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Source: blog.apartmentsearch.com
Source: blog.apartmentsearch.com
You’re all moved into your new apartment. The layout is excellent, the work commute is a breeze, and the kitchen is impressive. But after taking your first shower in your new home, you notice that your skin and hair feel drier than ever! And why did your dishwasher leave a cloudy residue on all your glassware?
If these things sound familiar, your new apartment may have hard water. Learn what “hard water” is, how it stacks up against softer water, and tips for dealing with it in your new space.
Hard water is merely a form of H2O with a higher than average mineral content — typically, a larger calcium and magnesium concentration.
Before our drinking water ever makes it to the tap, it comes from lakes, rivers, and other waterways. As it flows, it picks up additional minerals from rocks and soil, and if too much is collected, hard water can form. Although you may want supplemental magnesium and calcium in your overall diet, hard water can cause some complications in your home.
Minerals found in hard water are natural and generally safe to consume. However, there are a few negative concerns associated with hard water in an apartment, too.
Due to many of these issues, your utility bills can increase from excess water used to rewash dishes, clothes, and other items, along with buildup in your plumbing systems.
After the long list of issues caused by hard water, it may seem that soft water is the better option. With its better soap performance, contribution to longer-lasting clothing, optimal water pressure, and other benefits, it still has a few faults of its own.
Soft water may have higher sodium levels, leading to a slightly salty taste.
It’s more corrosive and can slowly deteriorate your plumbing system’s useful life, which can cause high lead and copper levels in your drinking water.
If you notice any of the issues listed above for hard water, you may want to test it in other ways as well. Here are a few methods for evaluating the quality of the water in your home:
Test for hard water with a bar of soap and a bowl of water from the tap. Rub the soap between your hands in the bowl. If it lathers quickly, you likely have softer water. If getting a few suds to form proves challenging and the water becomes cloudy, hard water may be the culprit.
You can purchase these from many home improvement stores, but make sure the one you buy also tests for hard water. Fill a container from the tap and immerse the paper test strip in the water. Then, compare the strip’s final color with the kit’s chart.
Since you likely won’t have the same access to your overall plumbing system as you would in a house, it may take a little craftiness to deal with the hard water in your home. Try these tips:
Whether it’s the water quality or the noisy upstairs neighbors, there are plenty of reasons to want to move on to the next place. Find an apartment that fits your needs and budget with ApartmentSearch, where you can filter available rental properties by price, layout, amenities, and more!
Source: blog.apartmentsearch.com
Moving can be an exciting process! This is especially true if you’re looking forward to meeting new people and making new connections. To ensure a purely positive experience, we suggest erring on the side of safety when choosing a potential cohabitor. Before you split your bills with just anyone, do your due diligence when learning how to find a roommate safely by leveraging these four safety tips.
Are you asking yourself the question, “where can I find a roommate?” If so, your search may be shorter than you think. The safest way to find a new roommate is through a mutual friend or trusted connection. It’s reassuring to know that your roomie is vetted by a reliable source!
If real-world pairings don’t pan out, proceed online — with caution. Craigslist roommate finder is a commonly used tool for meeting your match. However, this method depends solely on surface-level interaction and intuition. Furthermore, scammers love to surf the waters of the World Wide Web, so make sure to never share bank information, passwords, or personal data to an alias on the internet.
If an internet search is your only option, implementing a roommate interview process will help to ease your mind. Before meeting up with a potential cohabitator, take the time to compile a list of thoughtful questions.
These can and should cover a wide range of topics, from practical questions to personal inquiries. The goal is to get a better sense of who your future roomie is as a person, as well as how they interact with other people and exist within their space.
P.S: Don’t forget your manners! To start on an even playing field, invite your interviewee to pose their own questions as well.
Using a professional service can be another way to ensure roommate safety. Conduct a quick online search, and you’ll find several roommate finder websites and agencies that take the guesswork out of this daunting task.
Some of these services even require background checks and provide matchmakers to facilitate first meetings. The caveat is that the more professional the service, the higher the price tag — a small price to pay for feeling safe in your home!
In addition to wondering how to find a good roommate, make sure you’re setting a good example as well! Meeting up before moving in accomplishes two things. One, it will help you and your roomie establish a friendly and respectful relationship before inevitable issues arise. Two, it will give you a last-minute opportunity to feel at peace with your move towards the future! We highly suggest this cautionary step.
You can count on ApartmentSearch.com to be a trustworthy companion throughout your moving experience. With its smart searching capabilities, you may even be able to find an affordable studio or one-bedroom that lets you skip a roommate situation altogether!
