Apartment Blog

If you’re like me you know the benefits of going green. We preach it all the time in our Apartments Going Green articles; it helps save the earth’s resources and the green in your wallet (money). But what are some unique reasons, perhaps some you didn’t think of before, for going green? Well, I turned to my favorite place for answers, Yahoo Answers and Google, to find some. They require some creative thinking, but I think you’ll like the reasons we’ve come up with…

1. It’s fun! You can totally make a game of recycling with a group of your friends or even a competition to see who the best is.
2. It’s empowering. Can you imagine the kind of high you’ll feel from helping the environment? You will have a since of pride that you are helping change the world for the better!
3. You’ll resemble your favorite celebrity! Many celebrities are taking the world by storm to try and get people more involved in environmentally friendly ways.
4. You’ll be viewed as stylish and trendy. The ‘hot’ thing right now is to ‘go green’. Many stores are printing t-shirts with phrases about going green, making recyclable bags with fun slogans, etc. You’ll be ‘in’ to your friends & family.
5. Green is a cool color that looks good on you! Many going green items are in fact green in color. When you think of going green, you think of Mother Nature, which is green. And, as we mentioned earlier, it helps save you some green in your wallet. This fabulous color will be all around you, and why not? You look good in green!!

The very color of St. Patrick’s Day happens to coincide with the same color as reduce, reuse and recycle…. GREEN! So it’s only fitting that this St. Patrick’s Day you follow the second tip from our ‘10 New Years Resolutions for Renters’ blog by ‘going green’.

Did you know that 45 tons of used discs end up in the landfill every month where they will never degrade? There is a great organization called Discs for Dogs, a SPCA program, that uses your unwanted discs to help save animals. It’s a win-win!

This is an AMAZING way to go green this St. Patrick’s Day and help out a great cause.  You can mail in your disks for free and the SPCA will sell them for $1 each and all proceeds will go to help provide better living for sheltered animals.So why don’t you go through your unwanted disks (CDS and DVDS) and mail them in. You have a chance to really help out a lot of animals! An added bonus is you’ll be following our third tip from our ‘10 New Years Resolutions for Renters’ blog by getting organized!

Valentine’s Day can be one of the most stressful holidays of the year. It’s marked as the day to express your love for those you care about most. However, there are so many questions as to what to buy, what he/she will think of it and whether or not it’s appropriate.  We’ve all gotten bad gifts on Valentine’s Day so to help you on your hunting expedition here are a few items NOT to get your Valentine this year!

For Him:

Anything he has to take care of. I.e. Flowers, a plant, an animal, etc.

Boxer shorts. Now I am guilty of this one, I’ve bought my boyfriend boxers many times before. I guess there really isn’t anything too exciting about opening up a gift with those bad boys inside!

Any type of soap, lotion, etc. He won’t be excited

For Her:

Anything that even remotely implies that her body has imperfections. I.e. gym memberships, Botox, diet plan subscriptions, self help books and the like.

Any type of appliance.  Just because she says, ‘I need a new….’ does not mean you should be the one to buy it for her! Trust me!

Any type of candles. Candles are boring and come on; everyone knows that you give candles when you can’t think of a gift.

Anything from the gas station on the way over. Cute flowers with the price sticker on it and a cheap box of chocolate screams ‘last minute’ which shows you didn’t really put much thought into it!

And the worst possible gift would be…….Nothing at ALL! Come on guys, even a card has to be done on this day! (Even if she says she wants to ‘skip’ Valentine’s Day, you know she doesn’t really mean it)

If you’ve got a story to tell with the worse Valentine’s Day present, feel free to share here….

Along with having our community theater videos hosted on our website, ForRent.com also posts them to our video syndication network. This network includes sites like: YouTube, MySpace, Yahoo, Dailymotion and others. Why do we do this you ask? Because, we feel that the more sites we have our videos on, the more visible they are to you! Having our content readily available on sites you use daily, such as MySpace or Yahoo, will help to make the apartment search process easier.  We strive to provide renters with the best resources.

So take a look at our latest apartment videos…

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As most of us renters know, while closet space is a nice amenity to have, it isn’t usually one of our top choices for narrowing down apartments. Therefore, we are usually stuck with whatever closet space we are given in the apartment we choose. And while a closet the size of Harry Potters Room under the stairs isn’t desirable, it’s manageable. So we’re here to provide you with a few tips on how to turn that hole in the wall of a closet, into a functional space for your wardrobe and accessories.

Tip 1: Do some ‘Spring cleaning’
The easiest way to get more room in your closet is to go through the items in there. Get rid of anything you don’t wear, haven’t seen or haven’t worn for more than a year.

