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How to Protect Your Property if You Live in an Apartment Complex

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Money is a scarce commodity, and this means that some people may be willing to do whatever it takes to get some, including stealing. This is one of the greatest reasons why it’s a good idea for you to protect your property, especially if you live in an apartment complex. There are a number of measures that you could take to be able to do this, and a few good ones are outlined below.

Invest in a Fireproof Safe

Keep in mind that every 23 seconds, there’s a fire in the United States. This makes it important for you to keep your home safe from fire, in addition to burglary. To this end, make sure that you have a reliable fire detection system with batteries in it. You should also take things a step further and buy a fireproof safe. This is the perfect place to hide your valuables and avoid keeping them in obvious places like the closet, under your mattress, or even in an empty coffee can. With a fireproof safe that’s bolted to the floor or wall of your apartment, your important documents and valuables will be a lot safer.

Know Your Neighbors

Another important safety measure to take is to make it a point to know your neighbors. You don’t have to be the most social person in the world to do this, since a little observation and small talk can help you know who your neighbors are, even in passing. As a result of this, you’ll find it easier to tell if something is out of place, such as having a strange person or vehicle near your apartment at odd hours or for too long. This can save you considerable trouble, given the fact that there are over 100,000 motorcycles registered in Kentucky alone, according to a report that was shared by the Kentucky State Police. Similarly, if you know each other as neighbors, it will be easier for each one of you to be on the lookout for any suspicious faces or occurrences.

Ensure the Doors and Windows Are Secure

The doors and windows are literally the most common possible entries into the house that burglars can use to access your home. With this in mind, it’s best that you make sure the doors and windows of your home are secured properly by installing robust locks on them. This is likely to be an affordable project to do since good locks don’t normally cost too much. They may not even cost enough to be counted as part of the $472 billion that, according to Architectural Digest, was spent on home renovations in 2022. That said, you can also take measures like placing a bar in the track of a sliding door and installing peepholes and quality deadbolts in entry doors.

Take an Inventory of Your Apartment

Last but not least, spare some time and take inventory of your entire apartment. This is going to prove beneficial for you if a robbery does occur since you’ll be able to pinpoint exactly what’s missing. You can do this by either noting down the most important items or taking a video or pictures to make the process faster and easier. Remember to especially take note of serial numbers as well as the values of the items so that if you need to file a claim, it’s a lot easier to do so, and do so accurately.

You no doubt work hard for your money so that you can get the items that you want for yourself. With this in mind, it’s important for you to take proper care of your valuables and make sure that you don’t lose them easily. The effort that you make is going to prove well worth it for you. Learn other measures and practice them, and you’ll avoid a number of possible issues.

Preparation – Week 1 Results

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The goals for this last week were:

Week 1 – December 3

  1. Create a $2,500 budget
  2. List/re-list sellable items that might do better during this Christmas season (jewelry, old computer, etc.)
  3. Research selling digital products online, make a list of steps and related resources

Here’s how it went…

The $2,500 Budget

What a good and eye opening exercise! Although I found is near impossible to get down to the goal of $2,500.

I loved watching the conversations on Ashley’s recent post about paying off her mortgage vs buying an income generating property. The idea of having a paid off house going into retirement age is certainly appealing. I know it is an emotional thing, but there also is some sense of security with having what is typically one of your largest bills paid for going into that age when you work less or not at all and live off a fixed income.

I know I am nowhere near there, but definitely a conversation I am following.

For Sale

I relisted a bunch of jewelry and items on Facebook Marketplace that I have collected over the last few weeks as I have been going through all the nooks and crannies in my house. I took the time to take better pictures and am opening to make a couple of hundred dollars this month  as much of what I am selling would be great Christmas gifts. My motivation for the purge has been twofold. One, I am more and more inclined to own less so believe that after the holidays I will do another big purge of primarily furniture type things. I’ve mentioned before that I’ve given the kids time to give me feedback on anything that is important to them. So after the crowd leaves, I anticipate I will be ready to do a purge on a much larger scale.

It’s not that I don’t love my stuff. Most of them are inherited from grandparents and even great grandparents, but I find myself less and less inclined to spend time dusting. 🙂 Can anyone relate to that? So I want to live in a far more simple setting.

The second reason, is that as I consider renting out or selling my home…I realize that much of the “stuff” I have does not bring me joy anymore. So less to care for, less to potentially store or move. And I’d rather purge now, then have to have a “fire sale” down the road. I am being very thoughtful and intentional as I sort through things. Handling them, remembering where they came from, and deciding if they are worth keeping to me.

Digital Products

I have thoroughly enjoyed this research. And it’s been coupled with a lot of questions about what is next for me. I believe I’m pretty clear on the process and what will need to happen to set it up, all within my skillset. The question now is, what direction do I want to go in…still working on that.

The New Part Time Job

As of this morning, I have accepted a new part time role as a Catering Coordinator that I had two interviews for last week. The details that I know are as follows:

  1. Expect 20-25 hours per week but will start with regular onboarding for this fast food company.
  2. Starting pay at $13 per hour as advertised. Once I’m trained and working independently, they will reevaluate pay.
  3. I won’t have “regular hours” rather I will work hours required by catering orders that come in which means, I could work any combination of breakfast, lunch, and dinner hours on any given day. I will not be preparing the food rather coordinating the teams efforts to make sure the right food and goods are ready/delivered on time. And I will also be doing community outreach/marketing to grow the catering side of the business.

This is a new role for them so it’s kind of a grow and evolve as it makes sense. I’m super excited.

And I did speak with my current boss at the accounting firm and she fully supports the flexible hours I will need to make both jobs work. Woot, woot!