Furnishing an Apartment for under $2,000

May 19, 2013 | By Alex AuthorMy First Apartment

A month ago, we reviewed what to do if you need to furnish your apartment in $500 or less. Today, we’ll touch on suggestions if your budget’s a little bit larger – basically under $2,000. Which, when you consider our most recent first apartment checklist, isn’t so outlandish … after all, there’s a lot of…

Should You Join a CSA for Your Fresh Veggies and Fruit?

May 7, 2013 | By Alex AuthorMy First Apartment

Let’s start with this: we here at My First Apartment strongly suggest making a habit of cooking at home. Why? First, it saves you a ton of money. Second, you learn a valuable skill (cooking). Third, usually when you eat at home, what you eat is healthier than what you’d have eating out (since you’re…

Apartment Hunting Tips for New Grad Students

April 4, 2013 | By Alex AuthorMy First Apartment

You just got the happy email and the fat envelope. You’re very excited about your new school and the move to a new city. Then it hits you: “Where am I going to live?” You’re going to need to look for housing. However, unlike undergrad, it’s not nearly so easy as your new school plopping you…

Pets and Apartments

March 27, 2013 | By Alex AuthorMy First Apartment

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a dog that wagged its tail and licked your face every time you came home? Or a cat that curled up in your lap whenever you sat down to watch television? Of course it would – it’d be really quite wonderful! But – and of course there’s always a…

Goodbye, Roommate! How to Know You Are Ready to Get Your Own Place

March 18, 2013 | By Alex AuthorMy First Apartment

In the past few weeks, we’ve spent a lot of time talking about selecting roommates. So now let’s shift to another scenario: you’ve had a roommate for a while, and now you’re ready to live on your own. How do you know if you’re ready to take this particular plunge? There are three areas you…

How to Find A Roommate That’s Right for You

March 12, 2013 | By Alex AuthorMy First Apartment

Last week we talked about where to find people who are in need of a roommate. But simply finding a few people who are interested in being your roommate doesn’t mean you’re done – the next step is choosing someone you really want to have around. After all, the idea is not just to find…

How to Search for a Roommate or Roommate Share

March 9, 2013 | By Alex AuthorMy First Apartment

Whether it’s love or hate, we all have an opinion on our roommate. You see your roommate pretty much everyday … and if your fellow apartment-dweller leaves crumbs on the floor, often you’re the one who happens to step on them with your bare feet. Or, if you come home after a rough day, maybe your…

Renting Furniture: Is It a Good Idea?

February 21, 2013 | By Alex AuthorMy First Apartment

In keeping with this February’s Design Month theme, I’d like to answer a question from one of our readers, Jared. He was wondering whether it would be worthwhile to rent-to-own his furniture, rather than buying it piece-by-piece. He made the point that for the expected monthly payment of rentals, he could afford much nicer…

Cheap and Easy Bedroom Fixes: The Crane and Canopy Giveaway Results

February 16, 2013 | By Alex AuthorMy First Apartment

As our readers know by now, February is Design Month at My First Apartment. To help celebrate, we featured a giveaway from the bedding company Crane and Canopy. This online retailer, which has very high-quality products, keeps its prices down by shipping directly to consumers rather than selling through brick-and-mortar stores. As a way of testing…

Starting to Decorate and Furnish Your First Apartment

January 21, 2013 | By Alex AuthorMy First Apartment

We’d all love to have Martha Stewart’s living room … a splash of color here, a nice piece of furniture over there … but for those of us without Ms. Stewart’s experience and budget, decorating isn’t just about choosing the right furniture – it’s a combination of financial savvy, an eye for design, and the…