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Am I going to die? http://imgur.com/a/bbmjc Moving into this place sight unseen and relying on a broker was the worst decision ever.
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Jun 28, 2013 00:13
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Jerome Louis posted:Am I going to die? You're not immuno-compromised, right? No Lupus, AIDS, or organ transplants?
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Jun 28, 2013 00:24
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No, I'm a healthy young man -- this is just freaky and smells really gross too. This place has been nothing but a nightmare and I'm trying to figure out how I can get out of the lease and move somewhere else.
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Jun 28, 2013 00:25
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Jerome Louis posted:Am I going to die? Is this a basement apartment? The floor is unsealed concrete and the walls are rock and mortar. Old basements like that just aren't watertight and occasional flooding is to be expected, but you shouldn't treat it as a living space. Demand a dehumidifier and a credit to cover increased electricity usage. Until then, open some windows and get a box fan blowing the air around. And rip out the drywall where it meets the floor to a few inches high. Wet drywall is mold breeding ground. goku chewbacca fucked around with this message at 00:41 on Jun 28, 2013 |
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Jun 28, 2013 00:38
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That's the basement underneath my apartment. It's not set up to live in or anything. It smells really bad though and the smell is wafting up the vents into my apartment. It's not cool. My landlord has an aol email address -- enough said. Jerome Louis fucked around with this message at 00:46 on Jun 28, 2013 |
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Jun 28, 2013 00:40
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Rated PG-34 posted:How do you find these places? I went apartment hunting earlier this month and the best that 900 could get me was a 3br share in East Harlem. Granted, I'm looking in UES (Harlem isn't UES, CL listers
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Jun 28, 2013 00:52
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i like nice words
), but still.
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If you've got parents that have cable/internet you can forego a cable subscription completely with a SlingBox, just hook it up at their house and pay them for the extra STB rental. The new ones have really great picture quality compared to the older models. Of course you'll need internet at your place anyway to stream from it, so you'll want to weigh it out the cost vs. just bundling internet with cable.
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Jun 28, 2013 03:04
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Rated PG-34 posted:How do you find these places? I went apartment hunting earlier this month and the best that 900 could get me was a 3br share in East Harlem. Granted, I'm looking in UES (Harlem isn't UES, CL listers Well, I don't live in Manhattan! I'm in Crown Heights, in Brooklyn. I'd never expect to find a place like this anywhere in Manhattan besides maybe Inwood, which might as well be in the Bronx for how far away it is. I just found my apartment on Craigslist though (using Padmapper). And, if you're apartment hunting in NYC, a word of advice from someone who also just unloaded my old room on Craigslist- for your emails, think more "online dating profile" than "business letter." I got about 100 emails regarding my CL post for my old room, and you wouldn't believe how many of them were like "Hi is the room still available I'm interested call me." Yeah, no poo poo you're interested, so is everyone else apparently. I only responded to emails that make me think "oh, my old roommates would probably like to know this person!" showbiz_liz fucked around with this message at 03:14 on Jun 28, 2013 |
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Jun 28, 2013 03:08
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Last year my boyfriend and I bought an entirely new bed from Ikea. It worked fine for ages until one night we heard a pop and noticed a few of the slats had popped free. Ever since then it's been happening at least once a week, that is until this week, when it has happened every night so far. We currently have our mattress on the ground, since waking up every night is really messing with our sleep. We considered stapling the slats to the bed, but they are bowed, and so obviously this won't work. We tried to tighten all the screws to see if something came loose, but there is nothing we can see. I am thinking our last resort will be to just buy a huge piece of plywood and use that instead of the slats. This is so frustrating, we only bought this bed last July. If the plywood doesn't work, we might just buy a new bed frame (unfortunately.)
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Jun 28, 2013 13:42
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Any suggestions on hanging a mirror on the wall? I can't imagine theres much to it beyond hammer, nails and a level but theres probably some super easier way and/or horrible mistake to make that a new-apartment scrub like myself doesn't even know. E: Also its heavy one. Bread Set Jettison fucked around with this message at 14:08 on Jun 28, 2013 |
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Jun 28, 2013 13:56
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Jet Set Jettison posted:Any suggestions on hanging a mirror on the wall? I can't imagine theres much to it beyond hammer, nails and a level but theres probably some super easier way and/or horrible mistake to make that a new-apartment scrub like myself doesn't even know. Since you're claiming to be a scrub, anything heavy needs to be mounted on a stud, or you need to use hollow wall anchors. Otherwise you'll just rip out a chunk of drywall.
