Tag: Apartment

Finding Your Apartment

Finding Your Apartment

Hey, glad you stopped by my post. I’m here to share with you some quick key tools/ideas you should use and consider when getting ready to rent out your own apartment!

 

1.Looking for Rental Apartments

I’d highly recommend using the following sights to get started when finding an apartment.

-Apartments.com

-HotPads.com

Trulia  <—(My personal favorite)

-RenJungle

-PadMapper

When you go to visit an apartment pay attention to what you see, and be ready with some basic questions. Take nothing you see for granted, don’t be afraid to ask questions. Some examples could

-“Do the windows open?”

-“What is the policy on pets?”

-“Is there a second exit in case of a fire?”

 

2. Find Roommates

Unless you have a lot of money around or are working on top of school, living alone is not an option. Look into getting some roommates. I currently live with 4 people and we split the cost of $2500 per month between all of us. If you don’t have any friends to room with, reach out to clubs, classes, and roommates.com. I cannot recommend this enough, I met some of my current roommates through clubs and classes that have become my friends just because I asked them about their living plans next year. Biggest thing I want to emphasize is don’t be afraid to ask questions.

Ideally try to find someone that responsible, respectful, and most importantly clean. Or don’t! Just make sure when getting roommates you find people that fit in to your atmosphere nicely instead of bringing people in who just want to live for a cheaper cost.

 

3. Knowing the Neighborhood

Since we’re living in Chicago picking the right neighborhood for you can be difficult. Safety can be an issue so make sure you check out the neighborhood during the day and then again at night. Walk around and see what it’s like. What’s around the neighborhood? Shops, restaurants, markets, coffee shops, or other night life?

When finding my place, I made sure to avoid being in a “food desert” or a place where there are few to no markets, restaurants, or places of shopping. I personally recommend that you find apartments around the Greenville and Morse area since they are very close to Loyola’s Lake-shore Campus on the sideline stop. They are filled with markets, restaurants, shops, and much more!

Another thing to keep in mind about the neighborhood is how long does it take for you to get to classes. Are you someone who rushes at the last minute, or likes to take their time? These could be important factors to whether you want to take public transport from your chosen location or walk!

 

4. Reading the Lease

Here’s a big one. You need to carefully read the lease and I mean everything! If you ever run into a problem with your landlord you can always use the lease to your advantage if they are breaking any of their own guidelines. Furthermore in some cases leases could be invalidated by having illegal clauses.

The last thing you want to do is get fined or even evicted from your apartment because you failed to following a “no smoking clause”. Know the ground rules.

 

5. Utilities

Find out which utilities you are responsible for… (heat,electricity,phone,internet,hot water, etc…)

A big mistake some people make when getting into an apartment is that they don’t ask enough questions about the apartment and what utilities it comes with. This actually happened to me this year when picking my current apartment. Another place I was planning on moving into actually offered me and my roommates NO utilities. We immediately reconsidered and found the place we are living in now which offers us all traditional utilities excluding internet and phones though. Still, a very important thing you should definitely look into before committing to your very own place.

 

As I continue to learn as a proud rentee, I will be updating you with whatever knowledge I gather. I wish you best of luck in your journey and hopefully this helps you out.

Please remember to ASK QUESTIONS when finding your apartment!!!

Thanks!

My 2014: Blogs, 5Ks, Roadtrips, and an Apartment

My 2014: Blogs, 5Ks, Roadtrips, and an Apartment

It seems to me that 2014 went by way too fast. When I first thought about what all happened in my year I couldn’t think of much besides the obvious… 1st I turned 19, 2nd I finished my freshman year of college, 3rd I started my sophomore year of college. But it turns out quite a lot happened in my life during 2014.

