Creating the Ultimate Apartment Study Space

With fall in the air and the school year now in full swing, students young and old are cracking the books.  Whether you happen to be a full-time student living on her own for the first time, or a working condo-dweller taking a night course to gain a career advantage, you will need to carve out a space in your living area for studying.  A solid, designated study area gives you the spatial and mental organization you need to stay on top of your studies.  Here are some tips to help you create the ultimate home study space.

Create an Area

The first step to making a great study space is creating a distinct and separate area.  Separating your study space from your everyday living is crucial: it will improve your thinking and your level of engagement as you study, and it will help you to better remember what you have studied later on.  In selecting your area, choose a part of your apartment with natural light (if possible) that gives you enough space to think comfortably.  Once you have a place, make it your own by adding plant life, photographs or pictures that keep you grounded and motivated, and a good lamp to ensure adequate lighting.  The goal is clarity and simplicity, so be selective, and decorate minimally.  Remember your study space should be a single-function area, and used for studying alone, so pick an area removed from the hustle and bustle of your apartment.

Create Order

When you are studying organization is key.  You want your study area to be completely devoid of clutter and distraction.  So, have your supplies neatly organized and easily accessible—with pens, pencils, rulers, and calculators stowed in an orderly manner.  This organization should extend to your courses as well.  Sort and store each course by coloured folder, which you can store and retrieve from an inbox.  With your work and supplies neatly arranged, you can post either a calendar or corkboard above your study area, so as to clearly list any assignments, test dates, or deadlines.

Create Clarity

With a properly organized, distinct and separate study area, you give yourself the clarity and focus you need to study effectively.  Once you are studying, be sure to remove and turn off any and all distractions including phones, wifi, and loud or disruptive music.  If you have a hard time getting focused, then start slow: set a timer for 15 minutes to allow you to commit yourself to focused, undistracted study time.  Once you master 15 minute sessions, make the times longer.  Remember, studying is challenging, so make your study area an oasis of clarity within your busy life and busy apartment.

New Years Resolutions for Renters

Although largely symbolic, the start of a new year offers you the chance to do things better.  While people usually look to themselves for self-improvement, it might be more productive to think about how things could be better managed in your apartment.  New Year’s Resolutions are difficult to maintain, but if you keep your apartment resolutions simple, realistic, and useful, then upholding them should be easy.

Out with the Old

Nothing allows you to free up, and change up, your apartment like purging the ghosts of yesteryear.  The New Year gives you a great opportunity to finally offload the things you have been holding on to.  A great rule of thumb is if you have not used an object in the past year, then pass it on, and make space for something else!  Haul those old clothes, coats, shoes, books, DVDs, and small pieces of furniture off to the thrift store, and make some room for yourself.  Also, New Year is a great time to finally commit to getting rid of the trickier items that have languished under your kitchen sink or in your closet for the past year.  Old paint cans, hardware, dead batteries, or old tech and wires can all be gotten rid of by simply looking up municipal guidelines on their safe disposal.

A Fresh Start

The New Year also allows you to finally tackle the little projects that have weighed you down throughout the year.  Now is your time to finally go through your digital pictures, select five or ten of them, and print and hang them on your wall.  Or, maybe this is your chance to go out and grab some frames for the posters or prints you have stacked under your bed, and have been dying to put up.  Additionally, the New Year lets you commit to some new systems to help you better streamline and manage your life.  Now is the time to take a look at your kitchen and rearrange cupboards, shelves, cooking implements, and ingredients to better sync with how you prepare food.  Or, maybe this is the time that you finally tackle your home entertainment system to de-clutter wires, or to purchase that one small device that makes your streaming or listening that much more strait-forward.

Be a Better Tenant

Finally, the New Year gives you a chance to start doing the things you wished you did in your house or building to improve your living space.  Whether it is introducing yourself, at long last, to your neighbours, or picking up flyers on the floor of your mailroom to throw in the recycling, the New Year is a great opportunity to start building a better community.  Remember, change starts with you, and sometimes the easiest way to make a change is by rearranging how you live.