Get a broader sense of your options by checking out ApartmentSearch.com. Through browsing all of your new home possibilities, you’ll feel confident in the safety and certainty of your decision.
Source: blog.apartmentsearch.com
These days, it seems like every time you reach into the pantry for a bag of chips, you have to swat through a cloud of moths to get it. Pantry moths are no joke, and yet, they’re also pretty common. Tons of people encounter these pests every year but don’t know how to get rid of them for good. Fortunately, our team at ApartmentSearch has compiled some tried-and-true steps to help you knock out this insect infestation once and for all.
A pantry moth is a small, gray or brownish bug that can appear in a kitchen pantry, cabinet, or cupboard. This tiny creature is likely from the Plodia interpunctella species and is also known as the Indianmeal moth, the flour moth, and the grain moth. These pesky creatures are one of several insects known for feeding on stored grains and other dry foods. And their modest size — only about half an inch in length and wingspan — can make them very easy to overlook.
However, if adult moths are present, there’s a good chance your pantry has also become home to eggs, pupae (caterpillars), and pupal shells. And since a single female moth can lay anywhere from 100 to 300 eggs, you probably have a bigger infestation on your hands than you realized. Talk about an unappetizing situation, right?
Pantry moths are found nearly everywhere in the United States and most often feed on grain products, cereals, pasta, and pet food. These insects typically gain entry to your home through dry goods that were contaminated at some point during the production process (i.e., at a food processing facility or packaging plant). While frustrating and unfortunate, this also means pantry moths are in no way an indication of poor hygiene or housekeeping efforts.
Although they’re an undisputed nuisance, pantry moths are relatively harmless compared to other potential pests. With that said, there’s no doubt you’ll want to get rid of pantry bugs as soon as they appear. If you’re currently dealing with a moth problem in your own home, read on for our best tips and tricks to get your kitchen bug-free and back to business as usual.
The first step in getting rid of pantry pests is to inspect all the food in your cabinets and look for signs of infestation. Carefully check your food packaging, and keep an eye out for larvae or webs near your pasta, cereal, and baking mixes, as well as your nuts and sweets (which moths love). You might also find tiny larvae tucked along the edge of canned foods or spice jars, or hanging around your cat or dog’s food, too.
Toss out any grain or nut products that have been compromised — but be sure to take them to your outdoor trash so the problem doesn’t spread inside your home. If you feel comfortable keeping the affected cans, they can be wiped down with undiluted vinegar to kill the larvae.
After you’ve done a full inspection and thrown away your infested dry goods, it’s time to do a proper deep clean of your kitchen. This means pulling out all your shelf liners and replacing them if they can’t be thoroughly washed. Use your vacuum to clean out tight spaces like cupboard corners, shelf brackets, and hardware components (hinges, knobs, handles, etc.).
In addition, you’re wise to vacuum the walls, floors, doors, and baseboards of your cabinets to help cover all your bases. Do your best to remove the vacuum bag or dump the dust compartment in the outside trash (since you don’t want any larvae to grow in there). Lastly, wipe down each shelf with hot, soapy water or vinegar, and mop the floor with the same solution.
If space permits, you may want to switch up your kitchen storage and keep all your grain and nuts products permanently in the freezer or refrigerator. Since pantry months require a warm environment to breed and thrive, this strategy tends to be pretty effective. But if cold storage isn’t an option, you can also store your new groceries away from other pantry items. This might be a temporary move, too, just until you’re sure the problem has been eliminated.
What’s more, you can transfer your dry goods to mason jars or similarly tight-sealing containers. In doing so, even if you accidentally bring home something that’s been contaminated, the larvae can’t escape once they hatch (so you’ll reduce the amount you have to throw away).
The last step toward ridding your home of pantry moths *forever* is to practice pest prevention.
To avoid infestations in the future, mix up your storage methods. You’ll also want to commit to deep cleaning a few times a year so things don’t get out of hand — and to catch any issues early on before they have a chance to hatch into something bigger.
Another great natural option is to fill some sachets with lavender, cedar, or mint, and hide them in your pantry. These scents are known to repel moths and will make your cabinets smell lovely at the same time! But be sure to replace them every few months so they stay effective.
If you’ve followed our steps for how to get rid of pantry moths and nothing seems to be helping (not even your landlord), it may be time to look for somewhere else to live. Thankfully, ApartmentSearch can help you find a new home — that fits your budget — in no time at all.
Start exploring all the amazing listings from ApartmentSearch today, and get ready to enjoy a more comfortable and pest-free pad ASAP!
