Getting familiar with your new neighbors is a fun and interesting part of apartment living. Not only does it help to add a sense of community, but it’s a great way to make new friends as well! Neighbors can help you look after your apartment when you’re away on vacation, can join you for holiday get-togethers, or they could even connect you to a job opportunity or other like-minded people! But, how do you greet the new neighbors? It can seem tricky if you’ve never had to do it before, but when it comes to saying hello, keeping it simple is always best!
A Friendly Greeting Will Do
The classic greeting is always effective! Simply going over and saying, “Hello” can break the ice and start a conversation. Ask where they’re from, remember their name, and find out what you two might have in common. Easy-going conversation is best, and it’s important not to pry or get too nosy when making your introduction. Keep it casual and friendly!
Win Them Over with Sweets
Another good way to say hello is to bake cookies or treats! Almost everyone enjoys a home-cooked treat, and it’s a great way to make a first impression. Even if they can’t eat the goodies you bring, they will more than likely understand and appreciate your nice gesture.
Host A Meet and Greet
If you already know other neighbors in your apartment complex, try hosting a meet-and-greet. Invite the neighbors you already know as well as your new neighbors to your apartment. This could make it less awkward if you’re not inclined to introduce yourself one-on-one, and it shows your new neighbor that he or she has a friendly welcoming party living in the complex as well.
Lend a Helping Hand
If your neighbor is in the middle of moving, try asking if they need any help. If you’re capable of helping, especially with heavier items, that can go a long way toward fostering a sense of trust and friendship right away!
Consider Stopping By, But Be Considerate
When making your introduction, it is a good idea to choose a time when you know they are home but will not be overwhelmed. For instance, dinner time is not the best time to stop in and try to strike up a chat, and anywhere from 2:30 to 3:30 pm is probably not best if your new neighbor has children getting off of school. Anytime between 10am and 2pm are generally the best times for the weekdays or the weekends, if your new neighbor is home.
Make the first move when meeting your neighbor for the first time! Don’t wait for an invitiation in; new neighbors are often fairly embarrassed by the state of their home for the first few weeks. Moving in and organizing can create quite a clutter! If you want, ask your new neighbors over for a cup of coffee or a meal one day. Having them over to your apartment diffuses the embarrassment of them having to explain their move-in clutter and can allow you to get to know each other in a friendly space.
However you choose to say hello, make sure your new neighbor feels at home! A close-knit sense of community is one of the great aspects of apartment living!
On May 26th, some of Metairie’s “most wanted” went to jail for a great cause!
Participants in The Lock-Up Luncheon at Zephyr Field were “arrested” and brought to the field, where they had to call friends for “bail money”. All of the proceeds from the friendly bail money went toward helping those with Muscular Dystrophy. The event raised $43,098, with the funds raised from jailbirds going toward 30 minutes of research, 5 or more minutes of research, annual flu shots, physical therapy sessions, support group sessions, and the Children’s MDA Summer Camp.
Muscular Dystrophy affects people of all ages and races worlwide. Its incidence varies, as some forms are more common than others. The most common forms of Muscular Dystrophy occur in children. Duchenne and Becker muscular dystrophy alone affect approximately 1 in every 3,500 to 5,000 boys, or between 400 and 600 live male births each year in the United States. All of the various forms of the disease are inherited and involve a mutation in one of the thousands of genes that are necessary for muscle integrity. Many cases of Muscular Dystrophy occur from spontaneous mutations that are not found in the genes of either parent, and this defect can be passed to the next generation.
The proceeds from this great event will help in many ways. Some of the money will go to clinics that provide skilled and specialized medical care. Other portions of the funds raised will go toward cutting edge research and investigation into treatments for MDA and potential cures. Funding from the enent will also aid in obtaining equipment that will help those afflicted with the disease in coping with challenges. A camp also received a portion of the donations, which will help children with Muscular Dystrophy have a barrier-free week of fun, friendship, and much needed laughter!
