Living in an Apartment: A Survival Guide

While living in a apartment may sound pretty glamorous to those who are living in residence halls, I urge you to have some perspective before signing your life away to a lease (and I do truly mean signing your life away!).

When living in an apartment, whether it is a studio (if you can be so lucky in this area!), a 1 bedroom, or even a 2 or 3 bedroom that you share with two or more other people, you would be wise to learn a few tricks and tips along the way to ensure you're not only getting the best for your money, but you're also kicking butt at this whole "adulting" nonsense.

Finding a place:

1. Start your apartment (or house) search right: Know your budget- and I don't mean your "Well, I could swing it if I only ate ramen noodle budget" - I mean your "I would still have $300-$400 left over if the car broke down, or got sick, budget." Knowing this number will not only leave you enough dough to pay your utilities, parking fees, and pet fees (more on this later), but also give you money to spend on groceries because a girl's gotta eat.
2. Learn about the areas you want to live in. Some neighborhoods are MUCH more expensive than others - two or three times more! Living in North Arlington is nothing like living in Alexandria, Vienna, or Fairfax. While your budget may not be worthy of one, for twenty extra minutes in the morning, you could be close (enough).
3. With that being said, know your commute times. Will you be walking or driving to school or work? Do you need to factor in money to ride the metro or what you will do in bad weather if you're deciding to bike? Is being further away from your job or work more feasible than paying $200-$300 more in rent? These are things that we (as "adults") have to consider.
4. Read YELP. I cannot tell you how important this point is. Apartment showrooms are often different than their real apartments and they're staged to feel homey, bigger, better, etc. If the property gets 1 star on YELP because the water never works and the maintenance team doesn't help, chances are you don't want to live there. 
5. Don't be fooled by pretty fixtures. Updated apartments are nice, but if the reviews suck, they're not worth it. Don't get roped in and think your experience will be different.
6. Want a pet? Have a pet? Know that apartments can charge pet rent: usually $30-$100 per month!! Not to mention a $300-$600 deposit for them alone, a mandatory cleaning fee when you move out ($100-$500), and most properties have restrictions on the breeds they allow, your animal's weight, and how many you're allowed to have. I'm not saying to re-home your pet (please don't!), but be an informed consumer before selecting a new home for the both of you. Make sure you can afford your pet in your budget before purchasing and know that you may need to include more money in your budget for rent. 
7. Do not be fooled into thinking your rent is all that you will owe at signing.  Move in fees ($100-$500), deposit (can be as much as your first month's rent), first month's rent, an application fee ($20-$100 per person on the lease!), your background check fee ($10-$30), and your pet fees may all apply. Talk to your leasing office and know what fees apply to you. 
8. Ask what their maintenance policies are. How long do you have to wait to get some help in an emergency? Are they on-call 24/7 (even holidays)? Will things be replaced if broken? Who will pay for those repairs? What about in a non-emergency- how long do they have to respond? What will they do if you are unhappy with the repairs? Will they compensate your rent for lasting problems? These are all important things to know.
9. When you ask for a tour, ask to see the space YOU would move into - not the showroom. (See point 4). Knowing what your apartment looks like is not only important because you want to know the condition it's in, but also because you don't want to be swindled into thinking you're getting a better place than you are.
10. Ask if you're "locked in" to your rent or if they can adjust it for ANY reason. If they struggle with this, run! Do not fall for this ploy. 
11. Find out the costs if you need to end your lease. Renters can charge anywhere from 1 month to 6 months of your rent - just to cancel your lease! Be aware that while you probably won't have to do this, it's always better to know what you're looking at. Also find out what type of exceptions there are. 
12. Pay attention to the floor that you are on. Hate climbing stairs? Probably not a good idea to move to a community that doesn't have elevators. Hate first floor apartments? Let your leasing agent know. They're there to help find the right place for you (usually).
13. Save money. Renting apartments is great for college students, but one day, you're going to be a college graduate and you're going to need some leftover income for student loans, a house, a baby, etc. Try to be frugal.

