So you buy a nice two shelf bookcase but it’s wobbly and you know it won’t hold much. I’ve recently gotten one and my solution was to put L-brackets on it. After installing about 8 of these brackets at the cojoining parts of the shelving, it is now completely stable and ready for use.
For younger or newer renters, I highly recommend the book Safe and Sound: A Renter-Friendly Guide to Home Repair by Mercury Stardust
It covers so many things I wish I knew when I first moved out on my own, and probably would have saved me some serious money over the years.
UK experience:
- Open all your windows to air out for at least 20mins every day. If the place is prone to damp, twice a day. This includes days its sub-zero outside
- Cheap rugs in strategic high traffic places protect shit carpets
- If the landlord supplied it, the landlord fixes it
- Get a windup torch for when the power goes out (it will)
- Massive electric blankets to wrap up in rather than having the heating on 24/7
- Charity shops for cutlery, glasses, mugs, plates. cooking utensils etc. Just make sure to clean them well before using.
- Heavy thermal curtains in front of external facing doors and between rooms (if open plan).
- Make sure you know exactly where elec/gas/water meters are, make a note of their reg. no. and take regular readings.
- Get storage solutions that stack high rather than wide.
Empty the lint trap on your dryer every time you use it.
If you have a dishwasher make sure there is no food clogging the drain every now and then.
Once a year, clean out the actual vent from the dryer to outside. The lint filter doesn’t catch everything.
Better yet, completely rinse everything off of the dishes before putting them in the washer.
Don’t do that; modern dishwashers already do an amazing job of that, so you’d just be wasting water and effort, which defeats the whole point of dishwashers in the first place.
If anything, just scrape any solids into the trash with a utensil before loading your dishes into the dishwasher.
Biodegradables in the trash?! That’s even worse! I just hand wash and use the dishwasher as a dry rack.
In the trash? Just get a dog, and put the dishes back in the cupboard.
Two dogs, takes half as long.
Even quicker if you help!
At that point - you mind as well hand wash the dishes.
Keep shoes at the entrance as much as possible, and don’t walk around your house in them.
Clean a little every day, clean a lot on Saturday morning
Sodium bicarbonate and white vinegar is super good
Good for bubbles in water :)
Do not do any plumbing or electrical work yourself unless you are a plumber or an electrician respectively.
Consequences for mistakes can be extremely costly and/or deadly. If you rent, it’s your landlord’s responsibility to get that stuff handled. If you own, just pay the tradesmen to do it right.
I disagree. You probably shouldn’t rewire your house yourself but changing out an outlet/switch or installing a water softener are extremely easy tasks that would not be worth hiring a contractor for. There’s quite a lot you can safely do on your own as long as you educate yourself and triple check everything.
Exactly. Replacing a light fixture, installing an outdoor floodlight, replacing a kitchen tap, replacing a shower mixer…all really easy tasks I’ve learnt from YouTube videos and are perfectly safe.
I agree. There are tons of resources out there that will tell you how to do it and typically they come with plenty of comments from other people telling why the particular example is wrong. From there you should be able to piece together a lot of the common mistakes, and understand how not to make them. If you can’t understand the why to any of them, perhaps it isn’t something you should be trying yourself.
Get a small tool box and start collecting tools inside it.
Basics to start with are:
- hammer
- screwdrivers (get the three major ones - flat, Philips (cross) and Robertson (square))
- screwdriver with multiple replaceable heads (get one with as many heads as you can)
- pliers (buy a set of at least three types) (also make sure at least one of these has a wire cutter)
- vice grips
- Allen key set (metric and imperial)
- adjustable wrench
- exacto knife (with replaceable blade)
- crow bar (at least 12" long but bigger is better) (don’t get smaller because you can use the flat screwdriver for anything smaller … a good size piece of iron is good for lots of uses)
To me this would be a good start. This is basically what I started with about 30 years ago and now I have a garage full of tools to literally build a house.
Every time you have something to fix or repair, use your kit and make sure to put everything back. And often you may need a special tool to get your job done, if you can afford it buy it and add it to your kit. The cost of the new tool will repay itself as you use it again later.
And if you are not mechanically inclined than don’t feel a need to grow the kit either. These basics will help with most situations.
Good list! I would probably just also add a battery powered drill.
