Advice for someone moving into their first apartment?

[Spac3d]

I am going to move into my first apartment in a few weeks... my roomate is a girl I know from HS (no, I will not provide pics). I lived last year in dorms as a freshmen in Atlanta without a car. Now I love near Ohio State, but I have a car now and my parents live about 20 minutes from my apartment in case I run out of food at home

Does anyone have any advice on living on your own? Ways to save some money? Ways to throw parties and not make your neighbors angry? First time living with a girl?:Q:Q:Q We are getting a lot of the furniture from my house because my parents are remodeling.

Spac3d

 

[Alphathree33]

Hopefully you = me in eight months. But at this time I have no advice for you.

 

[thedarkwolf]

Ramen noodles = $0.10

 

[dakata24]

take pics of the place now if you ever have a dispute with your landlord when you move out.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: thedarkwolf
Ramen noodles = $0.10

those ramen suck. spend the extra buck to get shin.


my advice: cook at home. eating out is expensive. and don't turn the AC down past 76. and you might want to leave the toilet set down.

 

[dartworth]

Don't spend every night on High Street. Lock the doors Michigan week...

 

[Supermercado]

If the local supermarket has one, I'd probably try and get their discount card. Just today, in fact, we bought like 2 pounds of ground beef for $4 rather than $6 because we had the discount card. Just a thought.

 

[minendo]

Originally posted by: dakata24
take pics of the place now if you ever have a dispute with your landlord when you move out.

Definitely do this.

 

[Spac3d]

dakata24: Yes, I am defintely going to do that. That is very good advice for anyone moving into an apartment

thedarkwolf: I aint eating no ramen noodles. Last year I cooked it up with some mind altering substance and it became incredible potent. In short, I am scared of ramen noodles now.

jfano: lol. High St. is cool, but I am not living there thank god. I am living west of campus, so I am not really worried abotu saftey.

SuperCommando: I've already got the discount cards since I live in the area, and usually I buy stuff when its on sale or I go to walmart for stuff like soda, chips, ceral, etc. Walmart is my friend (and I am a shareholder, I should shop there)

Thanks for the replies, I hope others can benefit too

Spac3d

 

[diskop]

Don't get into a relationship with your roommate. You will regret it for the rest of your life if you do. But little willie won't. Don't think with little willie. Think with big willie.

 

[Spac3d]

Bump to the top

 

[ObiDon]

Buy a few subwoofers for bass wars with the neighbors. You will probably need them.

 

[SyahM]

Originally posted by: diskop
Don't get into a relationship with your roommate. You will regret it for the rest of your life if you do. But little willie won't. Don't think with little willie. Think with big willie.

Right on! Get a Sam's Club membership, make sure you clean the living room and empty the trash ... and be prepared to do some waiting for the bathroom

 

[Spac3d]

Originally posted by: SyahM

Originally posted by: diskop
Don't get into a relationship with your roommate. You will regret it for the rest of your life if you do. But little willie won't. Don't think with little willie. Think with big willie.

Right on! Get a Sam's Club membership, make sure you clean the living room and empty the trash ... and be prepared to do some waiting for the bathroom

We got a 2 bedroom 2 bath, so no waiting

About Sam's Club.. they dont take credit card, so we (my family) has never belonged there and have no intentions. My dad doesnt like paying without credit card (yes, we can afford what we buy... he is just that way about buying anything and everything).

Spac3d

 

[TranceNation]

I have had many roommates and several were female.

first is your roommat cute? Do you have an interest in her? I bet you probably do since you wouldn't be wasting your time with her (unless you couldn't find any other person to roommate with). Next have you guys talked about some ground rules? Like doing the dishes, having friends over, etc? Also do either of you cook? maybe you can work out a deal or something. Who's going to handle the food bill if so? How about the utilities, phone, electric bill, i suppose it'll be shared.

As for the apartment itself, you'll need to spot check it when you first move in, make sure you write down everything you see (ie, red spot on carpet near blah blah, kitchen counter scraped up, etc). Pay your rent on time and you should have no probs.

 

[Spac3d]

Originally posted by: TranceNation
I have had many roommates and several were female.

first is your roommat cute? Do you have an interest in her? I bet you probably do since you wouldn't be wasting your time with her (unless you couldn't find any other person to roommate with). Next have you guys talked about some ground rules? Like doing the dishes, having friends over, etc? Also do either of you cook? maybe you can work out a deal or something. Who's going to handle the food bill if so? How about the utilities, phone, electric bill, i suppose it'll be shared.

As for the apartment itself, you'll need to spot check it when you first move in, make sure you write down everything you see (ie, red spot on carpet near blah blah, kitchen counter scraped up, etc). Pay your rent on time and you should have no probs.

