Muxy

I don't know if this belongs here but if it doesn't I am sorry.

I am moving into a 2 bedroom apartment in August 1 (off campus so I can concentrate on my studies). This will be my first place I have ever lived other than being under my parents roof.

I really have no clue what to put in it and what not to put in it.

Generally what accessories/cool things should we have in our apartment and what do you see a lot of the really is unnecessary. Some over rated things VS under rated things.

A little info on me I am a 19 year old male with very little - moderate cooking abilities. So suggestions like a George Forman grill are good.

I will start hitting up flea markets and yard sales around May to find some of these things.

Hopefully TFP can give me some great ideas.

Cynthetiq

i hated my george forman grill....

Love my Showtime Rotisserie!!!! SET IT AND FORGET IT!!!@

Look at where you lived with your parents...what amenities to you see around you that you require, and what did they decide they didn't want that you want.

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Anexkahn

if you're in a college town, look for people offloading stuff at the end of the year. get a cheap storage unit if you need to for the summer and move furniture and other big things into it.

the year I moved from on campus to off campus, i scored a couch, TV, a couple of nice throw rugs and a lot of other big things from people getting rid of stuff they otherwise didn't want to haul home -- all free.

As far as "things" that i found handy... a small bbq comes in handy if you have a commons area or a porch that you can use it on. I also put alot of milage on my pocket sandwich compress... its like a waffle iron, but you put 2 slices of bread with various fillings in it. home made hot pockets in about 5 minutes including warm up.

shakran

You're a college student, which probably means you're either poor or you don't want to waste beer money on furniture

Cinder blocks and plywood can build a good entertainment center, a thrown away electrical spool makes a good coffee table, and a futon will serve as a bed and a couch.

serlindsipity

Three words - habitat for humanity.

dont bother making it look wonderful, youre a poor college student.

I sat on a milk crate as a computer chair for four months, so be creative!

and also remember whatever you get you will likely move it yearly for the next four years so nix niice and/or heavy things.

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cadre

Futons are great if you'll have people crashing with you like I probably will or if you have to get two uses out of a room.

Don't for get cleaning supplies!

Good luck

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MexicanOnABike

for the cooking part, get a wok. i use it to cook/fry everything.

nevermind the TV.
get a computer with a decent HD. and a good screen and then just download the shows you want to watch or something like that.

tv = ~ 200$
vcr or dvd = ~50-100$
cable per month = 20-50$

is that really worth it?

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777

Back when I was extremely broke, I discovered the cheapness of a 20lb. bag of rice. Steamed white rice simple to cook, it tastes ok with the right seasoning, and did I mention that it's cheap?

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fresnelly

Shower Curtain.

There's nothing like that feeling you get when you want to take that first shower only to find that the previous tenants took the old one.

Ditto for a Kitchen garbage can.

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serlindsipity

fresnelly - oh sooo funny. and true.

Ikea is always cheap too! and hell, stealing school furniture should always be an option.... not say i havent done it or not......

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Jetée

How about you join a killer rock band? You make money from it, you'll rarely be at your crappy home, and if need be,you can get your screaming fangirls and/or groupies to buy shit for you. Yeah. Kickin'.

Or if that doesn't pan out, 20 bags of rice serve as your all-purpose furniture, entertainment, food, whatever. Best of luck to ya, kid.
(What the hell am I saying, I am in the exact same situation as you! )

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Muxy

I like the ideas in here. I will be definitely picking up a futon.

What are peoples idea about milk crates as storage units they can hold a lot of things and actually serve a decent purpose. I was driving by Macdonald's and they have a ton of them.

The HD screen for a computer is meh I don't like that idea. I have a 32'' TV and with 3 roommates cable would only be 10-15$$ maximum.

Keep the ideas coming...no I will not be buying 50LB bags of white rice. I will not force myself to eat ramen noodle either.

kurty[B]

If you're not going to buy rice, or ramen (good for you by the way) I would definitely suggest a bbq grill if there is a place for it. When money gets tight Bratwursts are not that expensive to make, and vegetable kabobs are even cheaper, and BBQ'd food is so damned good.