How to Reduce Your Energy Bills

If the mounting concerns surrounding global warming have yet to force you to re-examine your environmental footprint, chances are the increasingly high costs of home energy will.  Utilities bills are no joke.  They can often constitute close to 20% of overall household expenditures.  Monitoring your energy output, and finding ways to cut back, then, can save you a noticeable amount of money.  In a nutshell, it pays to be green.  Here are some tips to help you reduce your energy bills.  

Heating / Air Conditioning

Simply keeping your apartment or condo at a comfortable temperature can be costly, if you are not careful.  In the summer, to avoid high air conditioning expenses, make sure to keep your blinds and curtains closed, and to keep your light and appliance use to a minimum.  Blocking out the sun does wonders to keep your apartment cool.  Also, BBQ or cook outside as much as possible, instead of unnecessarily heating up your entire apartment by turning on the oven.

In the winter, make sure you let the sun in as much as possible, to warm your apartment up.  Also, if you can, install a programmable thermostat.  These allow you to really lower the heat at times when it is not required—like when you are at work, or sleeping at night—and they provide greater control over heating various rooms.  Remember, cranking the thermostat when you are cold does not warm your apartment any faster, and usually ends up overheating your home, which you then have to cool down by opening windows and wasting energy.  With thermostats, slow and steady wins the race.

In both seasons make sure you keep your doors and windows closed—heating or cooling the outdoors is a losing and costly proposition.

Small Measures = Big Savings

There are also several small measures you can take to help lower energy costs.  Simply minimizing the amount of water you run, ensuring all lights, heat, or air is off in rooms you are not using, and air drying both your clothes and your dishes go a long way towards saving you money.  Cooking in larger batches also helps you save energy.  By taking a weekend afternoon to prepare some soups, stews, or roasts, you use the stove and oven less frequently.  This allows you to reheat with a microwave, as the week unfolds, which uses 50% less energy than the oven.  Last, remember to save those more high-energy tasks, like laundry, running the dishwasher, or taking baths, for the “off peak” hours, which are generally on the evenings and weekends.  Doing these more high-energy tasks at off-peak times lets you take advantage of a more economical rate.

 

The Joys of De-cluttering Your Apartment

In today’s consumer society it is easy to find yourself buried in stuff.  Whether it is clothes, linens, shoes, half-finished packages of food, or an overstuffed medicine cabinet, it is an almost constant battle to keep the stuff we use for our every day lives under control.  By taming the beast of clutter you can simplify your daily routines by having less stuff to sift through, and you can restore a greater sense of peace and well being to your home in the process.  Here are a few guidelines to getting the clutter out of your apartment and to getting some peace of mind back into your life.

The Kitchen

It is easy to acquire food, spices, oils, condiments, plates, and cookware without having the proper storage to accommodate it all.  Generally, if you have not used something—whether it is a fondue set, a blender, or that Thai spice mix set you someday intend to use—get rid of it.   One way to ensure your kitchen stays manageable is by making a few smaller shops per week, rather than one big stock up.  Buying less items more frequently keeps you in touch with what you do have, and allows you to keep fresher ingredients on hand while preventing waste through spoilage. 

The Bedroom Closet

Clothes can be particularly tricky to manage because of the sentimental value we often place upon them.  A particular sweater, t-shirt, or coat can live on in our closets well after it has ceased to be worn simply because it reminds us of a particular time and place.  As a rule of thumb, if you have not worn a garment over the last year then it is time to put it out to pasture.  Once you pare down your wardrobe to a manageable amount, be sure to arrange and present your clothes in a clear and organized manner, so you can keep daily, visual tabs on what you have.

The Bathroom

Bathrooms are magnets for almost empty bottles of shampoo and conditioner and old medications, combs, and tubes of cream that never get used.  Again, if you have not used something in a year then it is good to go.  Think of what toiletries you would pack for a trip—i.e. what are the essential things you need each day—and reduce your bathroom stock to only those items. 

If you clean as you go, and keep your counters, cabinets, and drawers free from becoming dumping zones, than a de-cluttered apartment is easy to maintain.  Remember, thrift stores, charities, and food banks are always in need of good items, so pass your stuff along, and keep yourself and your apartment organized and orderly.

