A Good Stereo For An Apartment

You can't really exercise a stereo in an apartment.  Even if your stereo's volume goes up to 11, you really can't push it past a 2 or 3 without disturbing your neighbors and being a rude neighbor.  But, that doesn't mean you can't enjoy music.  It just means that high volumes and thumping bass aren't a great idea.  Instead a more modest bookshelf stereo might be a better idea for apartment life.

I've recently found a very inexpensive stereo that works just fine for our apartment.  It's the GPX Home Music System.  Yes, it's a $45 stereo from Kmart.  But, it can connect to all my devices and it generates enough volume for my living room.  This stereo would work well in any apartment, dorm room or child's bedroom.  If you are looking for a good little stereo for a small space, here's my review:

Compact Stereo Review:  GPX Home Music System with CD Player

Living with a Dog in an Apartment

Having a dog is one of life's great pleasures.  If you have one in an apartment, you have to walk your dog several times a day.  You'll get exercise and a chance to interact with people in your neighborhood.  Dog walkers also provide an extra measure of security in an apartment complex.  Dog walkers are familiar with every square inch of an apartment complex and notice suspicious activity.

However, it can be a challenge to have a dog in an apartment and avoid disturbing neighbors with barking and horseplay.  However, dogs are trainable and you can change your habits to minimize noise from your dog.  Here's how to keep your dog quiet in an apartment community --

How to Keep Your Dog Quiet in an Apartment

No notices this week -- really!

This week many apartment dwellers make their way out of town for the Thanksgiving holiday. Light timers are set and other precautions are taken to give the apartment a lived in look. But, the best burglary countermeasures can be undone when a landlord leaves a notice in your door while you are away. If you are a landlord, don't stick notices on tenant doors during big holiday weeks. If you are a tenant don't patronize restauramts that stick menus on your door. Notifes and take out menus mark apartments for burglars. It's that simple.

The Truthful Apartment Reviews

If you are considering a move into a different apartment, apartmentratings.com is an indispensable resource.  But I suspect that many landlords know this and write false positive reviews for their complexes.  False positive reviews tend to paint the women who work in the rental office as beautiful, cheerful, and helpful.  It's their own vanity that gives them away.  In a sea of suspicious positive reviews, the "no" reviews on apartmentratings.com become much more important.  When we are considering an apartment complex, my wife and I look at the negative reviews first.

 We tend to discount all reviews that are written by people who pay their rent late or who were hassled for making noise.  If the person got into a hassle with the rental office because they didn't pay their rent on time, the issue lies with them.  If you are playing your stereo too loud or hosting large parties, the police should simply take you out to the trash compactor and summarily execute you.  You'll get NO SYMPATHY from us.

But, if a negative review addresses problems with bugs, vermin, crime, noise, or maintenance, we'll tend to listen and file it away.  When we can identify with a tenant's complaint, it triggers our spidey senses and we listen. If the apartment complex responds, we want to see an aggressive solution to the problem.

All the Tools You Need

I've been carting a full-sized toolbox from apartment to apartment as we've moved around the country for job opportunities.  It's kind of crazy.  All the tools you really need are contained in an inexpensive Fixa tool kit from Ikea.  Here's a complete review:

Tool Review:  Fixa Tool Kits from Ikea

The Trash Fairy Doesn't Visit This Apartment Complex!

Sometimes people in our apartment complex are just plain gross.  Lately, some residents in our building have decided that they should just put their garbage bags out in the breezeway.  While this makes local vermin happy, it makes the apartment complex look very trashy. 

There's no place like the dumpster!  There's no place like the dumpster!

 Since our wooded apartment complex is home for plenty of possums, raccoons, and rats, trash in the hallway can easily attract pests.

Possums Love Garbage!

Since the trash fairy doesn't come in the middle of the night to magically whisk garbage away, people should keep their their trash inside and take it to the compactor or dumpster when the bag is full.  It doesn't go in the hall.  Are we the only adults living in the complex?

Don't Do These Things In An Apartment

I was 24 and stupid once.  Buying a big stereo was one of those things.  I was proud of my stereo.  It looked cool.  I set it up.  It was awesome.  However, I couldn't crank the volume up above 3 or so because I lived in an apartment!  Here are some other things you shouldn't do in an apartment:

Seven Things Not to Do While Living in an Apartment