Your First Grocery Store Trip Checklist

January 8, 2018 | By Taylor AuthorMy First Apartment

MFA has written fantastic posts in the past about what to get on your first grocery store trip and how to stock your pantry, but I’ve always found it helpful to have multiple lists to look over, so for your viewing pleasure, I present to you a list of everything I bought on my first grocery trip…

The First Apartment Tool Kit

November 12, 2017 | By Taylor AuthorMy First Apartment

I rarely need things from my tool kit, but when I do need them, I need them now. Assembling a good tool kit can be hard, though—How do I know what I need? How can I afford all of these expensive tools? Why do I need a tool kit if I’m not a handy person…

Everything I Own: A Complete Room-by-Room Furnishing Checklist

October 17, 2017 | By Taylor AuthorMy First Apartment

Having lived in my new apartment for about a month, I went through and created a pretty comprehensive inventory of everything I own. Hopefully, this will help you develop your own furnishing checklist while you’re packing for your own move. MFA has written a checklist like this before, but I thought it might be helpful to…

Move-Out Cleaning Checklist

September 29, 2017 | By Sarah AuthorMy First Apartment

Moving out of your apartment can be a stressful time! Add the drama of not understanding how or what to leave squeaky clean in your old place and many of us end up feeling overwhelmed and anxious about the move. Almost every apartment complex or landlord will require the apartment be left as clean as…

Budgeting Boot Camp: Printable Apartment Budgeting Worksheet

August 8, 2017 | By MFA Editors AuthorMy First Apartment

Our Budgeting Boot Camp continues. We are getting a high volume of comments from our readers to our budgeting-related posts Rent Calculator, How Much Rent Can I Afford on My Hourly Pay, How Much Money Do You Need to Save to Move Out, and others, asking for help with estimating first apartment living expenses. In…

Stuff You’ll Need: The Bathroom + Kitchen Checklists

June 11, 2017 | By Kristen AuthorMy First Apartment

It’s easy to forget even the simplest of things when you’re balancing priorities of your move. This is a checklist of some bath and kitchen essentials for your first apartment: Bathroom Checklist: Shower curtain Shower rings Shower liner Towels (hand towels, bath towels) Bath mat Tissues Toilet paper Toothbrush holder Toilet brush Toilet plunger Toiletries…

52 Item Apartment Search Checklist

September 19, 2016 | By Kalee AuthorMy First Apartment

After you have learned the apartment hunting terminology, started your search and finally found an apartment you like, there are a lot of questions you must still ask. Can I afford this apartment? Is this apartment in a convenient location? Will I be happy living here? Besides these vital questions, there are many other items…

How Much Rent Can I Afford on My Hourly Pay?

July 26, 2016 | By MFA Editors AuthorMy First Apartment

2017 Update: You can download our new Printable Apartment Budgeting Worksheet and use it to estimate your rent and budget for all your expenses. The basic target rent formula that landlord’s use is annual before-tax income divided by 40. When you are on a straight salary estimating the number is easy. However, if your are…

10 Point Apartment Walk-Through Checklist

June 17, 2016 | By MFA Editors AuthorMy First Apartment

Before you move in, you should conduct a walk-through of your apartment with the landlord or his representative present. During this walk-through, you should note and take pictures, if appropriate, of all problem areas you discover. The items on this list are all things that should be taken care of by the landlord, with no…

Affordable Rent Calculator

September 20, 2015 | By MFA Editors AuthorMy First Apartment

Click Yes or No below to open calculator. Description of the My First Apartment’s Affordable Rent Calculator: 1.) The above easy-to-use calculator uses the formulas from this post for calculating your maximum affordable rent. (Note: If you are paid hourly, you should also check our post How Much Rent Can I Afford on My…