How to Party in your Apartment Holiday Style

Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or none of the above, December is a wonderful time to get together with friends and family.  As the weather grows cold, and the days become shockingly shorter, the holiday season is the perfect time to open your hearts and you home to those you love.  Apartment parties, however, can be a little trickier to pull off, so keep these tips in mind as you make merry this holiday season.

Use Your Space

Just because you have a one bedroom or a basement bachelor doesn’t mean you can’t host a perfect holiday party—you just need to maximize your space.  You can start by removing any extra clutter you might be harboring in your apartment. Move any extraneous and clunky objects out of the way by storing them temporarily in a closet, or, weather permitting, on a balcony or deck, in order to make room for your revelers.  After you free up some space, create a sense of flow in your apartment by setting up a few different “hubs” or gathering spaces.  By placing hors d’oeuvres or snack trays in unexpected spots, like a home office nook or hallway table, or by placing a self-serve drink or punch station in a less-trafficked part of your living room, you can naturally disperse your guests throughout your apartment.

Don’t Slave Away

There is nothing worse, for you or your guests, than spending the entirety of your party holed up in the kitchen cooking feverishly.  Instead, select menu items and snacks that are quick and easy to prepare.  Cured meats, veggies trays, nuts, chocolates, and quickly warmed finger foods are all great ways to avoid excessive cooking.  The best part about holiday parties is sampling all the different items—so definitely opt for a variety of easy to prepare snacks over a labour-intensive meal.  If you do insist on having something on the stove, try making a warm drink that your guests can serve themselves. Hot apple cider or hot chocolate are wonderful nonalcoholic drinks, while hot buttered rum and mulled wine are perfectly seasonal alcoholic options.   

Dream up a Theme

Feel free to spice your party up with a theme!  There are numerous seasonal themes to draw from (apres ski, tacky holiday sweater, or come as your favourite holiday), but you can take themes to the next level by building an activity into your party.  Whether it is a gingerbread house making contest, a tree or apartment decorating activity, a holiday treat bake-off, a bring your own gift-wrapping party, or a holiday song karaoke jam, incorporating a theme into your party can help break the ice with your guests, and can really make your holiday party a fete to remember.

How to Put on a Great Fall Party

Fall can often feel like a sad and somber time, but in many ways fall is the best time of year.  With its brisk sunny days, its vibrant colours, and the excitement of change in the air, fall is the perfect time to get together with family and friends.  Whether on your balcony or patio, or nestled snuggly in your living room, a party is the best way to celebrate fall together.

Get Outside

Don’t let the slightly cooler weather deter you—hosting your family and friends outside can make for a truly memorable fall gathering.  To keep the chills at bay, put out some blankets for you guests.  Also, hosting outside allows you to get in one last BBQ as you entertain.  Nothing says fall like grilled seasonal vegetables, sausages, or halloumi, and the flames from the grill add an extra element of cheer to the gathering.  Another great way to offset the crisp air is by providing a nice warm drink.  Hot apple cider or hot chocolate are great for keeping your guests warm as you take in the fall colours. 

Be Seasonal

Whether you are outside or in, decorate your apartment in the colours of the fall. Adorn your table with colourful fall leaves, and select decorations and napkins with fall hues—like pine green, cranberry, mustard yellow, or the classic oranges and browns.  Candles, or a fire—if you are lucky enough to have one in your apartment—also go a long way to warming your guests’ hearts.  The best parties are always interactive, so organizing one or two seasonal games can really take your party to the next level.  If you are outside, consider a game of horseshoes or croquet, or, if indoors, classics like trivial pursuit or charades really get the party going.

Harvest the Bounty

Fall abounds in wonderful seasonal foods, so make food central to your party by using flavours like pumpkin, cranberry, and apple.  Fall is also a great time to break out the slow-cooker.  Put on a vegetable or beef stew or chili to slowly simmer as your guests arrive.  When it is time to eat, guests can serve them-selves with warm baguette or corn bread as the evening unfolds.  If you aren’t a baker grab a pie from your favourite bakery and warm it slowly in your oven, or put out the supplies for smores and allow your guests to make there own.

Don’t let the fall turn you into a shut-in.  By embracing the fresh weather and availing yourself of the season’s produce, gather your friends and family together one last time before the snow and ice makes it that much harder to go out.