Source: blog.apartmentsearch.com
Courtesy patrols are becoming increasingly common “amenities” at certain apartment properties. To many renters, the extra safety measure represents a little more peace of mind. But to some, having a “security guard” on-site brings up a lot of questions. If the need of a courtesy officer in your apartment complex brings up more insecurity than calmness, put your mind at ease as we explain what courtesy patrols are, why they exist, and how they can help you!
Often times, “courtesy officer” is a marketing euphemism of “security guard.” In other words, like a security guard, your apartment courtesy patrol officer is hired for the main purpose of providing security and helping maintain the quality of living in the community.
Apartment complexes have different ways of employing individuals to perform this job. Sometimes, property management companies hire courtesy officers directly, paying them an hourly wage and giving them steep discounts on rent to facilitate their on-call availability. Other times, apartment properties contract courtesy patrols from private security companies.
In some cases, property management companies may offer free or discounted rent (with or without hourly wage) to patrol officers from your county. In exchange, police officers live at the apartment complex, providing on-call security as they become a part of the everyday community!
Even though crime has no address, courtesy patrols are typically more common in luxury apartments in large metropolitan areas and college towns, likely due to these areas having higher population concentrations and crime rates. In such areas, police departments may be understaffed or overworked, resulting in slower response times to emergency calls and/or assigning low priority to less severe incidents.
Accordingly, apartment complexes hire courtesy patrols to have dedicated help in dealing with security and quality of living issues quickly. Even though many of these guards don’t have the authority to arrest anyone (unless they are also local law enforcement officers), they can detain criminals until the police arrive, reports The Press Democrat. More than helping apartment properties deal with crime, the presence of a courtesy patrol is often enough to help prevent crime!
Though the word “patrol” may lead you to think that courtesy patrols can only help with crime, their job duties encompass much more. They can also help preserve the liveability of your apartment complex by enforcing the community’s rules. Here are just a few things that your apartment’s courtesy patrol can do:
No matter where you live or what you do you deserve to feel safe in your apartment! If you don’t want to invest in an alarm system and would find comfort in having in-person security on-call, talk to your landlord or property manager about hiring a courtesy patrol. And if that doesn’t do the trick, find a new apartment with a courtesy patrol, gated access, and more security measures!
Source: blog.apartmentsearch.com
The spookiest day of the year is almost upon us! Though horror movies evoke fear of ghosts and apparitions, there are plenty of not-so-supernatural dangers to be scared of on Halloween. This fall, practice these 10 Halloween safety tips to keep yourself, your apartment, and your pets completely safe and completely un-scared.
“Halloween crimes” are a real thing. As reported by the Huffington Post, there’s an increase in break-ins on this dark holiday. After all, burglars know most people are out trick-or-treating with little ones or attending Halloween festivities, so homes are unoccupied and easy targets. Even if you live in a notoriously safe apartment complex, take extra precautions around Halloween and double-check that all doors and windows are locked.
Sure, leaving a spare key handy makes things easier when friends or family visit from out of town. However, it also makes it easier for thieves to show themselves into your home. You might as well say, “Come on in!” If you’ve got a spare key hidden outside your apartment, now’s the time to retrieve it.
Even if you are one of the lucky apartment dwellers expecting adorable trick-or-treaters, it’s wise to take a peek before opening your door. On Halloween, when alcohol is flowing, crime rates are up, and masked mischief-makers are roaming your town, it’s always better to be overly-cautious.
Who wouldn’t want to snuggle up with a horror movie and a personal bowl of Halloween candy? One of the best ways to help prevent a break-in and stay out of harm’s way is to stay home. If you’ve got big Halloween festivities lined up, however, leave your lights and television on to make it appear as if you’ve stayed home.
Do you have a bicycle, grill, or expensive pair of shoes on your apartment balcony? Yes, balcony thefts happen! Bring anything of value inside your unit to prevent someone with sticky fingers from snagging it or a drunken reveler from damaging it.
Nothing says fall like scented candles. During Halloween, you may also have candles lighting up your beautifully carved jack-o-lantern. Whatever you do, heed to common fire safety advice and don’t leave lit candles unattended! If you’re the forgetful type, it never hurts to add a sticky note to the inside of your front door: “Make sure your candles are blown out!”
Source: blog.apartmentsearch.com
Few feelings are worse than the one you get when your apartment is broken into. You frantically search for your most valuable belongings. You’re angry and scared. You feel violated and vulnerable. But all isn’t lost. Find out what to do when you experience the worst: an apartment break-in.
