Flooded Toilets and Ants, Oh My!

December 20, 2006 | By Alissa AuthorMy First Apartment

When my toilet flooded for the second time in a week yesterday morning at 6:00 A.M, I wanted to argue with it. I wanted to chastise it for being so thoughtless during the holidays. Didn’t it know that I was out late the night before altruistically looking for presents for others? I did not deserve…

Why there is no such a thing as a perfect landlord

October 23, 2006 | By Alissa AuthorMy First Apartment

Unless your landlord is a bear, he probably did not make a cameo in Goldilocks’ memoirs. That said, the concept of “too much, too little,” tends to pop up when you are dealing with the person who takes a large chunk of your change on a monthly basis. What do I mean? Landlords are, invariably,…

How much is that doggie in the window?

October 10, 2006 | By Alissa AuthorMy First Apartment

I wanted a dog real bad. I have, since childhood, wanted a dog real bad. When I was younger, the condition was that if I kept my room clean for 2 months straight, then I could talk to my mom about it. As on any given day there was rarely carpet showing amidst my books…

Le Dog and Le Apartment

September 28, 2006 | By Alissa AuthorMy First Apartment

Looking for an apartment con fair, furry friend can make a person feel like a real leper. For, no matter how docile your darling may be, convincing a potential landlord of that is often another matter. Luckily, there are pet owners who have come before you, with helpful, and occasionally surprising, advice. How to Get…

Surviving a Visit from Your Parents

September 20, 2006 | By Kate AuthorMy First Apartment

As much as I love my family, I always get a little stressed out when they come to visit. They just don’t always, you know, get it. Case in point: my sophomore year in college. My mom was planning a visit to Boston and she asked me if it would be weird if she stayed…

The Housing Virgins of Manhattan and Other Apartment Hunting Stories in the News

September 2, 2006 | By Kate AuthorMy First Apartment

If you’re searching for your first apartment, you probably thought your days of homework were behind you. Wrong! More important that any book report is the research that you should do to prepare yourself for the housing search. This web site is a great place to start for basic checklists and info. Beyond MyFirstApartment.com, however,…

What did you think I would post about next?

August 30, 2006 | By Kate AuthorMy First Apartment

Close on eggs’ heels in the race of easy, delicious things to cook: chicken soup. No, not the Campbell’s kind. Dear reader, you’re a grown-up now, and your grown-up taste buds deserve better. Remember that cooking, like all of life’s arts, requires lots of practice, and lots of trial and error. Start basic, expect to…

Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

August 28, 2006 | By Kate AuthorMy First Apartment

When you’re learning to cook, it’s definitely the egg. Eggs are an easy, cheap, delicious, and nutritious thing to cook when you’re first starting out. You can scramble, boil, whip, poach, or even slurp them raw. Although that, technically, doesn’t count as cooking. When I was a kid, scrambled eggs were one of my top…

How to throw a bangin’ housewarming bash

August 21, 2006 | By Kate AuthorMy First Apartment

1) E-mail as many of your closest friends as you can fit comfortably in your digs. Ask them to let you know how many guests they will be bringing. 2) Remove all breakables from the rooms in which you’ll be hosting guests. If you live in a studio, put anything fragile in your kitchen cupboards,…

Why, oh why, oh wireless?

August 12, 2006 | By Kate AuthorMy First Apartment

Living in sunny SoCal, my monthly utility payments are satisfyingly low. The largest is by far my cable internet bill- approximately $40 a month, split with my roommate. I was reluctant, at first, to part with this extra dough for our own wireless- I have a laptop, and it’s easy enough to link to someone…