For more information on how you can help fight Muscular Dystrophy and make a difference in your community, visit www.mda.org. There you will find information on how MDA makes a difference to people around the country and in your area! Three cheers to all the participants who helped raise awareness and aid in the care of those with Muscular Dystrophy! The event was a fun time for a great cause.
Apartment living, at first glance, can seem almost deceitfully easy to keep clean and maintain. For the most part, apartment living does make it easier to stay organized and maximize space. However, apartments can descend from havens of tidiness and efficiency to messy chaos quite quickly without a watchful eye. This can occur because of the space of your apartment, your busy lifestyle, or having visitors. With a little elbow grease and a plan of attack, you can turn your messy apartment into a tidy living space in no time.
If you aren’t in the habit of cleaning regularly, your apartment has probably accumulated dirt and grime in places you never think about. It’s important to get at the deeply embedded dust and dirt first to maximize future cleanings. To leave that old dirt behind would make any future cleaning you do fairly ineffective. Places like ceiling fans, window shades, air vents, and those cracks between the stove and counter tops can be oft forgotten and therefor prime candidates for collected dirt.
You should remove everything from your shelves and cabinets to clean them. Picking up items and dusting or wiping as you go will lead to spotty work and missed spots. You might also consider washing or dusting the items on your shelves before replacing them back to their original spots. If you find yourself with an abnormal amount of dust in your apartment, check your air filter and replace it if it’s overdue. Old air filters can collect dust that will disperse throughout your apartment, making it harder to maintain.
Deciding your first area of attack can be difficult. Often, when looking over a messy apartment, the task can seem overwhelming. Most likely, you’ll want to first take care of things that are creating bad smells first. Take out the garbage (and clean your trash can, if necessary), clean out any rotten or moldy food from the refrigerator, empty out any old containers of food and wash them thoroughly, make sure kitchen sponges aren’t stinky, and if you have pets, clean their areas.
Litter boxes, puppy pads and bird cages, for example, can really become a mess if they aren’t given enough attention. Once you take care of obviously problem areas that create smells, the entire freshness of your apartment changes for the better. With larger problems like smelly areas and deeply embedded dirt already cleaned, the rest of your cleaning might look much easier.
Whether you live alone, with a partner, or with roommates, setting aside time to clean will help keep the mess from piling up. Creating a plan with housemates can help alleviate cleaning stress and keep each person accountable if you live with others. Try giving each person his or her own workday, specific tasks, or particular rooms to keep clean.
Whatever system you choose, make sure the apartment is cleaned once a week. It doesn’t take long for clothes to pile up on the floor, garbage to overflow, or dishes to fill the sink. If you tackle the mess at least once a week, cleaning will become a simple matter of maintenance instead of a chaotic emergency.
Once you’ve taken the time to clean and organize your apartment, take the time to enjoy it! Having a clean apartment means you’ll be more comfortable, and you won’t have to scramble if guests come over without much notice. In the end, your apartment should feel like home. What better way to treat yourself than to relax after a hard day in a clean, cozy space that you can call your own?
With many people around the country tightening their belts and looking for ways to save money, choosing an apartment that fits your budget can be a major financial decision. While most of us would love a huge space to call our own, it doesn’t always make sense financially. So, if you’re like most people, you probably find yourself trying to save a little by living a little more modestly. But, having limitations on space doesn’t mean you need to limit your imagination and usage of it! There are plenty of ways you can not only maximize the space you live in, but make it seem larger and make it useful!
It’s All About Flow
A lot of what makes a space look larger is all in the view. Try to keep your space as open as possible. Clutter not only creates obstacles when passing through, but visually it makes a room look smaller and more compact. Try to organize your furniture against walls, and keep your middle spaces open and clean. This creates a clear line of sight through the room and makes the space look larger. Beyond that, living in an area where you don’t have to dodge tables, chairs, couches, or other clutter, in odd places, makes traversing your apartment much less of a hassle!