  1. I started blogging. This year I’ve had the chance to write 3 blogs. In my COMM 175 class last spring my professor introduced me to the blog-o-sphere with a personal site we posted to based on assignments. This blogging experience inspired me to apply for my position as a Loyola student blogger, and this opportunity has taught me a lot about the upkeep of constant blogroll. The blog I’m most proud of is Clean Plate. This too was for a class–COMM 200–but as a group project was far more challenging and demanding than the ones I have done on my own. I must say that I never thought I would become a blogger–turns out, I like it quite a lot.
  2. I ran two 5Ks. I’ve never been much of a runner, but 2014 has started to turn that around for me. In June, I ran the Race for the Cure in the Quad Cities–just north of my hometown–with my best friend from high school. This fall, I ran pretty regularly with one of my roommates on the Lake Shore Path, which was always an adventure. In November, I ran the Hot Chocolate 5K in Chicago with my family and roommates. So take that 2014! I might be a runner after all.
  3. I went on 4 big trips. Colorado. Tennessee. Minnesota. Virginia. Spring break 2014 had my roommate Chloe and I itching to get out of Chiberia. We found the perfect getaway in Denver, CO, staying with Chloe’s Grammy, skiing, hiking, and a lot of adventuring made for an amazing Spring Break. My family hit the road for Memphis, TN, for my cousin’s graduation. Memphis is a pretty common destination for visiting family, but that didn’t mean soaking up some warm, southern sun was any less enjoyable. In late June, one of my high school friends and I headed for the Twin Cities. We visited her school and a friend of ours who lives there now. It was a quick trip, but no worries we found time to visit Mall of America. To round off my 2014 travels, my family vacationed in Virginia Beach. Most of our time was spent on the beach, but we squeezed in some mini golfing, boardwalk-ing, hiking, amusement park-ing, SUP-ing (stand-up paddle boarding) and high ropes course-ing. Traveling just so happens to be one of my favorites.
  4. I lived in my 1st “apartment”. I say “apartment” in quotes because technically Georgetown is a residence hall, but as far as I can tell it’s an apartment Loyola considers a residence hall. My four roommates and I loved the switch from a classic two-person res hall room to a full-blow apartment. We were pretty spoiled with all the space we had–3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a kitchen, and a living room. Not too shabby for my first shot at a Chicago apartment.

Blogs, 5Ks, roadtrips, and an apartment are a few words that sum up my year pretty well. Roadtrips have always been familiar to me, but these other three are new territory. New this year, but will all hopefully become familiar in the years ahead. Thanks for being good to me, 2014–here’s hoping that 2015 is just as full of adventures.

(Food) Adventure is Out There!

(Food) Adventure is Out There!

One of the perks (or possibly negatives) about living on your own is that food no longer magically appears on the kitchen table at regular intervals. Because of this, and the fact that my roommates and I are trying to eat healthy, we have been keeping a Food Journal.

In it, we write down new recipes we try, with pictures, comments, rankings and suggestions for our next attempts.

Our Notorious Food Journal

We’ve tried plenty of recipes, including some juice ones with our wonderful and fantastic Breville Juice Fountain.

The recipes tend to be hit and miss, but trying them out is good practice for the girl who once melted a spoon making mac and cheese and broke her foot opening a jar of peanut butter (don’t worry about it; it’s a long story).

Ellen and Sandy's Wok Adventure

One of the things I’ve learned from this is experience is that whole lesson about not judging a book by its cover. For example, the above stir fry looks pretty delicious. However, since we made it before we actually had soy sauce, it was super bland and we ended up giving it a 2.25/4 ranking.

Avocado Pasta

On the other hand, this pasta with avocado sauce was one of the best things I’ve ever eaten! (In fact, I gave it a 4.75/5).

In case you decide you want to start experimenting in the kitchen, this is a great and easy alfredo alternative:

Blend together…

1 avocado

1 garlic clove

1/8 lemon

2 tbsp olive oil

1/4 tsp salt

dash of pepper

Pour over pasta and thank me later.

Cashew Alfredo w/ Kelp Noodles

Oh, but back to the whole judging bit, I show you Exhibit A: Cashew Alfredo with Kelp Noodles. Despite looking like, well… don’t make me say it, this might actually be one of the best things I’ve eaten this summer.

It’s currently the only recipe in our Food Journal that I’ve awarded with a 5/5. Another alfredo alternative, my roommate and I made this when she was trying out a raw food challenge. It’s SUPER easy to make, and because it’s raw, it’s great for a hot summer day.

