Special Section
theTrinitonian FEB.14.2014
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Graphic by Caroline Jakubowski
What you should (and shouldn’t) do in your own place by Rachel Puckett & Lydia Duncombe When you get your own place, it comes with a whole new set of responsibilities and challenges. Things you don’t even think to consider when living in a dorm, like how to fix your own heater/pipes/ stove/anything, become obstacles of life. Here’s our advice for what to keep an eye on. 1. If your fire alarms or carbon monoxide detectors go off, make sure the issue is not that the batteries are dying. It will say on the container. Check before you call the fire department because eventually the truth will come out, and it’s embarrassing when an attractive fireman looks at you like you’re demented. 2. Did you know ovens can catch on fire? Well, they can. On the rare occasion it happens, don’t just stare at it in amazement. Have a fire extinguisher handy. If an extinguisher cannot be found, flour and water works well too. However, it will make a massive mess that takes a while to clean up. Be sure to clean up your furniture as well because smoke settles on every single inch of it. 3. If you don’t think your house/ apartment is clean enough, then clean it. Don’t wait for your roommates to
clean. Cleaning standoffs are stupid, and no one ever really wins them. Get yourself some Clorox wipes and a dust rag and go to town. It’s therapeutic. Seriously. 4. Plumbing is an art – an art that shouldn’t be taken up by the average college student. At one point in time every single one of your pipes will clog, whether that be the kitchen sink, the bathtub or the toilet. Have the basics around – a plunger and a coat hanger. However, if you can’t fix it within ten minutes, call your landlord. Don’t F it up even more than it already is. If you do, it can lead to a massive hole being dug in your backyard to fix the pipes. 5. On that note, call your landlord if something is up. Heating stopped working? Call the landlord. Washing machine on the fritz? Landlord time. Closet doors keep falling off their tracking? There’s a person who can help you, and his name rhymes with shmandshmord. Your landlord has probably made a business of renting properties to people. It is his or her job and responsibility to make sure your amenities are functional. Plus, it usually only causes bigger problems to keep some issues a secret. 6. There are several key things to
Splitwise helps off-campus living by James Godfrey A company called Splitwise aids students, roommates and friends with keeping track of the money owed to others and rent costs. A Brown University graduate, Zoe Chavas, has helped to create a page on their website dedicated to zip codes around the university campus in order to help students find the most costeffective housing in the area, including rates for splitting costs with roommates in multi-room housing. “We were given a big data set by another startup and decided to create this tool for students and others looking to find the most cost-effective housing in their area,” Chavas said. The page dedicated to Trinity can be found at http://colleges.splitwise. com/trinity-university, which currently includes information for the zip codes surrounding the campus. This page pulls information regarding housing rates in the area and then divides rates up depending on the number of rooms. The far right column lists your savings per year with a roommate. Students can find information regarding the average cost per square foot in the area as well as the average cost per bedroom. “We started making these specific pages for colleges and universities because we felt they were a great audience for
this information. The [application] is really helpful as well for students with roommates and friends who borrow from them,” Chavas said. At Splitwise.com, students can sign up for different services. It allows students to enter in their apartment name, as well as others who live in the apartment, and then leads them to a page which lets users enter in amounts they’ve lent and borrowed. The “Settle Up” button in the top right allows for you to make payments to roommates through a record of a cash payment or through Paypal. You can add a bill any time through the application and a record will be kept regarding how much it will cost and who it will be split among. This can also be used to track records of bill payments and rent when it comes to living with roommates. “I just hope that they can use the page to find an arrangement that works for – them. Not everybody likes roommates – some help them understand how much they need in a part-time job to cover the difference of living alone,” Chavas said. The company keeps record of over two million data points around the United States, allowing for users to locate many different average costs for zip codes. For students to find information regarding other zip codes than those around the university campus, they can visit averagerent.splitwise.com.
remember when having people over. 1) It takes a lot of cleaning. People enjoy a clean house. 2) Always have food available, especially at parties. People go crazy for snacks at parties. 3) Same goes for alcohol – always have a cool beverage to offer. 4) Have a lot of seating options available. 5) Don’t get too loud; if you do, make sure you are friendly with your neighbors so they don’t call the cops on you. 6) The morning after a party, everything is sticky. Clean it ASAP; the smells linger. 7. Coordinate who’s bringing plates, bowls, silverware, pots and pans. Six people can comfortably share two full sets of pots and pans. You don’t need six sets. Do make sure you have a whole mess of silverware, though. 8. So much hair everywhere. It covers every inch of every surface. Even the doormat is covered in hair. Girls, clean the best you can. Guys, don’t act so disgusted; it is not girls’ fault their hair falls out. It’s natural. 9. Mow your lawn. If you don’t, one of your neighbors will probably tell the city and the city will send you a note. The note will offer two options: cut it or pay a fine. 10. Pay attention to when your recycling and garbage are picked up.
Don’t let it build up or it will smell up the house. You’ll probably receive a magnet in the mail telling you the holiday pickup schedule. Memorize that sucker. Also, neither recycling nor garbage will be picked up if the container isn’t placed at least four feet away from the nearest car. Bonus: Things to look at/do when you are going to rent a house: 1) Make sure it has central air/heat. 2) Check if it has foundation problems; if it does, what problems will that cause? 3) Make sure it doesn’t have mold. 4) Check all the toilets to see if they flush properly. 5) Bigger kitchen, better kitchen. 6) Check out the crime rate in the neighborhood, especially if you are a group of girls. 7) Figure out the parking situation. How big is the driveway? Will some of you need to park on the street? 8) Make sure you can get to school in under ten minutes without breaking too many laws. Puckett is Editor-in-Chief and Duncombe is Managing Editor.
Graphic by Samantha Skory