Out of Site Storage Ideas
If your bedroom is more compact than you would like, find ways to maximize the space you have. A bed with storage underneath can save the need for a large dresser, creating more space for you to use within the room. Shelving which can be hung also saves floor space and can help to it from being cluttered with books or knick-knacks. Finding storage drawers to put in your closet can also save you from having to invest the money, and floor space, in a larger dresser. Any items that can double as storage are always helpful. Ottomans with removable tops that can be used as storage, and couches with compartments within them for storage can be life-savers when space is minimal.
Rack Up for Kitchen Space
In the kitchen, maximizing cabinet, counter, and shelf space is key. There are nifty things you can buy for your kitchen go help with this such as magnetic spice racks. These can be placed on the wall to keep your counters clean and cabinets used for dishes. If you regularly have more than one bottle of wine at a time, consider buying a space-saving wine rack to put your bottles in. This will help from them cluttering your counters, and adds a touch of class to the kitchen. Toasters and microwaves can be placed together side by side to maximize space and efficiency as well. Keeping the kitchen clean from clutter also helps not only with minimizing mess, but with maximizing counter space. If you can, store dinnerware and cutlery near the dishwasher so that it can be emptied quickly and easily.
Pick a Floor Plan that Fits Your Lifestyle
To really utilize the space you have effectively, you have to prioritize what is most important to you. If you don’t cook much, but prefer to have more sleeping and entertainment space, an apartment with a smaller kitchen but bigger rooms can be ideal. Once you find a space that’s important to you and utilize it according to what you most desire within that space, you may find that any extra room in your apartment would be unnecessary. This is key when not only choosing an apartment, but deciding how you want to use the rooms you have in a way that will truly make you feel at home
Living in Southern Louisiana can be a little taxing in the summer. For all the great festivals, wonderful food, and interesting nightlife, those blustery and humid days can be a little tough to deal with. It seems like everyone in the New Orleans area has a tip for how to stay cool when the summer heat comes, but there are some simple ways to both conserve energy and stay cool while living in an apartment home that may come in handy when the heat wave comes!
Flowing Filters
First of all, make sure that any and all air filters in your apartment are clean to allow cool, clean air to continue to flow through. Not only will this keep your apartment cooler, but it will keep electricity costs down and keep the air fresher within your apartment home. The suggested filter change period is generally around once or month depending on the amount of use within your home.
Don’t Bake; Nuke It
Another helpful tip you might not know is that microwave cooking not only uses much less energy than your full-sized oven, but it also emits much less heat into the room and surrounding areas. While oven cooking may be unavoidable for those big meals, if it’s at all possible to microwave your meal, this may help to keep your kitchen cool and your bills lower. Not only will the energy used be less, but using your microwave will ease the workload on your air conditioner, which could doubly help in terms of staying economical and cool. Beyond microwaving meals, eating cold meals can help to keep you refreshed and cool as well as keeping you from expending heat and energy with kitchen appliances. Bowls of fruit or a nice summer salad can do the trick quite nicely!
Keeping Control
Some people tend to lower their thermostat, then put on insulating clothes to deal with the chill that central air conditioners can create. Try simply raising the thermostat by a couple of degrees to neutralize the effect and still keep your apartment cool. The Consumer Energy Center recommends leaving it at 78 degrees while you’re home, and setting it to 85 degrees or turning it off when you leave the apartment. However, you can find the right level for your health and comfort as well as any pets who may live with you. The savings from this alone could really surprise you come bill time!
Pretty up with a Purpose
If you haven’t yet put curtains up in your apartment, they can be a real energy saver. When sun shines into your apartment, it heats up the space. Keeping your shades and curtains closed during daylight hours, especially if you’re out and about, can keep your apartment cooler and your air conditioner running at its optimum. For extra protection from the sun, there are options such as blackout curtains to protect your home from the harsh rays outside!
Whatever methods you may already have to stay cool during the sometimes harsh summers, try integrating some of these tips for maximum comfort and efficiency!
1st Lake Properties | P. O. Box 73709 | Metairie, LA 70033 | info@1stlake.com
