Make a Plan for Your First Tandem Apartment

Moving to your first Tandem apartment in Davis can be exciting, but it takes more than a futon and a keg of beer to set up housekeeping. What kind of furniture will you need and where will you get it? Will you have roommates? What are they bringing with them, and how will you divide or share food and possessions?

A little planning ahead can save you a lot of heartache later.

1- Lists, lists, lists. Get yourself a notebook just for apartment stuff. Have a budget page outlining everything you’ll have to pay, and the dates you need to pay it by.
2- Open a savings account. If you won’t be moving for a while, why not start saving early? Some banks have savings accounts that round up every purchase from your debit transactions and put the change into savings for you. If you use your debit card frequently, the change adds up fast.
3- Sell items you don’t want or use anymore on Kijiji or Facebook to get some money. People will pay for used designer (or good quality) clothes, shoes, purses and jewelry. Also, any books, university text books, or furniture. You’ll be surprised what people will give you for items you might have otherwise thrown out. This way you won’t have to take items you don’t want into the new apartment. I made $70 selling old clothes online. (I’m also making money for the move by tutoring and babysitting.)
4- Don’t buy unnecessary items until you have the necessities. Make sure you have everything you need, and everything paid for before you buy that awesome painting you saw last week.
5- And last but not least – do not get an apartment you can’t afford. I’ve seen it many times. People get an awesome apartment because they have the money at the time, without realizing they run short once their student loan payments start.”

For more information and tips on how to prepare to move into your first Tandem apartment in Davis, please visit this link at myfirstapartment.com.