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How to Start a Neighborhood Watch for your Apartment Community

You love your apartment community so why not help keep it safe? There are some things that all of us can do to help make where we live just a little safer! For example, you could start a neighborhood watch program, or if your apartment community already has one, become more involved.

                              

Any motivated individual or a collective group can organize a neighborhood watch program, doesn’t matter if you’re young or old, single or married. All you need to do is send a flier around the neighborhood stating your wish to organize a neighborhood watch program or visit your neighbors to communicate your efforts. Set up a meeting at your apartment or the clubhouse so that you and your neighbors can discuss any issues that are occurring.  As a group, you should create a list of topics that you find concerning and that need to be addressed.  The committee can organize a schedule for who will be patrolling areas and when.  Other items you may need are mentioned below:

                  

A time and place to meet regularly, a map of the community with spaces for names, addresses and phone numbers, brochures or other material on topic of interest (i.e. crime rate, neighborhood facts, etc.) as well as Neighborhood Watch Signs that need to be posted around the community (You can purchased these at the National Neighborhood Watch Institute website)

                        

Once you’ve got the basic set up taken care of, you may want to have a police officer come in and sit with the committee to give some ideas of how to spot a potential crime or unusual behavior, how to handle a crime, and how to report one.

                           

Hopefully with all the steps mentioned above and of course visiting the USAOnWatch.org site, you’ll be able to accomplish your goals in making your apartment community a safer one for you and other residents alike.

What to do When Your Apartment Loses Power

With the vast amount of storms across the nation, it’s not a bad idea to be prepared for a power outage in your apartment. Instead of running around your apartment in the dark trying to figure out what to do, have a plan set in place.

                     

You should always keep a kit stored with supplies for a power outage. The kit should include a flashlight with working batteries, a battery operated radio, battery powered or wind up clock, water, small first aid kit and the telephone numbers of the maintenance staff, leasing office and Power Company.

                   

Once you’ve located your flashlight, you need to unplug and turn off all lights and electrical appliances (excluding the refrigerator, freezer & one lamp). Doing this will allow you to tell when power has been restored to your apartment.

                              

Another idea for you to do is check your circuit breaker or fuse box. It is usually a gray metal box on an interior wall of your apartment.  Open the door of the panel and see if the circuit breaker is tripped or a fuse is blown. To reset a tripped breaker, move the switch all the way to "OFF," then all the way back to "ON."  If you have any questions regarding your apartment’s electrical set up, check with the leasing office or maintenance staff.

                         

One thing you should NOT do during the power outage is open the refrigerator or freezer. According to what I’ve heard, your food can stay cold for at least two hours if the doors to the fridge and freezer haven’t been opened. Regardless, be careful when eating food that was in the refrigerator or freezer without power for longer than two hours.

                      

Having a plan set in place will make you much more prepared the next time your apartment loses power. That way next time will be a little less hectic!

                     

Do you have any suggestions for what to do in a power outage?

Best Plants for Apartment Dwellers

I don't know about you, but I am horrible with plants! I always see them in stores and think 'Oh, that one is so pretty', so I buy it and bring it home.  The first couple of days I'll water and nurture that plant but within two weeks I will have managed to kill yet another one. There has to be plants that are low maintenance enough for people like me!

Well, I'm in luck because there are several plants that will survive with me and my apartment conditions.  So I thought I'd share a few of them with you!

These low maintenance or 'hard to kill' plants don't require a lot of care such as specific sunlight for x amount of time or be watered two-three times daily. These plants are perfect for an on the go apartment dweller, like me!

	Ivy Ivy is super easy to take care of, just be sure you don't over water it and leave it in your low light apartment & it'll thrive! There are also a plethora of varieties of Ivy, such as: Glacier and Irish Lace, English Ivy and Persian Ivy.
	Spider Plants They usually do well as hanging plants and with a littler water now and then, they'll stay healthy.
	Snake Plants This plant is extremely common in apartments and is notoriously known as 'hard to kill.'  The snake plants don't require much sun at all and only need a modest supply of water in the summer months (none in the winter).
	Bamboo This may be the ultimate 'hard to kill' houseplant.  All you need to do is occasionally refresh the water in it's water bowl and pull off the leaves that have died & the bamboo will do well.  Simple!

I can tell you after learning this information; I went out and got a Bamboo plant. With very little maintenance, I have kept that plant alive for over a year now!

What about you? Do you have any other plants that might survive well in an apartment environment? Do you have any stories about plants? Let us know!