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Jun 28, 2013 14:24
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If you live in an older building that has something more fun than drywall (like plaster and lath, or my personal archenemy plaster and chickenwire), do a lot more research before hanging anything heavy. Or hire a handyman.
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Jun 28, 2013 14:49
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Is this the appropriate place to ask about nice furniture? I'm looking for a sweet lounge chair for my apartment (eames lounge knockoff or barcelona or something equally awesome), but I can't seem to find anything reliable and modern for a grand. The few nice looking things I've found have really inconsistent reviews if any at all. It really needs to be sturdy. I want to spend something like 600, but if it goes up to 1200 or so I could be ok with it. I'm hoping that's a realistic estimate, but I don't know.
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Jun 28, 2013 15:24
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Robin Sparkles posted:Last year my boyfriend and I bought an entirely new bed from Ikea. It worked fine for ages until one night we heard a pop and noticed a few of the slats had popped free. Ever since then it's been happening at least once a week, that is until this week, when it has happened every night so far. We currently have our mattress on the ground, since waking up every night is really messing with our sleep. This happened to me. Check the metal rail that supports the slats, if it's loose at all it will dump your slats. The screws on my model are so shallow they just pulled out. I ended up putting a bolt through the whole side rail of my bed and tightening it dramatically. Problem solved! Ugly but effective.
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Jun 28, 2013 16:43
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blowingupcasinos posted:Is this the appropriate place to ask about nice furniture? I'm looking for a sweet lounge chair for my apartment (eames lounge knockoff or barcelona or something equally awesome), but I can't seem to find anything reliable and modern for a grand. The few nice looking things I've found have really inconsistent reviews if any at all. It really needs to be sturdy. I want to spend something like 600, but if it goes up to 1200 or so I could be ok with it. I'm hoping that's a realistic estimate, but I don't know. New, Used & Reproduction: Eames Lounge from Apartment Therapy For a more affordable design that's still modern, how about the Triumph Lounge Chair from cb2 (also comes in red): http://www.cb2.com/triumph-ivory-lounge-chair/s212736 edit: one more thing about the Eames chair, here's a very detailed comparison between an authentic versus reproduction chair http://manhattan-nest.com/2013/03/25/real-vs-fake-the-eames-lounge/
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Jun 28, 2013 22:39
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Trilineatus posted:This happened to me. Check the metal rail that supports the slats, if it's loose at all it will dump your slats. The screws on my model are so shallow they just pulled out. I ended up putting a bolt through the whole side rail of my bed and tightening it dramatically. Problem solved! Ugly but effective. We actually discovered that the wooden edges of the bed were bowing out about 1/4" on each side, just enough to have the slats fall through every time we turn over in bed. We bungee'd the poo poo out of the slats and it seems to be pretty sturdy. Yay mcguyevering!
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Jun 29, 2013 03:37
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Robin Sparkles posted:We actually discovered that the wooden edges of the bed were bowing out about 1/4" on each side, just enough to have the slats fall through every time we turn over in bed. We bungee'd the poo poo out of the slats and it seems to be pretty sturdy. Yay mcguyevering! Unfortunately this is way too common with Ikea beds and is especially pronounced if either of you are the least bit overweight. They don't know how to design a proper bed for poo poo. The "slats falling out" problem is as old as dirt and frankly I'm surprised no one has sued them into oblivion after smacking their head on the bedframe while falling to the floor. It's totally possible to design a sturdy, trendy bed that's both affordable and can be flat-packed. Unfortunately once an Ikea bed fails, it either needs serious surgery or must be discarded. Common fixes: 1. Add support beneath the slats (books, storage containers, whatever). 2. Install stronger cross-braces. 3. Screw every slat into the metal rails. 4. Install stronger metal rails (steel L-channel from Home Depot). 5. Place folded cardboard between the center of each metal rail and the bedframe to counteract the bowing effect. 6. Replace the slats with a sheet of plywood. 7. Pawn it off on Craigslist and buy a better bed. We faced this problem and later bought a West Elm bed (the Midcentury model). The frame is all real wood with veneer which doesn't bow like the particleboard does. The side rails are also wood and are permanently affixed to the frame, so they can't slowly separate or bend. And, most importantly, each slat is screwed into the side rail and center support. I'm like 275 lbs and I can use my bed as a trampoline, and truthfully West Elm isn't much more than Ikea! 
