3 Things NOT To Do When You Get Your First Apartment

By Danielle Wirsansky on July 17, 2018

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Your first apartment is such a milestone in a college student’s life. It is the real and tangible proof that you are independent, that you are an adult. It is the first time you are truly responsible for yourself, and the first time you become responsible for something so large. It is the first place you get to be in control of.

However, every freedom is never absolute. There are always rules and guidelines you have to follow. This does not mean that you are not really free. Instead, it is about learning to be free and independent within the constraints that rule your life. There are a lot of things you could do when you get your first apartment but that you really should not do. And if you do, there will be consequences to face. So to help you achieve your freedom and independence while working within the basic rules of apartment-hood, you can read on here to learn about the things you should NOT do when you get your first apartment.

Photo by Carlos Diaz from Pexels

DO NOT Make Modifications

One of the first things that people like to do when they move into a new space is to decorate and customize it, making it their own. This is completely understandable. And when that new space happens to be a living space, people often want to customize it by changing the colors or hanging up paintings and other modifications. DO NOT JUST MAKE MODIFICATIONS without checking what is acceptable and A-OK with your apartment complex.

If you own your apartment, go right on ahead and make whatever changes you want because you actually own your space. But most college students are simply renting their apartment, and so it does not belong to them, which means that they cannot just make any modifications to the space that they feel like. Rental apartments all have the same aesthetic and should be interchangeable when they are between tenants. A landlord cannot advertise what an apartment looks like and then bring a new tenant to an apartment that has green walls instead of white and hanging bead strands instead of doors.

Basic modifications that you should check before attempting are:

-          Painting the walls

-          Using Nails to hang things up

-          Changing out basic apartment hardware, like the floor, doors, and ceiling fans.

Landlords can you fine you, charge you money to get the apartment changed back to how it is supposed to look and more, which can add up to be very expensive. They might even make you paint the walls back from green to white!

It’s totally understandable to want to make a space your own, just do it from within the confines of your apartment complex’s rules!

DO NOT Leave All the Lights On

Now that you live in an apartment, this means that you are responsible for paying your own bills and such. It can be easy to forget all the bills you need to pay if you have not been responsible for paying them before in your life. An important one is the electric bill. If you do not pay that bill, you will lose your electricity which is something no one is keen on experiencing.

But another aspect of paying bills that those new to paying them often forget or overlook is how easy it is to rack up expenses. Now that you are the one paying the electric bill, you will notice how it fluctuates and how what you owe goes up and down in cost. Do you want to pay more for electricity then you need to? Then DO NOT leave all of your lights on! It is a really simple way to save money AND energy (do it for the environment at least!).

Your parents probably always scolded you for leaving the lights on and you would sigh, because come on, really, how much more money could leaving your bedroom light on for a few hours while you were gone add up to? Well, when you are the one paying the bill, you can see that it very much does add up. And there are probably plenty of other things that you would rather be spending your money on then some left on lights in an empty apartment. Turn off your lights when you are not using them!

Photo by PhotoMIX Ltd. from Pexels

DO NOT Leave Your Doors Unlocked

Finally, do not leave your doors unlocked. At home, you had parents that would lock the door after you and people you were living in to feel safe with. In college, you do not have such a support system. You must always lock your door because college students are a very vulnerable part of society. You are adults, but you are newer and probably not as good at it. You are bound to make more mistakes, and so college students are often targeted for things like break-ins and burglaries. Make it a habit to lock your door behind you when you arrive and when you leave. DO NOT leave your doors unlocked and increase your risk.

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