Tip 2: Use all available space
If the closet you have only has one rod across the top, consider putting in a tension rod so that you can have double the space. Put the longer items on top (likes dresses and pants) and the shorter items on the bottom (like jackets, skirts and shirts). This is what I have done in my closet and it really opens the space!

Tip 3: Find Space Saver Ideas
The hanging shelf closet organizers can be used for various items. You can put sweaters, t-shirts, jeans or whatever in there. The space it takes to hang up the organizer will be more than doubled with the amount of garments you can put in there.

Tip 4: Use the back of the door
I think people underestimate the amount of room it’ll save them if they put a shoe rack or an over the door rack to hang accessories.  Instead of putting your shoes on shelves, free up those shelves with a shoe rack on the back of the door. If nothing else, you can always put a full length mirror on the back of the door so you can check yourself before you leave. That’ll save room somewhere else in your apartment.

Tip 5: Stash seasonal items
There are quite a few storage bins available in stores. You can get rolling bins for under your bed to hide non-season items. For example if you are in the summer months, there is no reason for you to have your bulky sweaters and jackets in your closet. They just take up space. Put them in a container under your bed and get them out when the weather calls for it.

So there it is, five tips to help you organize the closet in your apartment into something that is practical for your lifestyle. You will truly be surprised by the ‘magical’ transformation!

By Simon Phillips 

I like to do my bit for the planet by doing things like recycling and not using plastic bags for my grocery shopping, but my girlfriend takes green issues even more seriously.  Recently she started trying out all kinds of DIY cleaning tips using eco-friendly products.  To my surprise these strange concoctions made from things like baking soda and vinegar actually seem to do the trick.  As well as being good for your apartment’s air quality, you can cut down on packaging and reduce the number of cleaning products you need, and save money at the same time.  Here are some of the green cleaning tricks I’ve picked up, which you can try out for yourself next time you’re cleaning your apartment.

Upholstery - Baking soda works wonders at removing stains from upholstery.  To get rid of spots of greasy food on a polyester seat or cushion, rub dry baking soda into it and then brush off.  Vinyl seats such as recliners or barstools can be cleaned by using baking soda mixed to a paste with water.

Metal Surfaces - You can bring the shine back to a stainless steel sink by cleaning it with baking soda sprinkled onto a damp cloth.  You can clean chrome faucets and other fittings by using a paste of baking soda and water and buffing dry.  This works on metal barstools as well.

Flooring - To stop spills from staining carpet, remove any solids and then pour club soda onto the area.  You’ll need to act quickly and do this as soon as the spill happens.  The club soda will help bring the spill to the surface and stop staining.  When vacuuming, add baking soda and a few drops of a pleasant smelling essential oil to the bag to reduce unpleasant odors. 

Wooden Furniture - Ditch the synthetic spray polish and use olive oil mixed with a small amount of lemon juice instead.  Rubbing mayonnaise on water marks helps shift them, and lemon juice helps remove heat marks from wood.

Laundry - Adding a spoonful of washing soda crystals to each wash makes hard water softer and reduces how much regular laundry powder you need to use.  Stubborn stains, including red wine, tomato sauce and curry, can be removed from clothes by soaking them overnight in a mixture of 1 cup of washing soda to 1 pint of water and then washing as normal.

Bathroom - Use an old toothbrush and a paste of baking soda and water to clean up old grout on tiles around the tub.  Scrub shower curtains with baking soda or a few drops of white vinegar to remove mildew.  Pouring half a cup of baking soda and 1 cup of vinegar down the plughole in the sink and tub can unclog blocked drains and if you do this regularly can prevent future blockages.  The same mixture can be used to remove lime scale deposits from a showerhead - leave it to soak in the mixture for an hour before running hot water through it.

Kitchen - Soaking greasy roasting tins in hot water and baking soda to loosen the grease and encrusted food makes them much easier to clean.  An effective multi-surface cleaner can be made from 2 cups of hot water, 2 teaspoons of lemon juice, 1 teaspoon of borax, 1 teaspoon of baking soda and a drop of washing-up liquid.  A homemade disinfectant can be made from 2 cups of water, 3 tablespoons of washing-up liquid and 25 drops of tea tree oil.

Windows and mirrors - A really simple way of cleaning windows and mirrors that really works is to spray undiluted white vinegar onto the surface and then buff to a shine using scrunched up newspaper or a paper towel.

Simon Phillips is a writer, interior design enthusiast and co-founder of GetBarstools.com.  He loves finding eco-friendly, money-saving ideas for the home.