Aside from kitchen, cleaning, and bathroom things, everything else was just extra stuff for me that I ended up giving away, or that is sitting in storage. Oh, and empty beer bottles on top of your cabinets to show all the different microbrews you drink really isn't that cool, keep the fridge stocked rather than that.

Ballzor

stay away from the 100 dollar standard futon from walmart, we made that mistake, it sure looks good in the picture but after a years barrage of drunk people, forget it. Make sure whatever futon you get has some sort of connection between the frame and the pad. Annoying as hell having to readjust the damn thing everytime someone sits on it.

If you have any money to spend. Get the highest threadcount sheets you can afford, no matter how shitty your place is (oh yes, it will be shitty), an incredible bed will single handedly make up for it.

if you are with other people, go in for a half decent grill. Nothing better than grilling out, its simple and effective, and if you throw a party with that setup you'll be mr. chill cool popular overnight.

Also, I dont know how your college is set up but my bro taught me this trick. Late at night aftereverybodies passed out, go out keg stealing, I think its something like 3 empty kegs can score you 1 full one. Free alcohol for rest of your college days. (yeah you're underage but whens that stopped anybody)

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cadre

Chicken breasts marinated in Sprite (yes the soda) and grilled is sooooo good. Not excessivly bad for you either. Your apartment may have grills built in around the clubhouse and such and you could use that. I would rather have my own though.

I'll have to put that on my list of things to get if I get an apartment

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soma

http://www.craigslist.org has a free section. Lots of old furniture in there people are willing to give away as long as you transport it. There are usually a good number of tube (non-flat) screen TVs too. Not bad. Not bad.

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ColonelSpecial

A can opener and silverware. So hard to try to cook/eat anything once the people moving you have left without silverware. Also, get to toilet paper. Lastly, get some lamps. Any kind are good (cheap, Wal-Mart, anything!) because using the overhead lights (if you have them) make it feel clinical. Having lamps makes it feel more like a home.

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ASU2003

If you have some extra spending money, get a LCD TV that can double as your computer monitor. Moving and storing a tube TV isn't worth it. Get the ATSC tuner built in to get HD over the air using a cheap directional antenna ($20)

My Mom swears by using damp fabric softener sheets to clean stuff like George Foreman grills.

I like using paper plates instead of doing dishes.

Brring some basic tools, screwdrivers, hammer, screws, nails, wrench, tape measure, duct tape...

Use plastic grocery bags as garbage bags.

Bean bag chairs are cheap and simple.

Find some posters.

I'll come up with some more later.

guthmund

Milk crates are great. We used them for everything. Use them to store stuff, sit on, stack to use as end tables, make a stand for something, plant something....they're the swiss army knife of makeshift home furnishings.

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The_Jazz

Since no one else seems to have pointed it out and I have some, ahem, personal experience with this, it is illegal for anyone other than the owner of the milk crate to transfer ownership. If it is a true milk crate, that means that the dairy owns it, not McDonalds, not the grocery store, not the convenience store. So if an employee of one of those places is "selling" you some, it's illegal.

And dairies take the theft of them seriously. Or at least they did in the early 90's in East Tennessee.

But they are very versatile and quite useful. Until I married an archivist, I used 2 as filing cabinets. Just get them legally.

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Jetée

Then get some Coke crates (transports bottles of Coca-Cola)... I have around 3 of them and nobody's made a gripe about them yet. Very ergonomic and multi-purpose. Glad I have them!

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As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world (that is the myth of the Atomic Age) as in being able to remake ourselves.

—Mohandas K. Gandhi

The_Jazz

These are also owned by the Coca-Cola company. I'd contact them directly to inquire if they are for sale.

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"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - B. Franklin
"There ought to be limits to freedom." - George W. Bush
"We have met the enemy and he is us." - Pogo

telekinetic

Be sure you buy a plunger. You don't want to wait until you need it to go get it.

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tenniels

Make sure you have an extra package of light bulbs, it's a pain in the ass when in the middle of the night (if you're a night owl like me) you're bulbs go out and you're stuck in the dark. I am a fan of the new coil bulbs that are more expensive, but better for the environment, save money on electrical bills, and last a helluva lot longer.