Once, again, whip out that trusty blender (or in our case, a Magic Bullet) and mix…

1 1/2 cloves of garlic

1 1/4 cup cashews

1 oz basil

1 tbsp lemon

Pour the mixture over a package of kelp noodles, and bask in the glory of your newfound cooking skills.

We’ve tried plenty of other recipes, including strawberry apple streusel oat squares, quinoa with sweet potato and penne tomato alredo ala spinach. Every single attempt has been a culinary adventure.

I know that this can be scary. (Literally. I once found some of my roommate’s ginger root and ran screaming to her, asking why we had mandrake root in our refrigerator.) But if I can do this, so can you!

If you’re bored over the summer, I highly recommend you mix it up and do this. All you need is a notebook, a pen and a lot of patience. Remember guys, adventure is out there!

(Psst: No, you’re not going crazy. The recipes I posted are slightly different from what they’re hyperlinked to because we were often missing some ingredients. Feel free to try either one!)

Moving Out and Moving Up

Moving Out and Moving Up

Shalom, friends. Sorry I’ve been lackluster in my blogging lately. It’s only been because I’ve been a little too busy doing this…

And this…

And this…

Oh, and this…

That’s right! I’ve been busy unpacking and setting up my bedroom in my new apartment!

So, between completely moving out of my mom’s place, working a bunch of shifts at the hospital, being involved with the move from Children’s Memorial Hospital to the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and organizing the 30 To Do lists that I somehow managed to accumulate during finals week last semester, this past month and a half has been CrAzY.

It’s also been exhausting. I recently realized that in the past two years, I’ve moved six times:

1. From Palatine to Loyola (Fall 2010)

2. From Loyola to Palatine (Spring 2011)

3. From Palatine to Evanston (Summer 2011)

3. From Evanston to Loyola (Fall 2011)

4. From Loyola to Evanston (Spring 2012)

5. From Evanston to Rogers Park (Last Month!)

I think the desire to finally settle down is one of the reasons that I’m the first of my roommates to be totally unpacked, despite the fact that I’m the only one who completely moved out of their parents’ place. I’m just glad to be finally settled in, and I plan on staying put for as long as I can.

When I’m not busy trying to make my bedroom look like something out of Pinterest or Tumblr, living on my own (plus two roommates) can actually be kind of stressful. It’s a huge adjustment, and there’s a lot of learning as you go along.

For example, groceries are actually kind of expensive, the fridge and cookie jar don’t fill themselves, internet isn’t just “there” and when its your own apartment, you actually kind of care about the cleanliness of the place. (See: Yesterday I spent the whole day sweeping, dusting, and mopping. I survived by telling myself, “And there is only one thing we say to dirt: Not today.”)

I have had some other awesome summer experiences, though. I even got outside and participated in The Color Run. It was wonderful, and a perfect 5k for a beginner like me. I can’t wait to do it again next year!

I can officially cross "Run a 5K" off my list of things to do!

Overall, I’m pretty pumped for this summer – I live in a beautiful apartment that’s a block away from the beach, an L stop away from my friends and a 10 minute walk from Evanston. It’s gonna be greatttttt.

The Tricky Process Of Subleasing My Appartment

The Tricky Process Of Subleasing My Appartment

As a sophomore I am super stoked to move off campus and get my own apartment next year! It is a very exciting process but, as I have found out, can also be very complicated.

I talk about this in my Off-Campus Living Seminar post. Just when I thought my future roommates and I had everything smoothed out and set in stone, we had some friends contact us about subleasing our apartment for the summer.

Subleasing is a really great opportunity to save some money over the summer but it also comes with more legal work. The boys we may be subleasing to are really great guys, but there is always some risk factor when allowing other people to live in the apartment that you are legally responsible for.

I was unsure of what I needed to know going into a subleasing contract. So, I did what I do for every problem in my life: I Googled it.

It is amazing how many websites and blogs there are on the internet. For just about any problem you may run into, there is someone out there who is in the same position and has already asked your question and most likely has acquired answered.

I found a couple great websites that describe the steps I need to take such as: how to find a good person to sublet to, how to create subleasing agreements and how to get my landlords approval.

Thank goodness I looked it up because I found a lot of new things to think about. What would I do without the internet??

My future apartment!
My future living room!