Fixed Gear Guy fucked around with this message at 16:17 on Jun 29, 2013 |
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Jun 29, 2013 16:14
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Fixed Gear Guy posted:Unfortunately this is way too common with Ikea beds and is especially pronounced if either of you are the least bit overweight. They don't know how to design a proper bed for poo poo. The "slats falling out" problem is as old as dirt and frankly I'm surprised no one has sued them into oblivion after smacking their head on the bedframe while falling to the floor. It's totally possible to design a sturdy, trendy bed that's both affordable and can be flat-packed. Yeah, thankfully we didn't fall to the floor like so many other horror stories we've heard, but it was very scary nonetheless. The bungeeing seems to be working for now, here's to hoping it doesn't somehow bend even more. I couldn't believe how bowed the sides looked when we looked at the end of the bed straight on (and yes, we are a bit overweight, so I guess that's why it happened so fast.) At least we have the mattress and pillows and sheets, etc, and if it comes down to getting a new frame we won't need to buy everything all over again! Note to self: Do some serious research next time.
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Jun 30, 2013 05:34
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Ye gods I never want to move ever again  I'm looking to hang my pictures and mirrors and stuff now, but I don't really feel like doing the stud hunt and driving nails in this place. Wasn't there something out there for hanging stuff on plain drywall? I can't remember for the life of me what they're called.
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Jun 30, 2013 16:21
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Ciaphas posted:Ye gods I never want to move ever again Hollow wall anchors, I said it about ten posts ago. 
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Jun 30, 2013 17:10
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deadwing posted:Hollow wall anchors, I said it about ten posts ago. I just got done driving about a billion of these into my walls to hang some curtains. On that note, why are IKEA curtains so drat long?! I have to hem at least a foot off of them which is a pain in the rear end because I own neither a sewing machine nor an iron (I really should buy an iron). I'm hemming them via double-stick hemming tape that I found at Walmart but I'm not sure how long that'll hold. I've been channeling my inner interior decorator and I'm actually pretty pleased with how my place is turning out so far. I may post pictures once I finish hanging stuff and get the last of the boxes out of here.
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Jun 30, 2013 17:20
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I met my landlord yesterday. He made sure to emphasize that he was a private investigator, he knew all the cops in this town, and had contacts in the FBI, and then he lifted up his shirt, showed me his gun, and told me that he was always armed. Then he told me about how the previous tenant was an old lady who died in here. But at least we figured out that the reason there was water in the basement was because every time I showered it would start flooding. Whoever installed the shower did it wrong and now I'm waiting for a plumber to get here and I can't shower til this is fixed, cool stuff.
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Jun 30, 2013 17:59
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Jerome Louis posted:I met my landlord yesterday. He made sure to emphasize that he was a private investigator, he knew all the cops in this town, and had contacts in the FBI, and then he lifted up his shirt, showed me his gun, and told me that he was always armed. Then he told me about how the previous tenant was an old lady who died in here. My current landlord (leaving this place in a few weeks) came to fix my AC a few weeks ago (he didn't), and made sure to brag about how he makes three hundred dollars an hour doing payroll services. Yet, the 125k mortgage on this house is delinquent by three years.
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Jun 30, 2013 19:02
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deadwing posted:Hollow wall anchors, I said it about ten posts ago. Blarg! I apologize, apparently I was sapped of attentiveness in addition to all my energy. Thanks, I'll pick up a bunch later. (Never ever move in 117 degree weather. What the gently caress is wrong with me that I did that.)
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Jun 30, 2013 23:04
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My apartment complex doesn't have A/C so I use a fan in my bedroom. I already have it on a rug to absorb vibration and run it on the low setting but my downstairs neighbor is still complaining that it is too loud and sounds like a helicopter is in the room above. Is there anything else I can do to absorb the vibration or should I just tell the neighbor I've tried what I can and some noise is part of living in an apartment complex?