I'm in my second apartment, and I think the most important thing is to surround yourself with things you like and that make it feel like home. I'm 24, so I don't have a lot of expensive furniture or anything yet, but my futon is great for when I have company, and you can also change the sheet you put on it, if you chose to do so, do go with whatever colour scheme you're feeling at the moment. My colours are mostly black and red, so I painted a lot of old furniture (desk, night table, etc) and it was nice because it was custom and I was proud that I did it myself.

And Ballzor is so right, spend money on a good mattress and good sheets. I have 800 thread count sheets and they are one of the best things I have ever bought. I also have one of those memory foam toppers on top of my mattress, which I love. Everyone is jealous of my bed, and hey I love to sleep.

For the kitchen, make sure you have some seasonings and condiments, those are things you take for granted just having around at home (well with your parents). Make sure you have a baking sheet, a good frying pan or wok, oven mitts, tea towels, and all that stuff too.

Enjoy your new place and let us know how it turns out!! Be creative and use things like the milk crates etc and you'll have some very cool and cheap stuff!

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Manic_Skafe

It's his first apartment - it had to be said.

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aberkok

Don't skimp on a large kitchen knife. Something really good quality. If you want to have any chance of keeping a healthy fruit and veg intake, whether raw or in stir-fry etc., you're going to want to make the process as painless as possible. Even the most established homemaker will understand that the most monotonous part of cooking is the chopping of vegetables. A good kitchen knife will cut the time it takes by at least half.

And to go with it, get a good cutting board (I'd say large but whatever fits on your not likely to be large counter space) which you keep clean!

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noodle

Clorox Cleaning Wipes.

Sam's Club-sized packages of toilet paper and paper towels.

Something to serve as a nightstand... almost falling off the ed to turn of the alarm on the floor SUCKS.

Trash Can

Toaster oven... can broil a steak or make a piece of toast.

Microwave big enough to make a whole bag of popcorn.

Ditto on the wok pan... they're about $20 at Target and you get your money's worth.

And stock your freezer with cheap and easy stuff for at first when you can't find anything... edamame, frozen dinners, etc. Make at least double if you can and freeze or refrigerate it.

Good luck!

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World's King

Booze.
Whores.
Condoms. (You won't use these)
A stack of pizza coupons from every joint near you.
A friend that never leaves your couch but you don't mind cause he buys booze and always has really fucking good weed.

A picture of you mom.

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Phant84

If you are going to have house mates, you might want to invest in a small cocktail fridge. Everyone has their comfort foods/alcohol that they dont want touched. I think mine was about $80 at Sam's Club and had a lock and key. Dunno if they are the same prices or not.

Also hit up a dollar store for common house hold meds (tylenol, asprin, cough syrup) never know when you gonna need them, and it's another thing thats better to have on hand than to have to go get them when you feel like crap.

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Challah

I spent first year in res but I had an apartment in grade 12 and here are my suggestions for the kitchen:

-High-quality knife. This is perhaps the last thing you want to skimp on in the kitchen. Can't stress it enough.
-Cutting board. Doesn't need to be huge but should be of decent quality.
-Wok or big frying pan. As said earlier, very useful and versatile.
-Big pot. Boil stuff in it.
-Big bowl. Mix stuff in it.
-Whisk, big wooden spoon and fork, spatula, etc. The usefulness of this kind of thing can vary greatly, depending on how many prepackaged/microwaveable things you end up eating. I bought the above four and all were useful at some point.
-Pyrex baking dish. This can be used to bake and cook all sorts of things. Thanks to the lid (that works a hell of a lot better than saran wrap), you can bake something and keep it (relatively) fresh while you feed on it over the course of a week. Here's the one I have: http://www.shopworldkitchen.com/inde...74&folderID=16
-Simple box cheese grater.
-Cutlery you like and paper plates you couldn't care less about. I got a cutlery set from Ikea for a very reasonable price. Decent cutlery makes a difference. Paper plates make life easier. Get both.

Those are the ones that come to mind. I'll post more kitchen and non-kitchen stuff in a bit. Good luck.