tenantproof's Profile

The thing I find disgusting is the decorative toilet paper spare roll holders with unwrapped toilet paper just hanging out in the open in their decorative containers absorbing heaven's knows how much dust, sprays and particulate matter. Yuck! Put it under the sink or in a drawer with a note that says spare rolls.

Hjalbers I think you have a great system of doing laundry.I like that hubby is responsible for his own laundry.I really like that you and Elizabeth Wilborn both have your children involved in the laundry process. Its not that hard. I love Elizabeth's the idea of everything being hung up except socks. I would add two laundry baskets per bedroom, one for lights and one for darks instead of a hamper to further reduce sorting.

In answer to the blogger and a poster in terms of how much clothing is too much: I like 8 of everything: underwear, bras, socks, business outfits, T shirts, gym clothing and sweaters plus two pairs of jeans. It gives you one extra day of clothing after you throw in seven days worth of outfits into the washer. You have too much clothing if you don't have adequate room to store it in your home.

The ceiling fixture while very trendy will be a pain to clean. Something to keep in mind if you hate cleaning.

$6000 / 20 years is $300 a year. Not a bad price if you use your sofa everyday of the year.

Try Eddie's furniture, Sunshine Lucy's and Metamorphosis.

Seriously how many times do you watch the same movie over and over again or listen to the same song or album again? Why would you bother? Isn't there something new you would rather do or see? I would not be able to stand the clutter. All my DVD's come from the library or $1 rentals. The music I like has been burned onto my mp3 player and my computer and the CDs have donated to good will. I have better things to do with my time and money then buying, storing and cleaning a bunch of cds and dvds and their containers.

These kitchens seem to be selected for color and clutter not clever storage options. Do these people actually cook? Kitchen 4 and 6 have artwork above the stove. Does it not get full of grease and dust? What about the fire hazard it poses? This seems incredibly foolish. In images 1, 2 and 10 in order to cook you would be forever moving things off of your counter. In addition, you would need to wipe down the containers that have gotten greasy from the stove. Image 5 with its microwave practically sitting on the floor seems ridiculous a better solution would be to flip the microwave and storage book box places in order to a more the microwave to a usable height. The open storage below counter height and over the stove in many of these images will collect tons of dust and dirt and just adds more cleaning work because you will need to clean things before you use them. A much better option for images 2,3,4,6,8 and 9 would have been to purchase some inexpensive but sturdy 2 drawer metal file cabinet off of craigslist and use them to store extra food, pans and dishes and put their microwave's on top of rather than their current setups. I did not find any of these images offering any type of useful storage solutions for small apartment kitchens.

Ask where your relationship is going, scary yes, but its even scarier not knowing where you are headed as an individual or couple. So ask.You will learn as much from what your partner says as what he or she doesn't say if you observe the body language. Some people look as moving in with their partner as having a built in sex partner who will cook, clean, shop, run errands and split the rent with them until they find someone better. While other people assume they will be moving towards an engagement. Know what you want too.

Make sure one of the bills is in your name. Don't combine cell phone plans. Keep a separate bank account. Make sure you have enough money in the bank to pay for first month, last mouth and security deposit and moving services.

Before packing help each other declutter first. Along with marking your boxes well purchase some colored construction paper and use one color for the bedroom items, one for the kitchen, one for the bathroom, ectr. This will make it easier for you and the movers especially if you put a piece of the colored construction paper corresponding to the room on the door of the room. Three things to pack and to unload first. Pack an overnight back with clothing, toiletries, towels, bedding, pillows, toilet paper and a bar of soap. In a second bag have a package of toilet paper, paper towels, two flashlights, batteries, light bulbs and enough lamps for each room in the home. When you move in assemble and make your bed first because you will be too tired to do it later so put it in the truck last. Then put the toilet paper, soap and hand towel in the bathroom. Finally is check all the ceiling lights in the apartment to make sure they have light bulbs in them and work, if not put a lamp in each room. Now start moving the things in.

Original subway tiles were an off white, an almost beige or almond color. The bright titanium whites of today did not exist back then. For an inexpensive solution paint your baseboards a light tan or light coffee color along with your heating vent. If the wall tiles are not attractive to you ask for samples of vintage subway tiles from companies and choose a color 2 to 3 shades lighter than you think you want.

Try suggesting changes to the landlord in a letter with pictures of why it would benefit tenants and them in the long run. Tell them what is wrong with the current item, that you think it is ugly doesn't count. Is it hard to clean, is it chipping, peeling, water stained? Will it make the apartment easier to clean and maintain? Will the changes you propose be classic and appeal to future tenants making it easier to rent? Sometimes if you are willing to live with a little bit of construction, so that the landlord does not lose rent, you get a better kitchen and or bathroom. It never hurts to ask in a polite respectful letter documenting both in writing and with pictures the problems and the possible solution you would like and how the solutions would benefit the landlord. Send the letter certified mail return receipt requested. We did so in our apartment and our landlord willingly installed white subway tile and repainted the kitchen. It was three weeks of mess but we got an easy to clean and very attractive kitchen. I am still working to see if we can get a stainless steel double drainboard sink from Elkay in our kitchen used is fine with an integral backsplash as our current Formica countertop with drop in sink is suffering with a lot of water damage.