It’s important to keep a level head in the event of an apartment break-in, whether it happens while you’re there or you find evidence after the fact.
Call 911 immediately if you suspect that the burglar is still in your apartment. Do NOT go room to room searching for the thief, even if you think you’re prepared.
Once you know that you, your roommates, and your pets are safe, it’s time to report the apartment break-in to law enforcement. Phone your local police’s non-emergency number and tell them what happened. In the meantime, try not to move anything around.
If you notice anything peculiar in your apartment that might help the police in their investigation, make sure you tell them about it when they arrive at the scene. Some helpful things to know would be possible entry and exit points, items left behind that do not belong to you, and likely sources of fingerprints.
Make detailed notes and take pictures of anything the thieves damaged. This will help your landlord and your insurance company determine the amount and the method that you will be compensated for your lost belongings.
Notify your landlord or property manager about the break-in. They may be able to provide temporary residence or other resources to aid in your recovery. Discuss a strategy with them about improving apartment security.
Contact your neighbors as soon as possible to discover whether they witnessed anything unusual around the time when the break-in occurred.
Once you have a list of damaged or stolen personal property, call your renters insurance company to file a claim. The representative you speak to will most likely request a detailed account of what has been stolen or damaged.
Break-ins can be traumatic. It’s best to ease yourself back into normal apartment life slowly. If you need help re-adjusting, seek a professional counselor.
Invest in some added security to make sure this never happens again. Hide your valuables, lock your doors, and keep a light on at night while you’re away. Take some extra precautions before you head out on extended trips. Most importantly, make it difficult for anyone but you to access your apartment.
A break-in doesn’t necessarily mean that you can break your lease, but in some circumstances it does. Talk to your landlord and head to ApartmentSearch to find a new apartment where you feel safe and secure.
Source: blog.apartmentsearch.com
Wait! Don’t throw that in the trash! You might be breaking the law. Some things in your apartment can’t go out with your regular garbage–even if they fit in the apartment complex’s dumpster or trash compactor. Find out what these items are (they’re more common than you might think!), why they can’t go in your trash can, and how to dispose of them properly.
Though there are several different types of batteries, almost none of them can go out with your regular trash. Batteries contain toxic chemicals like mercury, cadmium, and nickel which leak into the soil and water system if left in a landfill.
How to Dispose of Batteries Properly
Take your rechargeable batteries to a retail collection point like those found at IKEA, Walmart, Staples, or similar stores for proper recycling. For lithium, silver oxide, alkaline, or zinc-carbon batteries, you’ll need to dispose of them at your local Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) facility.
Note: The EPA offers a list of HHWs in your area.
Regular incandescent light bulbs contain no toxic chemicals and may go out with the rest of your trash. Fluorescent light bulbs are a different story. Though much better for the environment, fluorescent bulbs contain a tiny amount of mercury (5 milligrams, to be exact) which makes them a hazard if broken.
How to Dispose of Light Bulbs Properly
Recycle your expired light bulbs at your local HHW. Stores like IKEA and Home Depot may also accept fluorescent light bulb drop-offs.
Oil-based paints, primers, coatings, and varnishes are not good for the environment. They can also be harmful to humans and other animals. Water-based paint tends not to pose a threat, but keep it away from pets and kids.
How to Dispose of Paints Properly
Consider donating your extra paint to local schools, theater groups, or a non-profit like Habitat for Humanity. Otherwise, take your paint cans to the HHW.
Old laptops, TVs, DVDs, CD players, VCRs, iPods, cell phones, digital watches, alarm clocks, printers, video game consoles—none of these electronics should go in your trash can. According to FMC Landfill, although electronic waste accounts for just 1-4% of typical municipal waste, “e-waste” accounts for roughly 75% of the heavy metals and 40% of the lead waste found in landfills—which is not good!
How to Dispose of Electronics Properly
Many programs exist to help you dispose of your electronics. You could always donate your gadgets for reuse. If that doesn’t strike your fancy, your local government probably has a drop-off center. Some manufacturers even offer mail-in or trade-in recycling programs for certain products like cell phones. You might even make a little bit of money for recycling your electronics!
If you’re the D.I.Y. type, you might change your car’s oil. But in most states, it’s illegal to even pour motor oil on the ground, let alone down a drain. That’s because wastewater treatment can’t function properly if it’s mixed with motor oil. Used motor oil from one oil change, according to the EPA Archives, can contaminate one million gallons of fresh water—a year’s supply for 50 people.
