The "Joys" of Apartment Living

Living in an apartment was an unfamiliar concept to me before Nate and I got married. I was blessed to have always lived in a house growing up, and was acclimated to the comforts that come with living in a house. When we were engaged, the idea of living in an apartment excited me. It seemed romantic that we got to have our own little space in the world, making due with what little we had and making lifelong friends with our neighbors. I was younger then, and much more naïve!

Moving back into my parents house after two years of apartment living was depressing at first. We felt like deadbeats, but it was the best thing we could have done for ourselves at the time. While we were becoming used to sharing the kitchen and walking around in a bathrobe, we also quickly began enjoying the luxuries of living in a house again. The benefits outweighed the costs of sharing a home with others, and we weren't missing our apartment after very long.

A year passed and Nate and I decided that it was time for us to be on our own again. Returning to an apartment after a year of living in a home was exciting once again, until the first night we stayed in our unit. The creaking walls, the heavy footsteps of the tenants above us, and the thin walls between apartments quickly reminded us of the woes of apartment living. Our dogs weren't used to all the unfamiliar sounds and spent the whole night jumping out of bed to find out what was making those strange noises. It wasn't until after we signed the lease that we found out our unit didn't come with a dishwasher, there was very little storage space, and the entire place reeked of stale cigarette smoke. A few weeks after move in we came to realize, through a love note left on our door while we were taking a day trip without the dogs, that our neighbors have little patience for dogs barking. In summation, our first month of apartment living has brought us to our breaking point many times already.

This blog is both a hobby and a method of healing. Writing out what I experience helps me process through it, which is very helpful with my depression and anxiety. With that being said, I also like to use my knowledge and experience to help others whenever I can. So instead of continuing on my rant about crappy apartment living, I'm going to share with you three solutions we've come up with to solve some of the problems we've been faced with since me moved into our not-so-cozy apartment. 

1. Ikea is our new best friend. Two or three days after we moved in to our unit, we decided to see if Ikea would have any solutions to our small-space and amenity-free apartment. We bought a three-level metal rack for our pantry to help organize some of our food storage, which already has been a blessing to us.

It's a little disorganized, I know!

While we were browsing the store, we also found some nifty wall shelves that drill into the wall for extra storage. We decided to use these shelves for decoration for now, which is perfect because the walls looked depressing and bare without pictures representing or favorite memories smiling at us whenever we come home.

Ikea also had a nifty drying rack that screws into the wall right above the sink or counter. We have very little counter space and don't have room for a dish drying rack, so this was the perfect solution for us and we use it every day!

2. When my family first visited our new apartment, everyone could smell the stale smoke but didn't want to mention it until I brought it up. After my parents suggested getting air fresheners to resolve the issue, my sister-in-law told me about Bath and Body Works' incredible plug-in home scent line that can deodorize, neutralize and cover any sort of terrible smell and make your living space smell like heaven. I bought a few of these plug-in's this past week and already swear by them! Right now we are using the fall line: Pumpkin Cupcake and Harvest Peaches to be exact. The tobacco smell is gone and we love taking in a deep breath as soon as we open the door and walk inside.

3. We are very lucky because our neighbors didn't report our dogs to the leasing office as far as we know; we weren't given a warning and were not charged any fees for our dogs barking. I'm still sad about the note we found on our door, though. There only a few things we can do to remedy the situation: First, we try not to leave the dogs home alone whenever possible. We drop them off at our parents' houses while we are out so we don't have to risk them barking while we are gone. Whenever this isn't an option, we use a bark collar designed for small dogs. Whenever the collar senses vibrations from the dogs throat, the collar sprays a lemon scented mist that is supposed to distract the dog and be an unpleasant experience for them. I don't like this method in the least, but it's our only option besides giving the dogs away (NEVER!) or being fined hundreds of dollars for our dogs barking too much.

When I sit back and think about it, I'm grateful that we aren't very comfortable in our current situation. After all, how do we know the sweet without the bitter? As I see it, the more uncomfortable we are, the easier it will be for us to save up to buy a house ASAP. So I say "Bring it on, do your worst!" because we're fixing to get out of here as soon as we can!

What do you do to make the best of a crappy situation? And/or, do you have any tips for making apartment living more pleasant? I'd love to hear about it!