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Jul 1, 2013 03:12
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I found that having my fan on of of those little plastic step stools you can get at WalMart and having that sit on the rug with enough pile to keep the legs from wiggling really helped stop vibration transmission. I liked a thick bathmat for this purpose. I'm starting to think all my solutions fall into ugly-yet-effective "There, I fixed it" categories 
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Jul 1, 2013 04:59
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Man, I'm getting stoked about my upcoming move. It seems like such a goddamn nice community to live in. I just hope things don't fall apart once I actually, you know, live there. Just two more weeks until I get the keys, then I have a leisurely half a month to move all of my poo poo over. I would have preferred to not pay double rent for half a month, but I actually wanted to live in a nice community, the kind that doesn't always have open apartments, so the amount of lease crossover is what it is. Might as well leisurely enjoy bringing a few boxes over when I feel like it. I'm totally excited about having not one, but two pools, in a community that apparently doesn't use them. The four or so times I've been in to deal with move-related poo poo, they've been completely empty. Since my days off are off a normal schedule, I am going to be the king poo poo of pool land on Thursdays and Fridays. One thing I do need to worry about is loving pots and pans. The ones I'm using right now are all of my roommate's. Now, I have a Costco membership, but I'm not so sure I need to spend 150 dollars on a 17 piece set when all I need is a normal sized covered skillet and probably like four sizes of pots with covers. I'm sure (with the Costco return policy at the very least) that such a set would last me a lifetime, but is buying separates at all economically viable, or should I just bite the bullet? deadwing fucked around with this message at 06:43 on Jul 1, 2013 |
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Jul 1, 2013 06:40
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deadwing posted:One thing I do need to worry about is loving pots and pans. The ones I'm using right now are all of my roommate's. Now, I have a Costco membership, but I'm not so sure I need to spend 150 dollars on a 17 piece set when all I need is a normal sized covered skillet and probably like four sizes of pots with covers. I'm sure (with the Costco return policy at the very least) that such a set would last me a lifetime, but is buying separates at all economically viable, or should I just bite the bullet? E: I found something on the Simple Dollar relevant to this discussion. Basically, it's better to spend a little more per pot/pan to get something that'll last than to buy a big set because it's cheaper per piece. Haifisch fucked around with this message at 03:53 on Jul 2, 2013 |
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Jul 1, 2013 07:00
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Farberware is just fine for almost everything. Here's a good set on sale for $70, you can probably find it for less (I didn't look around at all). It has your pasta pot, two smaller saucepans, and two smaller nonstick pans for eggs. If you fancy then you can get a big skillet, cast-iron or All-Clad or whatever, but for everything else this set should be fine.
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Jul 1, 2013 08:48
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My landlord is being an rear end in a top hat. I had it specifically written in to my lease that he couldn't show my unit (which he now intends to sell as a condo) until the last 30 days of the lease. There are still 60 days on the lease. Now he is texting me and leaving voicemails constantly that just say "We have a showing tomorrow at 10 am, be gone at that time" and then freaking out when my response is "No, you are breaking the terms of the lease." Now he's threatening to withhold my deposit and uggghhhh
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Jul 1, 2013 13:07
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deadwing posted:One thing I do need to worry about is loving pots and pans. I would recommend hitting up some thrift stores before you shell out for new stuff - you can often find good quality cookware that belonged to someone's mother/grandmother and has been donated. This is especially true for stuff that wears very well like cast iron. Obviously don't bother spending anything on a scratched-up Teflon pan from the eighties or whatever. Blast Fantasto posted:Now he's threatening to withhold my deposit and uggghhhh
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Jul 1, 2013 14:56
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I really like the Sloane media center from Crate and Barrel - does anyone know of any similar set-ups? The only thing that is keeping me from buying it is that my friend has it already. I like the fact that it has a lot of storage and is visually lightweight.deadwing posted:One thing I do need to worry about is loving pots and pans. If you have a Walmart by you, their Tramontina line always gets great reviews. It's definitely worth checking out.
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Jul 2, 2013 23:55
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turing_test posted:I really like the Sloane media center from Crate and Barrel - does anyone know of any similar set-ups? The only thing that is keeping me from buying it is that my friend has it already. I like the fact that it has a lot of storage and is visually lightweight. Get it anyway and put better poo poo on it to one-up your friend 
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Jul 3, 2013 00:20
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Senf posted:Get it anyway and put better poo poo on it to one-up your friend She makes more money than I do, so that might be hard. I'm also not super into the leaning shelf style, but I assume that this is to help distribute the weight better. I liked this EXPEDIT hack on IkeaHackers but I think my TV is slightly too large (39") and also it looks kind of sketchy (and I hate how the standard EXPEDIT TV stand isn't symmetrical). I guess a better question would be: Does anyone have any suggestions for a minimalist book-and-media-center storage solution? I'd prefer wood and minimal drilling into the wall.
