them for everything. Keep your place in good order, learn to take care of your own needs and keep your grades up. Realize how incredibly lucky you are to have such great support. Try to solve your own problems before asking for help. So many things can be figured out with a simple google search or YouTube video and you will feel a great sense of satisfaction for having handled an issue on your own.

This. Buy most things used/cheap and as they break or get worn out buy a quality version of it.

Pizza boxes cannot be recycled, cardboard tainted with food grease is considered trash

Smart to go with a friend who already has the membership! OP, In a pinch, it's always good to keep an open box of baking soda handy to pour over for electrical fires, or grease fires, you can also smother it with a pan lid. NEVER use water.

Don’t trust people! Not everyone is your friend.

This is a great tip! The maintenance guy being your guy is great.

Same with the payroll person at work. I used my dad's tip on this one to great effect. Always had payroll folks finding errors made to my pay or adds to pay by the higher ups....for a couple cups of coffee and some conversation...

Buy an old person's cart. Often you are carrying groceries boxes etc from downstairs or parking garage or just moving recycling or garbage and it will save so many trips. They fold up and store in little space but will come in very handy.

I second thing. Do not blow money on nice kitchenware things for your first apartment while you’re in school. They will just break and then even if they don’t they have to be carted around to your next place. Go to Good Will and buy mix and match kitchen stuff. Recycling at its finest.

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Agree that keeping the home in order makes everything easier, i.e. don’t lose your keys and then be late to class or an interview.

Garbage disposals break easily, be care what you put in the sink (ideally just water). certainly no lemon seeds or coffee beans.

Also as others said: no grease down the sink, have a spare key in the car or with someone you trust, document everything, and if any issues come up, deal with them immediately. Like if you see a leak or smell something funky, contact the landlord and then follow up regularly until they deal with it.

Technically they can but you need to follow your city/county recycling guidelines

Do not bring strangers to your house to hookup or date immediately after meeting them. I was almost murdered. Try to meet in a public place first the first couple of times.

Other person mentioned already, but a lot of products that claim to be beneficial (or just suggest it) aren’t really, such as “essential” oils.

People with asthma can be triggered by them (due to the VOCs they release) which (imo) means even healthy people should probably avoid. Source: American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology. https://www.aaaai.org/Allergist-Resources/Ask-the-Expert/Answers/Old-Ask-the-Experts/oil-diffusers-asthma

Didn't you hear? That's how you get arrested

Careful - rent control is specific to where you live. Unless you’re friends with op, there’s a good chance the rent control rules are very different for them. For many people, rent control is only on buildings built prior to 1970. But I agree they should check their local laws.

Good one! I squeezed an extra couple thousand a year on my salary in a transfer to a new job because I was friendly with Payroll over the years, worked close with them, helped them when they needed it. Then asked when I got the new position and they found I technically qualified for more than the offering. Little rules and classifications that would have gone overlooked if they didn't take an extra half hour of research for a friend.

Don’t spend any money for the first 2-3 months. Buy cheap food and establish a 2 months rent savings account. Makes life less stressful When you have a short term fail safe.

Whoops. Forgot what sub I was in. I’ve added the location for the specific rent controls I mentioned.

Rent control is vastly different depending on where you life, so checking local laws is a good idea.

Dont cheap out on a microwave and regardless if u do or not get warranty. I Got cheap microwave and it melted in 9ish months. Warranty can b like 10 bucks so it’s worth especially if u buy cheap microwave. And do it at a local place like Best Buy. With warranty it bout the same as the similar cheap stuff on Amazon with no warranty. And u just walk it in to exchange in a few mins. Plus the warranty resets every time it dies so a 2 yr warranty effectively 2.5-4 yr if u get unlucky.

-Try to buy things at used stores when you can. You’d be surprised how many good quality items are discarded- especially if you shop church rummage sales. Even if your parents are helping out, don’t be wasteful with their earnings. -Trust your instincts. -Find real friends by pursuing common interests or hobbies (bonus if they’re free - park basketball, running, chess, trivia nights etc). -Don’t forget to call your parents every once in awhile to chat.

Good luck!

Join the military.

Our city allows them in the municipal compost bin.

They'll always send out a flyer on what is and isn't allowed; always make sure to familiarize yourself with it (directed at OP)

Get an electric rice cooker. Cook a bunch on Monday. Eat with cans of beans and eggs. Cook for yourself or all your money will go to Grubhub.

Where is someone gonna get newspaper these days?

(I agree with you on everything, just... I haven't seen newspaper in years!)

This will be my situation in 12 months but I recommend not fighting with your neighbors because you'll still have to live next to them. And don't let people treat you like a kid.

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Learn to make money on the side. Find a job you enjoy for a few hours per week. Offer to do things for money off the rent. You may be willing to mow grass or shovel snow for less than they can hire it for. Sell something online or offer a service to a nearby business. Lots of need for good people to do maintenance work. Learn to enjoy life without spending money. Freesby golf instead of regular golf. Poker at home with friends for small bets. Join a local YMCA. Buy quality items that last.

Being a good tenant is a good practice but know where the balance is. You are paying for a product and there’s expectations on both sides. Pay on time, do everything in writing, and leave it better than you found it. Second tip from the budget thrifters like me, only get what you need. Moving sucks and spending money you don’t have sucks. Good luck!!! Living away from family can be challenging but learning independence is something some people never do.

