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.  

Finding a Great Rental on a Budget

The cost of living is pretty steep these days, and rent is no exception.  Stories of scarily high rent for less than ample living space—stories that used to belong only to the likes of London, Tokyo, and Manhattan—now seem to be the norm for much of North America.  While high demand in the housing market is keeping rent high, there are still some great, affordable spaces out there if you happen to be apartment hunting on a budget.  Here are a few things to keep in mind if you are looking to snag a great rental on a dime.

Prioritize
The first step towards securing an affordable rental is to determine what “affordable” means for you.  Generally you should look to spend about 30% of your income on rent, so look at what you are bringing in and determine exactly what your optimal rent range should be.  When you know what you are comfortable spending draw up a list of your priorities, so you can best match what you need with what you can spend.  You may want a parking space, a balcony, a fireplace, a backyard, an eat-in kitchen, on-site laundry, a dishwasher, and a ten-person hot tub . . . but, to budget you need to prioritize what you absolutely cannot live without.  Once you determine your price range and your mandatory requirements affordable apartment hunting becomes much easier.

Think Outside the Neighbourhood Box 
 One way to guarantee that you will find a more affordable rental is by looking in more “off the radar” neighbourhoods.  We all have our preferences when it comes to city living, but try to expand your horizons.  These more “up and coming” neighbourhoods offer exciting renting possibilities, and often list rentals at more affordable rates due to slightly lower demand.  Not only can you save money by thinking outside the neighbourhood box, but you also get the chance to see a whole other side of your city.  Alos, at the rate at which development takes place in most cities these days, moving into an “off the radar” neighborhood allows you get in on the next new hot spot with a lease you can afford.

Use All the Tools at Your Disposal
There are many great tools to help you in your hunt.  Rent Compass allows you to search directly by neighbourhood and price range to give you a comprehensive view of all of your options by location.  In addition to this powerful apartment hunting tool, friends, family, and coworkers are an invaluable resource in helping you locate a great rental at a great price.  The direct contacts offered through your network can allow you to connect directly to property renters, which can often save you money and time.
Rent can be costly in this day and age, but if you keep an eye on your priorities and keep an open mind in terms of where you want to live, you can find a great apartment at a great price.

Add an Entry-Way to your Apartment and Make your Rental Feel Like Home

One big advantage houses have over apartments is the wonderful sense of an entrance they tend to provide.  When you step inside a house you are generally greeted by a receptive and welcoming hall that accommodates your shoes and outerwear, and acts as a welcome decompression chamber from the outside world.  Apartments, more often than not, open directly from the outside world onto one’s living space in an abrupt and jarring manner.  However, apartment living need not do without the soothing middle ground of an entry-way.  Here are a few tips to help you set up your own grand entrance.

The challenge in adding a good entry to your apartment is to maximize the feeling of a separate area, and to minimize the space you take up in your apartment while doing so.  A good first step is to provide a space for coats.  Depending on your space you can either arrange and mount several decorative looking hooks—antique markets sell old hooks, door knobs and other interesting items you can use for this purpose—or mount a proper coat rack.  Some coat racks come with a row of hooks, as well as a series of little cubbies to store hats, gloves, and push button umbrellas—these are great.  Another option is to install and adapt a thin book case.  By removing the shelves and installing some hooks, you can create a wonderful, space-saving wardrobe, complete with room at the bottom for boots and shoes.  A place for coats and outdoor things is a wonderful way of establishing a sense of entrance into your apartment.

After building in some space for you and your guests’ outdoor wear, you will want to add a little piece of you to your entry-way.  An entrance is, in a sense, a first impression of your home, and you want that impression to clearly reflect who you are.  The addition of a few small signature items can really help pull this off.  One or two objects, like a chair, a photograph, an umbrella stand, a painting, or an end- table work wonders in conveying who you are in your entry-way.  These little furnishings transform your door way into a distinct entrance into your own space.  Furthermore, the functionality of these furnishings gives your guests a place to take off their shoes, stow their coats, or throw their keys. 

Whether it is a shoe rack, an umbrella stand, or some photographs or a painting, by adding an entry-way you can better convert your rental into a home.