Interesting you ask. She is cute, no question about it, but I wouldnt ever date her because we dont have all that much in common (No, no pics for ATOT). We get along great as friends, but we defintely have different groups of friends, different hang outs, etc. She is somewhat more hippie (just the music she listens too) and I am more of a straight southern rap guy ... but differences are good too in the apartment. I defintely dont want to be living with soemone who is like me (roomate was like that last year... I have to get away from myself sometimes)

We did set some ground rules. She is a heavy drinker and a smoker, but we agreed absolutely no smoking in the apartment. I dont like the way it smells and neither does she, I am glad that was easy. We also plan on having people over on the weekends ... we just have those personalities that people are always welcome over and they can crash if they want too. She claims she is going to quit smoking (Yah right, Ive heard a million people say that). About cooking, she eats out... a LOT. She usually eats at this one sushi place for dinner and its damn near $50 a plate. But I guess as long as Dad pays the bills... she will continue eating there. I don't really think she ever really eats at home and she I know she doesnt cook. Our apartment complex offers cooking classes, we talked about getting into those to help meet other people too. I will be buying my own groceries and she will just be eating out....

We are going to split the utilities 50/50. I found a place to rent washers/dryers for $12 a month (yay!), split telephone, water, electric, and RoadRunner. We were defitnely going to write down everything about the apartment when we move in and take pictures.

Thanks for your post, that useful to think about the little things. Would you mind if I PM'd you if I have any more questions?

Spac3d

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: SuperCommando
If the local supermarket has one, I'd probably try and get their discount card. Just today, in fact, we bought like 2 pounds of ground beef for $4 rather than $6 because we had the discount card. Just a thought.

That or find a store that doesn't require "discount cards" to get what other stores give without one.

 

[MrBond]

About Sam's Club.. they dont take credit card, so we (my family) has never belonged there and have no intentions. My dad doesnt like paying without credit card (yes, we can afford what we buy... he is just that way about buying anything and everything).

You can pay with Discover Card at Sams...that's what I always use.

On the supermarket discount cards, at some places (like Kroeger) the VAST majority of prices w/ card are the normal prices (or whatever they'd be on sale normally). Now and then you'll get a killer discount, like $1.55 12 packs or something with the card. So either way, it helps to have one. Just remember to put down a fake address so they don't junk mail you to death. And you really only need one for like 4 people, because they give you a couple big cards and several keychain cards. We share one among four people at my house.

 

[db]

Phone bills can be tricky to split, especially when nobody will admit to that $17 long distance call.

 

[dirtboy]

Get cell phones instead of a land line phone. You don't want to be arguing over the long distance bill, plus the messages for you will be private and you won't have to be taking messages for her.

 

[Lola]

Be open to your rooomates little quirks! Accept them and realize she is probably trying to accept yours as well. Take advantage of the situation...you are living with a girl, let her put her special "girlie" touches to the place to make it feel like home. Now, I am not saying that you are not creative or what not, but girls seem to have a knack at make a house feel like a home. Surround yourself with things you love, not thinks that are just "ok" since you are living in an apartment, you will be seeing that stuff all the time. Respect the fact that there are people living around, below, next, etc. to you!
Good Luck, and have a blast!

 

[brtspears2]

Don't share food. It becomes too communist in the fridge.

 

[Pliablemoose]

Take photos of the apt before you move in, helps to avoid those damage charges when you move out...

 

[Spac3d]

Oh, all of these replies since I was away

dirtboy, db: I was thinking about this. We both have cell phones with more than enough minutes - how much does a land line cost a month?? Seems like an unneccesary cost really. If you cant reach us via cell phones.. we dont want to be reached (ie. on the golf course, in class, etc.). Thats what me and my last roomate did at the dorm, we didnt even have a phone in our room

ActPrincess: We both had pretty bad roomates last year, it will be a nice welcome change to have someone we know and trust to live with. I do hear that hwne you move in with friends, you do get sick of them, or whatever. But I have a feeling we wont be at our aptartment nearly as often I was in my dorm room last year. About the decorations, she just brought a bunch of stuff from an African Safari she just went on... she says she has enough for our living room, which is real straight with me. My room though will have posters of Big Tymers, Juvenile, 2Pac, Pastor Troy, Method Man, Molly Sims (yum) and Outkast and then I am going to hang up my Atlanta Fubu Jersey. My room will be my own... but we both deicded we didnt want my ghetto posters in the living room It would look strange to be honest hehe. Shes not as feminine as most girls.... her mom is trying to get her to join a sorority, but she really dislikes those group of people here... but she isnt any tom boy or anything. We are on the first floor... so only people to the left, right, and up to annoy Naw... I am pretty respectful, she plays her music even louder than me! It will be nice though to be around a girl (after transferring form GA Tech), it should be a lot of fun. She is even more exicted to move in than I am, and I cant wait to move it

Spac3d