Some of them can also be toxic to cats (and who knows what else)

Oh and if you take out a credit card for the first time, do it with a trusted accountability partner (parent, financially responsible family member, trusted friend) who can keep you on the tracks for the first year. 27% interest takes people down faster than you can believe.

And make sure to get a toilet plunger, and not a sink plunger. A toilet plunger goes out like a bell, but then tapers inward to a smaller opening to fit down the hole in the toilet. A sink plunger is what people are typically used to, with a regular cup shape, and doesn't really get a seal in a toilet.

Know where your gas and water shut off is. Have contents insurance. If you have a car, know who can give you a jump start (or have one of the battery packs for jump starting)

Also, have things around that make you happy. No one is going to judge you for having an old Teddy on your bed or for wearing superhero pyjamas

Take all of this advice with a grain of salt. It's not bad, but it may not be for you. Moving out is a Big Deal, but it's also just a first step. Maybe this is your first in a string of apartments. Maybe you move back in with your parents for a while. Maybe you get into a bigger place the next time you move.

The maybe list is basically infinite. The people here are trying to give advice based on their personal journey. It's all well intentioned and solid advice, but if it doesn't fit you then move to the next piece.

You make the rules now (some of them)

If your kitchen and living room are attached (or you spend a lot of time in the kitchen), get a dehumidifier. Stops the room from filling with steam when you are boiling stuff. The plastic ones with the beads are fine so long as there's no pre-existing damp issues

When I moved out, I knew how to cook several things, but didn't really appreciate the need for full meals; eating just one food group can mess you up (unless you're a vegetarian/vegan and know what you're doing; that stuff takes real effort to do it right without causing problems). I've known people that tried to just cut meat out, and live on cereal and top ramen, and started getting panic attacks, major fatigue, etc, until they started eating real food again. It's not only about gaining/losing weight or some theoretical future problem; it can screw up your ability to get through the day.

Basically, just make sure that you get all of the basic food groups on a regular basis, even if the veggies are frozen. Rice is easy to make and you can cook a few days' worth at a time. Try to get some whole-grain stuff fairly often; you'll feel better.

This doesn't seem to be the popular way to do it but, when it comes to learning to cook, I got the most from starting with the basics. Just like starting with the different cuts of chicken (breast, thigh, leg quarters, etc) with very basic seasoning teaches you how it cooks and what it should taste like, so when you do a more complex recipe you know how and why it comes out the way it does. Chicken thighs with just salt, pepper, and garlic powder is still one of my favorite things (with crispy skin), and is cheap and easy. You can find leg quarters for around a dollar per pound, if you're broke.

Swoosh

Add an item for your kitchen or apartment to each grocery shop. A spatula, an extension cord, a plate. Just a few $, but over time you’ll have everything you need and won’t notice the expense.

Find some drugged out rich chicks that will hang around just for a place to sleep.

Do NOT give them money or food. Make the contribute money for rent and food for yourself.

How do you see your first time going? Your personal needs, resources, and the surrounding environment will shape a lot for you just by having to adapt in general. Can't go wrong with a budget, knowing where and how to seek care for personal health and needs, change your address if you need to with the Post Office, and don't be afraid to explore a city due to budgetary restraints. Visit museums ( student discounts), parks, and any free public events you seem interested with. Get out there, you'll never be bored.

Talk to your landlord about issues and broken things, there's a lot of issues that your landlord might either have fixed for free or make rent slightly cheaper for that month. Some landlord will make issues with this though so be careful and smart in your decisions

Don't forget to dust! Make sure to include that in your chores

I tried to keep it clean and tidy in my first place but I would skip dusting pictures or paintings and other knick knacks because it didn't look that bad.

Also, clean your air conditioner filter often. Ensure that nothing is blocking it and make a point to clean it as often as possible. Your sinuses will thank you.

Buy a gun.

Learn how to use it.

Don't be afraid to use it.

You will need to use it.

Nah just kidding, learn how to cook healthy nutricious meals.

If you're used to city noise and find living outside the city too quiet, get a white noise app/machine to help you adjust to the reduced background noise level. It can be very difficult to get restful sleep when moving into a new environment and it gets compounded if the background noise level is drastically different.

Buy rice in bulk, frozen veggies. Quality food but quality

Do not underestimate your entertainment budget, that shit adds up.

Keep your space minimal and tidy.

Create a space that you can enjoy by yourself on a day to day basis, this is some of the years you’ll make the most memories and this helps create the overall feel you’ll remember 18 for

If something that you’re able to fix breaks, fix it immediately.

Buy second hand. Mostly because new things are scams. Garage sales with the boys on spring Saturdays.

Costco will sell you a huge bag of baking soda. $10 for 13 pounds.

https://www.costco.com/CatalogSearch?dept=All&keyword=baking+soda

You can use it for experiments on weeds you hate as it is quite hard on plant life. You can use it to put out fires. You can mix it with vinegar (also CHEAP at Costco). This is stuff you need, as much as Mentos and Diet Coke, also available at Costco.

Apply for a credit card, and put it on autopay. DO NOT spend more than you have. Use it like a debit card. A credit card is for building your credit score, so lenders will view you as trustworthy. Do NOT use a credit card for "emergency money".