How to Dispose of Motor Oil Properly
The only legal way to dispose of motor oil is by sealing it in a plastic container and bringing it to a recycling center, automotive parts store, or car service station.
Smoke detectors come in two basic types: photoelectric or ionization chamber. If your smoke detector is the ionization chamber type, it contains a small amount of radiation that helps detect the presence of smoke, which classifies it as a hazardous substance according to the Fire Protection Agency.
How to Dispose of Smoke Detectors Properly
First, figure out which type of smoke detector you have. If it’s a photoelectric smoke detector, you can recycle it the same way you’d recycle electronics (see #4). If it’s a smoke detector containing radiation, you have two options:
If you like to maintain a garden on your apartment patio or balcony, chances are you have a few chemical bottles lying around filled with herbicides, pesticides, and fertilizers. Don’t throw these bottles away in the trash, unless you want to break the law.
How to Dispose of Garden Chemicals Properly
Take your garden chemicals to an HHW. Or, if you no longer have a use for them but they aren’t empty, donate them to a neighbor.
Cleaning out your medicine cabinet? It’s illegal to throw away old mercury thermometers for the same reason it’s illegal to throw away some batteries: mercury is toxic to humans and the environment.
How to Dispose of Old Thermometers Properly
Some schools and universities have exchange programs that allow you to drop off your old mercury thermometers for new electronic ones. Otherwise, find a waste collection program or HHW in your community.
Tires are illegal to throw away in your weekly garbage because they contain steel belts which can puncture the liners in landfills and cause ground contamination.
How to Dispose of Tires Properly
Most tire retailers and used car dealerships will take your old tires, but you’ll probably have to pay. Want to support a good cause? With Rethink Tires, you can drop off your used tires for free. Rethink tires will turn them into innovative recycled rubber products. Drop your old tires off at any registered collection site.
When you buy new tires and get them installed, your auto service station should dispose of your old tires for you.
It’s a hassle to throw away a lot of these items, especially if you don’t live near a recycling center. Find the perfect apartment with on-site recycling amenities on ApartmentSearch and never worry about inconvenient waste disposal again. We’ll show you hundreds of environmentally-friendly or green technology apartments, then match you with the best ones for you and your budget.
Source: blog.apartmentsearch.com
You’re all moved into your new apartment. The layout is excellent, the work commute is a breeze, and the kitchen is impressive. But after taking your first shower in your new home, you notice that your skin and hair feel drier than ever! And why did your dishwasher leave a cloudy residue on all your glassware?
If these things sound familiar, your new apartment may have hard water. Learn what “hard water” is, how it stacks up against softer water, and tips for dealing with it in your new space.
Hard water is merely a form of H2O with a higher than average mineral content — typically, a larger calcium and magnesium concentration.
Before our drinking water ever makes it to the tap, it comes from lakes, rivers, and other waterways. As it flows, it picks up additional minerals from rocks and soil, and if too much is collected, hard water can form. Although you may want supplemental magnesium and calcium in your overall diet, hard water can cause some complications in your home.
Minerals found in hard water are natural and generally safe to consume. However, there are a few negative concerns associated with hard water in an apartment, too.
Due to many of these issues, your utility bills can increase from excess water used to rewash dishes, clothes, and other items, along with buildup in your plumbing systems.
After the long list of issues caused by hard water, it may seem that soft water is the better option. With its better soap performance, contribution to longer-lasting clothing, optimal water pressure, and other benefits, it still has a few faults of its own.
Soft water may have higher sodium levels, leading to a slightly salty taste.
It’s more corrosive and can slowly deteriorate your plumbing system’s useful life, which can cause high lead and copper levels in your drinking water.
If you notice any of the issues listed above for hard water, you may want to test it in other ways as well. Here are a few methods for evaluating the quality of the water in your home:
Test for hard water with a bar of soap and a bowl of water from the tap. Rub the soap between your hands in the bowl. If it lathers quickly, you likely have softer water. If getting a few suds to form proves challenging and the water becomes cloudy, hard water may be the culprit.
You can purchase these from many home improvement stores, but make sure the one you buy also tests for hard water. Fill a container from the tap and immerse the paper test strip in the water. Then, compare the strip’s final color with the kit’s chart.
Since you likely won’t have the same access to your overall plumbing system as you would in a house, it may take a little craftiness to deal with the hard water in your home. Try these tips:
Whether it’s the water quality or the noisy upstairs neighbors, there are plenty of reasons to want to move on to the next place. Find an apartment that fits your needs and budget with ApartmentSearch, where you can filter available rental properties by price, layout, amenities, and more!
Source: blog.apartmentsearch.com