How to Pull Off the Perfect Move

There are few things in life that are as trying, aggravating, and all around grueling as moving.  We never realize just how much stuff we have until we are forced to pack, load, transport, and unload it all in one frenzied day.  However, like most things in life moving can be greatly simplified with some solid pre-planning, preparation, and organization.  Here are some guidelines to ensure that your next move is as smooth as they come.

Organization is Everything

You can greatly reduce the stress of moving by generating—well in advance—a detailed to-do list.  A good list allows you to identify everything you require, from movers, to friends, to truck rentals, to boxes, and it lets you get a handle on when things should be booked or reserved.  Planning in advance also gives you time to start acquiring the numerous boxes you will invariably need to get moving.  Once you have boxes in your place, you can get a great head start on your move by pre-packing and stacking anything and everything that you don’t absolutely require in advance of your move.

Leadership and Coordination

A good move will require leadership and coordination to keep friends and movers busy, and to ensure that all is running smoothly.  If you have movers, be sure they have all the requisite information about your new home including information about keys, parking, and unloading.  If you are relying on the kindness of friends, be sure to maximize their strengths by getting the best packers packing and the best loaders loading.  Another tip is to label your boxes clearly and simply—“upstairs bathroom” or “basement”—to keep your movers self-directed while you attend to the other details at hand.  Moving is also a wonderful opportunity to purge things you no longer need.  When under the pressure of having to load a truck, the decision as to whether or not you’d like to hang on to that oversized hand chair is greatly simplified.  

Unloading with Ease

If all goes to plan, unloading should be the more enjoyable part of your move.  Make sure that you are fully aware of any and all rules and regulations regarding moving at your new location.  Double check if parking is an issue, and whether or not you need to reserve the elevator for the afternoon.  Also, to ease your transition, make sure that everything has been cleared with your new landlord, and that your move is in full compliance with the rules of the house or building you are moving into.  Moving day is a wonderful opportunity to befriend your new neighbours, and there is no better way to do this than by observing the house rules on moving.  Finally, be sure to keep your movers happy (and productive!) by feeding them.  Moving is incredibly taxing for all involved, so when you are done be sure to kick back, feast, and congratulate your movers on a job well done.

How to be a Great Tenant

As more and more people look to renting and leasing homes instead of owning, the need to develop strong professional working relationships between tenants and landlords becomes all the more important.  A clearly defined, respectful rental relationship is mutually beneficial.  Landlords gain from having tenants treat property with the care and respect it deserves, and tenants benefit by cultivating a clear channel of communication for any concerns they may be having with the property.  By following these guidelines, you can ensure that you are doing your utmost to be the best possible tenant you can be.

Know Your Lease
By signing your lease you are committing to conduct yourself in the manner specified, so be sure to read your lease in detail.  Make sure you understand what it is that is expected of you as a tenant, and be sure you can live up to your end of the arrangement.  Also, double check that the lease outlines anything you might expect from the landlord in the rental agreement.  If you have any questions or concerns about maintenance, parking or pets, houseguests or gardens, raise them with your landlord as you negotiate and sign the lease.  Establishing a clear and open channel of communication in the signing of your lease is a great way to commence your rental agreement.

Pay Your Rent On Time
Paying your rent on the agreed upon date is crucial to being a good tenant.  With property taxes, utilities, and mortgage payments, property owners need to be sure that they can make their payments on time.  Pre-written cheques given to your landlord in advance are a great, and hassle-free way to ensure your rent always goes through on the agreed upon date.

Treat Your Rental like a Home
Your apartment is your home, and treating it as such pays dividends.  Maintaining your property, ensuring your garbage and recycling are deposited properly and on time, and keeping your apartment clean and in order are great ways to let your landlord know that you care about where you live.  Treating your rental like a home also means being a good neighbor.  When you rent you become the face of the property, and by being cordial, friendly, and respectful you keep your landlord free from having to dissolve any squabbles, and you keep the property owner’s relationship with the community in good standing.

Ultimately both landlords and tenants want the same thing: a mutually respectful, professional relationship.  By being the best tenant possible, you do your part to make this happen, and you reap the benefits as well.