Five Tips to Keep You and Your Apartment Safe This Holiday Season

December 18, 2013 | By Alissa AuthorMy First Apartment

If you’re counting down the days before travelling home for the holidays, you’re not alone! Lazing about your childhood bedroom, eating hot dinners prepared by Cafe Mom and Dad…what’s not to love? Wouldn’t it be better, though, if you weren’t worrying about whether your apartment was going to be get broken into while you were…

Designer 101: Answers to Our Reader’s Design Questions!

February 13, 2013 | By Alissa AuthorMy First Apartment

As a reminder, it’s DESIGN MONTH here at My First Apartment! We’re working with Kate Marengo of Arranging Order to share tips of the trade, as well as show how interior design can, really, be quite affordable. Check out the first post of the series here. In today’s post, we’ve worked with Kate to answer our…

Ask a Designer: Interior Design 101

February 1, 2013 | By Alissa AuthorMy First Apartment

This February, we’re focusing on interior design to help you turn your new apartment into a cozy home you’ll love. Since not all of us are design wizards, we’ll be working with Chicago interior designer Kate Marengo of Arranging Order. She’s given me some great tips on decorating that I’ll be sharing throughout the month – and she’s…

Savvy Financial Tips: How You Should Budget For Rent

September 7, 2012 | By Alissa AuthorMy First Apartment

We’re back with our second installment of tips from the folks at Apartment Guide, this time with your wallet in mind. Check out our first installment here, designed to make your home feel warm and cozy – not to mention reward a lucky commenter with $50 for sharing a tip for how to best turn an…

Does Renter’s Insurance Really Work? YES!

August 8, 2012 | By Alissa AuthorMy First Apartment

As MFA is a site dedicated to apartment rentals, we endorse renter’s insurance because: 1) It seems like a smart idea to insure your stuff against the unthinkable and 2) It’s SUPER inexpensive for the value it brings (Alex and I have been paying around $150/year for up to $20,000 of coverage). In this post,…

What It Feels Like To Be Robbed

June 20, 2012 | By Alissa AuthorMy First Apartment

Last Sunday we were newlyweds, recently returned from a gorgeous honeymoon in Greece. My husband, Alex, who often blogs for MFA (and even recently blogged about first apartment safety!) would end the day by laughing and throwing a pillow at me saying in a deep baritone, “The Honeymoon is OVER!!” We were wrapped in a…

Sodastream Review & Giveaway: Make Soda At Home!

January 27, 2012 | By Alissa AuthorMy First Apartment

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR GIVEAWAY WINNER GINA M MADDOX. THANKS TO ALL PARTICIPANTS FOR GREAT COMMENTS AND POST IDEAS! We’re always searching for great new products to help make apartment living just a touch easier, what with all the walkups and tiny spaces where we dwell. Recently, we came across the Jet Sodastream – a rad…

Goodbye, New York

August 31, 2011 | By Alissa AuthorMy First Apartment

I was about to email a friend whose name begins with “L-e” and my grandpa’s now-expired email address popped up within Gmail – an address I haven’t had the ability to use in over four years. Almost the length of time I’ve lived in New York. Gramps wasn’t New York’s biggest fans; he once asked…