First Apartment

Ah, moving into your first apartment :) I moved out at age 20, as my boyfriend (now fiancee!) and i wanted to get out of the city and live in the sticks. We spent nights and nights in the car with Penny Savers and News Classified ads, and must have visited 20 apartments before we found the one we liked. We loved it because it was a single house; lived there for a year about before we found the house we are renting now and upgraded.
I need to stress this: I work in collections, and I see people's fouling up budgets and it really can destroy your life financially. I urge ya to figure out just what you make a month, and what your expenses are; "vital" stuff like gas, electric, gasoline.. that has to come first. So many people get tempted by Best Buy and other retailers that will give a line of credit to anything with a pulse; skip some (or in some cases, just one!) payment on that, and it's collection city; balance due, fees, interest, argh.
I would be verrrrry careful on who you moev in with. people can steal, get lazy/slack off, live like a pig and screw ya over on the rent money. Personally, if mark were not financially responsible and independent before we moved, it never would have happened. Much better to grin and bear it with a parent (and contribute to their house also; room and board is usually much lower than rent/utilities, and even a little helps momsters and dadsters out.) Before I moved out, I would spend hundreds a year on clothing, buy any CDs, etc that I felt like getting; my friend and i went to denny's literally, every night and got as much food and drink as you could imagine. After that.. well, ramen noodles became a dietary staple.
Once you get things semi-figured out, then yuo will be glad that you thought it through.

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

Oh this takes me back (I'm not say how far back either LOL), to my first night alone in my first apartment...it's a wonderful memory of finally feeling "grown up". :)


Now on a practical note....

- buy a good security chain and peephole if they aren't provided by the landlord, use them, EVERY time, EVERY day - the world is sadly full of creeps

- learn to budget, living on your own is far more expensive than anyone realizes the first time out of the nest

- call your mother! :D

- all your friends that still live at home will want to hang out, remind them garbage day is Wednesday and if their butts are at your place, they get that chore!

- invest in good pots and pans and a decent vaccuum

- buy good used furniture, your friends will spill stuff on it anyways so why waste good cash

- make sure there's room for your snakes and lizards

- call your mother! :D

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couldnt have said it better! lol. reptile room is a must. :sunny:

Yeah dont spend too much money on new stuff. Check craigslist free link first.

Ikea(if there is one around) will your best friend or can be your worst. Just grab what you need and dont look around, trust me. I find cheap stuff there. Like for example I went to find some snake hides and ended up buying other things for my room and spent a lot more than expected.

Best of luck. Cheers!

Since everyone has hit all the money and furniture points, I can think of some things that I forgot when I moved into my apartment. I was living in the dorms during the school year, and I used a friends furniture, but there were alot of little things I didn't think about. Like a shower curtain. haha And I had a trash can, but you may want one for the kitchen, one for the bedroom, the bathroom, etc. It's the little stuff you use every day, but just don't think about.

And have fun. I loved my crummy little apartment. I didn't konw anyone in town, and couldn't go home while I was there, but I loved it. It's so cool being able to have a space that you can call yours, even if it is only temperarory. The dorms don't count as your own space. haha^_^ Good Luck!!