With low-price apartments for rent, the trick is to maximize what you can do to improve the place. Here are some tips to make your apartment fell more like home.
Review the landlord-tenant lease agreement. Before embarking on any changes to your apartment, it’s best to read the fine print on your lease agreement. Aside from federal and state rules, rental housing agreements also include the personal preferences (within the law) of the landlords.
Buy appliances that will give you savings. Hand-me-downs can give you savings up-front, but newer models may give you monthly savings in your electrical bills that can be beneficial to you later on. Even if you receive an old fridge as a gift, start saving up for a new one immediately. The Cash for Refrigerators program can help you get rebates.
Furniture should be useful. Keep only furniture that matches your needs. You know you have too much furniture when you start having to walk around chairs and tables, meaning that the natural flow of movement in the house is impeded.
Use dividers to create private spaces. This is particularly useful in studio apartments or housing that has few rooms. A well-placed divider or partition can create private spaces for “bedrooms,” storage or even just to hide unsightly unit details.
Use lighting to your advantage. Buy energy-saving bulbs. The new compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) have a longer lifetime. If used properly, these will generate up to 20% or so more brightness at about 30% less power. If you use these with properly placed lamps or lighting fixtures, you can minimize the number of lighting fixtures in the house and keep a relatively low cost for your lighting needs.
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1 Response
[...] many of us, low-income or low-rent apartments are already part of the solution to our financial woes. However, without proper financial planning [...]
Posted on January 27th, 2010 at 8:09 am