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Jul 3, 2013 03:28
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Any goons here have tips on organization and being neat? I'm a typical proto goon and my room/house is a mess 
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Jul 3, 2013 03:46
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caberham posted:Any goons here have tips on organization and being neat? I'm a typical proto goon and my room/house is a mess Do you have a lot of clutter, or is your stuff not organized? I noticed that I tend to hoard things that are 'useful' - toothbrushes, makeup, etc. - even if I don't use them all that much. Once I started aggressively getting rid of things that I didn't use, it became a lot easier to make sure all of my things were where they belonged. I always thought that I was messy when I actually just had too much useless stuff. Once I got rid of that I found that everything fit in the storage space that I had (closets, bookshelves etc.)
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Jul 3, 2013 03:59
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Bit of both  It's more along the lines of not throwing away poo poo and not being neat so storage space gets under utilized
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Jul 3, 2013 04:07
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caberham posted:Any goons here have tips on organization and being neat? I'm a typical proto goon and my room/house is a mess The IKEA EXPEDIT series is great if you're a bachelor and don't want poo poo you care about too much; affordable, and looks decent. Has a ton of room.
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Jul 3, 2013 05:26
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caberham posted:Bit of both Not throwing away poo poo: -Implement a "buy something, toss something" system. This is mostly useful for clothes, but it can be applied to other possessions too. If you get a new shirt, an old shirt must go. If you get a new toothbrush(or any other item that you replace regularly), it had better be because you're going to throw out the old one when you get home. This has the duel benefits of halting clutter accumulation and forcing yourself to reconsider if you really need to buy something new. -Take a shelf/closet/whatever unit of space you feel like tackling, and put everything cluttering it into a box. Put the day's date on the box. If you find you legitimately need something, take it out of the box, use it, and put it back into the original shelf/etc. Anything that hasn't been taken out of the box after several months(I'd set a hard deadline to avoid going "well, I might need this stuff in another month") gets tossed, sold, or donated. There really aren't that many things you need to keep on hand that only get used once a year or less, so don't stop yourself from getting rid of things by going "I might need that someday!". Not using storage space: -Make sure all of your possessions have a home they belong in. They probably have vague ones already(tools on this shelf, electronic cables in this drawer, etc), just poorly organized and not necessarily chosen to be in the best place. 99% of the places your things go shouldn't be laying out in the open - organize stuff onto shelves, hang clothes in closets, put small knick-knacks in drawers. Hell, even if you don't organize things right away, getting them out of plain sight will make your place look considerably nicer. Just make sure you don't use "well, my piles of clutter aren't visible now" as an excuse to avoid decluttering. -Never allow anything to stay on kitchen tables, office desks(you may make an exception for one pen here), end tables, and other clutter accumulators for more than 24 hours. Things need to either return to their home or get thrown out. You have mail sitting on the closest table to the door? Deal with it and/or recycle it. You have 5 pens scattered on your computer desk? Put them in a drawer, or at least in a pen holder(a spare cup will work for this). You took out your Kindle, but it's been sitting unused on the kithen table for 3 days? Put it back in the spot it belongs in. Unfuck Your Habitat has a ton of other tips for making your place neat and keeping it that way. They also offer routine reminders to do things like make your bed. Haifisch fucked around with this message at 06:30 on Jul 3, 2013 |
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Jul 3, 2013 05:29
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Thanatosian posted:Shelves=Good. Thanks, I have half of the set. And already full, so time to dump the old stuff. My room is not too big  It's only 80 squarefeet.Haifisch posted:Some tips to help with both of these. Thank You Thank You. I'm going to clear up all my old poo poo. And empty my drawers. And if I do lack something, I'm lucky enough to be able to buy it again. I have a house keeper for many years so I never really had good habits of being tidy. She's on a 2 month vacation now so now is the best chance to get clean my house and keep it organized that way. I lived alone for a while but it was a minimal place. Going to some goon homes and I saw how awesome it is to be neat tidy. You don't need opulence to show class.
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