Once you've found a place:

1. Get renter's insurance. It's usually required, but it basically protects you and your stuff from damages.
2. Get the apartment emergency numbers for maintenance and learn where the hospitals are. You might not use them, but they're lifesavers.
3. Go through your apartment before moving all of your stuff in. Take pictures and lots of them. Keep them on your computer so that when you move out, you can show that you haven't done any prior damage or are responsible for the stains on the floors or walls.
4. Report any immediate concerns to the leasing office. For instance, if your window doesn't open, water isn't working, or AC has decided to shut down, you need to call them.
5. Learn where you can find the 5 G's: Groceries, gas, grub, gym, and garbage. You need to be able to find a place to buy groceries, find gas to fill up your car, eat a quick meal, work off said meal, and deposit your move in garbage within the first week. So, ask around. 
6. Find out how long it will take you to get to work (or school) in rush hour traffic - before it matters. Nothing is worse than being late and trust me, commuting in this area sucks. Do your homework to find out what you're looking at and if you need to, do a test run.

So, as a college student who is living with her best friend and her fiancé, these are my tips. Trust me, I'm still learning myself and I've definitely fallen for a few of these, myself. Just try to keep your head up and prioritize what is most important to you. 

Xoxo,

Katie Blair

The Myth of College Life

When I was a freshman in high school, I told myself that college would be the best time in my life and I would constantly be having fun. Because of this, I strived all four years to make it to college, with the understanding that high school was the time to work and college would be the time to have fun.

My perceptions of what college would be like didn't come from my family or even from my teachers in high school, but rather from the media. 

The media likes to show college as the time that you waste away drinking and partying, or the time that you gain 20 pounds from eating all of the food in the dining hall. Those are the two "extremes" we see - people who are popular and partying - or people that are "un-cool" and gaining weight from endless cheeseburgers. 

More recently though, a new "version" of college life is developing. If you haven't fallen hopelessly in love, married the person of my dreams, and lived happily ever after by the time you're 22, something's wrong (or at least that's what movies tell us). 

(However, because I have been lucky enough to find the person that I plan to marry in 2017, I urge you to realize that my case is the exception - not the rule).

Anyways, back to the point! 

When I first got to college, way back at orientation, I asked some of my new friends what they thought our first year was going to be like... Turns out, I wasn't alone in believing the myths of college life.

Sitting in the grass at 2am on our first night of "freedom," we came up with a short list of expectations that can only be explained by the GIF's below:

We thought we would attend ALL of the parties.  

We thought we would eat ALL of the (junk) food. 

And lastly, we thought we would ALL find the (wo)men of our dreams.

However, this isn't what we found in college. Instead, we found difficult assignments, great professors that made 3 hour classes feel like 10 minutes, and ultimately, a small group of friends that we would travel the world for and an even smaller group of friends that helped us pick up the pieces when that "love of our life" left, or that "wild night" got too wild.

So here is my advice to you:

Whatever you do and wherever you go, go into college knowing that college is a time to grow (up) and a time to recognize that it's not American Pie or (insert college-themed movie here), but rather a once in a lifetime experience that only a select portion of the world is so lucky to have.

When I first started college, I was barely 18. I had no idea that in three years, I would (with Marymount's help!) grow up to be able to present at conferences, be part of leadership teams like Marymount University Student Ambassadors and Student Government Association, or even that I would be able to travel the world with my university. Three years ago, I wasn't ready (emotionally, mentally, or educationally) to do ANY of that, but because of the professional and stimulating environment of college, I certainly am now. Thanks to all of that, now I'm more secure in my ability to get a job afterward graduation AND I can firmly believe in myself as a true "adult" (rather than a small town girl playing dress up in business casual). 

It's really easy to party and eat your way through college, but it's harder to make everything count and to truly learn something. You may be "entertained" by those parties and by eating contests with friends, but are you really getting something out of it? Chances are, your answer to that question is "No."

Trust me, your college becomes your new home - one that is a lot easier to navigate when you're confident, when you make real friends and when you avoid making a fool out of yourself at an "on fleek" party.

Now, that doesn't mean that you have to be a hermit either. Go to big events on campus, try new things, join clubs and organizations. But, like everything you do in college, be smart about it. 

If you know you desperately want to intern at the White House, pick clubs that can get you there. If you're like me and you know you want to go to graduate school, join Academic and Honors societies that highlight your dedication to your studies. 

You've probably heard this before, but trust me, college is truly what you make it. College only happens once and trust me, everything you learn will in some way help you after graduation, whether you learn it in the classroom or "out in the real world."