I think that can come after because for some people, a powered drill is a bit of an expense they can’t afford. I had to go without a good powered drill of my own for about a year after I got my first home. I borrowed a lot of things back then. I did have a drill but it was a 1950s black and decker wired one that was on its last legs. It took me about two / three years before I got my first brand new drill and it was wired because it was cheap. Wired drills are cheaper, last longer - they are less convenient but at least they get the job done. Then it took me about five years later before I got a good cordless one for about $200. Then it took me about ten years later when I got a lithium battery powered Dewalt impact driver and drill set and its all I ever use now.
You can start off with a cheap battery powered drill but honestly, I’d just wait until you can afford a $200-$300 impact/drill set (they usually go on sale at some point) and that set will last you years or decades of use. If you buy a cheap one (like I did), the battery will die prematurely in a year and you’ll end up buying another one … do this three or four times over four years and the cost would have been saved if you had just bought one good powered drill to begin with.
Ask me how I know because the first powered drills I bought were cheap $100 specials - they were good but the batteries never last … even just sitting eventually just drains the batteries and slowly kills them.
I’ve had a $60 Ryobi drill for 10+ years. The battery and the drill work just fine. For basic maintenance, I would rate a cordless drill in my top 5 tools - up there with a hammer and tape measure.
An electric screwdriver is essential. Don’t even try to start assembling IKEA furniture without one, it will literally take twice as long.
Excellent list!
Man, how often needle nose pliers come in handy is INSANE.
The list I thought of is a list of the most common things I use in any kit for just a homeowner doing things around the house.
If the person isn’t interested in doing things around the house any more than they have to … then the kit is enough to do the most basic things.
If the person is interested in doing things around the house … then the toolbox can be filled with more and more things.
I like building/repairing/renovating/tinkering/mechanics and anything like that and after 30 years I have a ton of stuff and the main kit I carry around in my truck basically would allow me to do just about anything. Not a professional but capable enough to do about 80 to 90 percent of most things that is in, on, around, over or under a house.
The rigidity of a bookshelf is almost completely a function of how firmly its backboard is attached. The usual flat-pack kind just has a backboard made out of a thin piece of particle board, and over time the little brad nails they give you with it waller out the holes they’re in and/or back out slightly, and the entire thing gets progressively more wiggly. You can either add more nails or just replace them with short wood screws.
My contributory general advice to anyone living in their first home/apartment/whatever is to get a cordless drill and a set of bits for it. Not just drill bits for making holes, but also screwdriver tips. It is amazing the number of things you can find to use it on, and how much less annoyed you will be when some piece of furniture, fixture, or other gizmo requires removing or installing approximately 127,000 screws and you don’t have to do it by hand anymore.
Get a cordless drill/impact driver combo kit. It is amazing how much better impact drivers are at driving Phillips head screws without camming out and stripping their heads.
The 2 minute rule! If it takes 2 minutes or less, do it now. It helps keep your place more organized.
Counter dirty? Wipe it (1 minute of work). Dirty socks - throw into laundry machine or laundry basket. Used a plate or two, wash it (shouldn’t take longer than 2 minutes).
It’s about making doing the little things a habit which makes a big difference. This obviously won’t prevent messes, but it’ll help maintain the home overall.
- 2 min rule, if you notice something and it takes less then 2 min; do it now
- if you rent, pretty much all of the appliances are your landlords problem
- Keep inside temp at least 60F 15C to prevent pipes from freezing/bursting. Disconnect hoses in winter. Sprinklers need to be flushed
- your water heater has a dial on it for more/less heat
- be sure to air the place out every once in a while
- bug spray is well worth the money
- learn to use molly bolts / plaster
- pay for tradesmen, but water line valves and breakers should be common knowledge
- be sure to replace your air filter, it can cause blocking. Don’t close too many vents
A drain weasel is worth more than 100 bottles of draino
A tub shroom is worth a 100 drain weasels
Post-apocalyptic economics be like:
If you lose something and spend ages looking for it remember where you looked first. That location is the home of that item, take it home when you find it. If you do this a few times you will have your automatic guess line up with where things are.
After you have cleaned for a rental inspection and gotten everything just right take a photo of each room. Use this as a guide for how things should look when you are done cleaning. If you can get back to that one room per week you will end up having very little to do before the next inspection.
Cleaning caddies are awesome. A cleaning caddy has two sections for cleaning supplies connected with a handle for you to carry it sound the house. Make a specific space for it and keep it stocked. Every time you go to clean you just grab that, take it to the cleaning, and you have everything right there. This means less thinking and more doing.
