Week two

Saturday: I usually just weed my adopted garden bed but in the spirit of doing something new I weeded one of the neighboring beds that had not been weeded for a while. It was a good thing that I did because I found a small maple tree starting to grow and I caught it just in time before the roots got too long and it would’ve had to have been dug out with a shovel.

On Sunday I learned how to look for an apartment from my mom and the internet. First, my mom told me to think about the important questions that you need to consider when renting. Does it come with utilities paid? (utilities are Water, Energy, Internet/wifi, Garbage, Cable) Will it cost you extra money to live there? (due to location, crime, temperature etc.) Is there parking? Is there laundry in the building? Is crime bad? (You can determine this by looking at stats online, multiple locks on doors, and asking current tenants.) She also stressed the importance of visiting beforehand to make sure that you are not getting scammed and to examine the space. When visiting you should ask for the water to be turned on to make sure there are no leaks, check for previous water damage, check for working fire detectors and Co2 detectors, check for mildew/mold, if appliances work and if there are radiators or electric heating. If there are radiators make sure that they work. Examining the property helps you gauge if the landlord is active in helping maintain the property. You can also ask other tenants if they like the landlord. Also, when visiting the property, visit at night or in the afternoon so you can see how noisy your neighbors are. I then went to the internet for some more tips. 

I found this video from a landlord which discusses the red flags of landlords. 

Here they are:

•  When a landlord asks for a deposit prior to signing a lease with you. The deposit has to come after the lease is signed. You can lose the deposit otherwise.

• If the Landlord is a small-time property management company and there are no or few reviews. It is much harder to go to court with a company if it were to come down to that. 

• If they ask you for a pet deposit. (depends on the area) It is illegal depending on the area. Most landlords know the law if there is one in effect and this means the landlord is likely shady.

• If the landlord doesn’t ever email you and only wants to talk via phone. They do not want any written record of your conversation with them saying they will fix something for free. Anytime you are dealing with money make sure that it is in writing so you are not charged for anything extra.

• If a landlord asks you to pay in all cash. This means they likely won’t have you sign a lease as well which is also a red flag. Paying all cash means they don’t have to pay taxes because there is no evidence they gained money from tenancy. Furthermore, if they aren’t paying taxes then the landlord could run into legal issues which are bad for their tenants as well. Also, a red flag because there is no proof of payment. Must get a receipt if you do this. 

When renting it is important to get a copy of your lease agreement. I then watched this video on illegal lease clauses to look for that could signify you have a shady landlord. 

1. A lease clause that causes people to be liable for things out of their control. I.e. kids with baseball breaking windows.

2. When a landlord makes a tenant waive the landlord's legal obligation to deliver the unit in a fit and habitable condition or maintain the unit.

3. If they make you waive their liability for your safety on their property.

4. A clause that waives due process. States require you to file an eviction notice but with this, you could get kicked out with no notice and no reason.

5. Any clause that causes you to confess judgment against the tenant for any action filed on behalf of a landlord. This means in any conflict you automatically are in the wrong. Often this clause is coupled with another illegal clause that forces you to pay the landlord's legal fees. 

6. Anything that evicts tenants when they are a victim of a crime in their unit.

I learned a lot from this and now know how to properly search for an apartment. One takeaway I had from today was how important it is to do your research when renting because you can end up in a very bad situation otherwise.

Following the theme of important life skills, I also learned some personal finance online and from my mom on Monday. I didn’t do much research into retirement savings/401k because I already know a fair amount about the importance of those. First, I learned how to write a check and balance the checkbook with my mom. Balancing the checkbook is important because it allows you to not take any extra fees on bounced checks or identify any mistakes the bank has made. I also learned the importance of setting notifications for when checks are cashed so you can ensure that the check has not been stolen. I then looked at budgeting online. An important aspect of budgeting is creating a chart for all your needs and then seeing how much you have leftover and dividing it up for your wants and savings. It is also important to differentiate wants from needs. Needs are essentials such as utilities, rent, a proper amount of food, insurance, and any taxes. Most people suggest the 50(needs)-30(wants)-20(savings) rule for beginner budgeting. You can also cut down on the expenses of your needs if it is greater than what you would like it to be. Some ways to cut down on utilities is use dryer balls in the dryer to reduce time spent drying clothes, wash clothes on cold because it saves money, buy LED’s that are cost-efficient, turn the hot water heater down to below 120, do chores that require energy at night as utility companies typically charge more during peak hours, air-dry clothes once warm enough, unplug appliances when not using them, use a low flow showerhead to save water. 

I also discovered a blog post on how to spend very little monthly on food. I also learned some money mistakes that many people make early on in their lives such as not having an emergency fund, spending too much money on rent, buying a new car, and not comparing prices of purchases. Today helped teach me some basic finance skills as well as it helped me learn the importance of finding a way to cut your overall spending.

I learned how to parallel park on Tuesday. Parallel parking was difficult as I expected it to be. I was trying to fit into a pretty tight spot so I think that it made it much more difficult. However, the tight space made for better practice. This summer I will continue to work on my parallel parking skills so that I will not have to be stressed when parallel parking downtown.

On Wednesday, I learned how to sew with my Mom’s help. I decided to learn by fixing some of my clothes. Below are the before and after pictures of each. The first thing I fixed was the inside of my sweater. I did not expect the hardest part of sewing to be tying the knots and threading the needle. When working with such a small string, makes it very difficult. Moreover, you have to make multiple knots on top of each other which is very difficult to do accurately. Sewing a button onto my pants was a similar experience and I just had to learn the pattern of sewing the string for the anchor of the button. I think the most eye-opening thing for me was that people spend 5-15 dollars for someone to sew a button onto their pants. It takes probably 20-30 minutes to do and is incredibly easy to learn how to sew on a button. The before and after of each piece of clothing are below. 

I didn't have a before for the sweatshirt but you can kind of see where it is ripped in this picture.

Thursday, I learned some basic Spanish, along with some phrases that would be useful if I traveled to a Spanish-speaking country. When practicing memorizing these terms using flashcards on a quizlet, I found that I instinctively translated English into Chinese which I did not think would happen and surprised me. For traveling, I think the most important phrases to learn are where’s the bathroom(dónde está el baño), where’s the bank (dónde está el banco), where’s the hotel(donde queda el hotel), and how to ask for help(me puedes ayudar). Overall, what I learned from this was that you need more time and practice to be somewhat conversational in Spanish. I think if I ever plan to visit a Spanish-speaking country I would work on learning Spanish more.

Today, I have begun to learn how to crochet. After learning how to sew I thought this would be pretty easy to pick up. It wasn’t. Initially crocheting is incredibly difficult to do because you have to coordinate your hands to do a bunch of different motions and hold the yarn at the same time which makes it very difficult. I definitely found myself getting frustrated with today's activity but it got much easier as I got further along with the project. I am crocheting a scarf which will take more than just today to finish and I will work on it this summer. Today's crocheting showed me again the importance of repetition when learning something new. 

I thought that this week I did a good job of working towards my goal of documenting each day and posting it at the end of the week. I think I still need to work on my time setting because I forgot to schedule out the exact time I wanted to do my crotcheting today which was an issue because I learned the basics and then my mom had a meeting so I was stuck for a short bit of time. I also thought I did a pretty good job of reflecting this week and had takeaways for my activities.

Until next time,

Bram