Get a few different brushes with softer, harder, thinner, thicker, shorter, longer, and so on fibres. The short ones are generally better for scrubbing something like group, while longer ones are good for going under the edge of the sink or around burners. Some surfaces are sensitive to metals, so use synthetic or natural fibres on those. Some surfaces are super strong and solid but have stains, metal brushes are great for those.
Pest problem? Use Diatomaceous earth. It’s like tiny glass for bugs that rips them apart.
Poisons kill better because they bring it back to the hive. They will also poison your dog, cat, hamster, squirrels, etc.
I don’t use diatomaceous earth as I don’t want to harm helpful things like spiders.
The things I’ve used to deal with ants that refuse to stay outside are cornmeal and Borax. They take both back to the nest. They eat the cornmeal and it blocks their digestion. The borax is mixed into a thick sugar syrup and I put it outside in a bottle cap. It will poison the ants but not your pet in the amount used.
The hardware store used to carry a tea tree oil spray (Hot Shot Natural) which actually worked very well, and I have a poison spray (Ortho Home Defense) that is supposed to be animal safe after it dries. Those both work on stuff which just refuse to be dealt with by the food remedies.
Learn how to spackle
Mmmmm … spackle … delicious spackle
Forbidden fondant
Does anyone have tips on a cheap sleeping arrangement? I’ve been on a cheap tatami mat and futon mattress, my body is pretty constantly sore. I usually pile up throw blankets to make it a little more comfortable.
Check the local buy sell sites, people throw mattreses or sell them all the time
I would rather sleep on the floor or keep your present arrangement than take the risk of buying a used mattress.
The biggest risk of a used mattress is in carrying bed bugs which is everywhere now, more so in the past decade because they outlawed toxic insecticides that kept them in control in the past. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good thing they no longer allow DDT but it meant a resurgence of bed bugs.
Bed bugs are not to be taken lightly as it will cost you a lot of money time and agony if you ever get infested with them. You basically have to shut your life down for about a month to get rid of them and even then there’s still a chance you won’t get rid of them.
Too right about the bed bugs. At the library they’ve had to start screening every returned book for them. Yeesh!!
We once took a gamble on a fancy tempurpedic mattress that was on local auction where my wife’s grandma worked. “Nah nothing seems wrong with it!” She said. Cool! Won it for cheap!
We muscle it into the house and only in the enclosed space did we realize it REEEEEKED of cigarettes. It was NAUSEATING. We eventually had to pay more to have it hauled away. Learned our lesson.
The plastic base for it was nice though, and was cleaned pretty well by applying elbow grease and strong cleaning chemicals and sunlight and fresh air.
Fair enough :) Totally right about that
It was good advice about 20 years ago … hell, I remember furnishing my first home with a used mattress back then. I remember I had to daily take it out and place in the sun and wind for a week every day, flipping it every few hours … to get rid of the horrible cigarette smell from someone who was a chain smoker!
It’s not a good idea any more because of the danger of bed bugs.
I know this is a weird answer, but try sleeping in a good drawn end hammock (think an Eno hammock, but try to find one that is longer). If you sleep diagonally, it cradles your body amazingly. I’ve been sleeping in one for a couple of years, and it’s both gotten rid of my tossing/turning and helped pretty drastically with my back.
I’m pretty happy with the combo of a cheap, thin mattress with a nicer memory foam topper on it. Affordable, and can replace the topper separately if needed producing less waste than needing a whole new mattress.
If you want to be unethical you could buy a mattress from Walmart (maybe Amazon?)shipped to you then return it online. They will tell you to just keep it
You could look at inflatable roll mats for camping, we’ve got a double one which is about 10cm thick and it’s nearly as comfy as our actual bed. It wasn’t cheap, I think around £200, but definitely a lot cheaper than our mattress.
I’d avoid air beds, I don’t find them comfy at all.
The other thing you could do is look for a mattress on 0% interest credit. We brought our Simba mattress on credit over a year or so for £20-30 per month.
I started it on a futon too and did eventually get used to it but would not want to go back so I totally feel you.
Not sure what your budget / bed size is but IKEA have a range of different priced, decent quality pocket spring mattresses with good warranties. My friend ended up returning his after nearly 3 years (iirc) and they honoured it after inspecting and agreeing that the springs at the very edge on one side were faulty.
I strongly agree with the other comment on not taking second hand ones because of the risk of bed bugs.
