Davis roommates are like family members: they don’t always communicate well. To help keep everyone in your Davis apartment on the same page, create a roommate communications center.

Lifehack.com has a few suggestions for what you will need:

A Cork Board

A cork board, with plenty of push pins, is useful for handling information you need to refer to for a short time. Receipts, party invitations and reading lists live on mine. The cork board is also a good place to leave phone messages, although I cannot speak to that, since my family doesn’t do messages.

A White Board Shopping List

Having a running shopping list where everyone can see it is a good way to keep track of things that need to be purchased…before it becomes a critical matter Ask your family to add things to these lists when they are needed.

Warning: leaving a shopping list out where children can get to it may result in junk food being added to the shopping list in a chance to bypass parental approval.

Check out the rest of the post for more ideas.

They say that couples most often argue about money. The same goes for Davis roommates. While you have found the the perfect Davis apartment to share, how you split the expenses of a two bedroom apartment with three people doesn’t require a UC Davis math major.

ApartmentRatings.com has some simple suggestions for how to split a two bedroom with three people including.

Base It on the Bathrooms

If two of the three roommates are sharing a bathroom, the individual with a private bathroom should pay a larger share of the living expenses. Usually, a private bathroom is worth $50 to $100 more a month, depending on the size of the bathroom. Note, however, that this solution might not work if the third occupant has a private bathroom, but the other two roommates occupy large bedrooms or have a more luxurious bathroom.

To read the other suggestions, click here.

Courtesy of Karin Higgins/UC Davis

 

 

Established as a farm school, UC Davis still excels in nurturing sustainable methods of food production. Above, viticulture and enology students prepare grapes at the campus’s new Brewery, Winery, and Food Science Laboratory, a facility that earned LEED Platinum certification. Score: 73.2

Want to get that sexy new Kindle Fire? Want to get a discount on Amazon Prime? UC Davis students are always looking for ways to make their money stretch more. Check out Amazon Student for deep discounts on shipping everything at Amazon. As Lifehacker tells us:

People who got in on the 1 year free Amazon Prime for students last summer should be hitting their 1 year expiration date right about now. So that’s why Amazon is now offering them 50% off a regular Amazon prime account.

Check out Amazon Student for details.

The folks at Lifehacker.com (another one of our all time favorite sites) have some tips for how to decorate your Davis apartment without ticking off your landlord. Check it out.

Just like families, Davis roommates often fight about chores. Unclutterer.com has seven step to creating your household routine.

When creating a new household routines schedule or revising one you’ve used for years (like we are), follow these seven steps:

1. Make a list of all the things that need to get done on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. Use four columns (daily, every other day, weekly, monthly) and also identify when during the day these tasks need to be completed. For example: Daily — Assemble son’s lunch while making dinner. Weekly — Mow yard in early morning or evening when it’s not blistering hot.
2. Keep your list of regular chores to the bare minimum. You and your housemates do not have superpowers. There is a difference between things that have to get done and things you want to get done. Cross any item off your list that isn’t essential. The would-be-nice-to-do items are more appropriate for your daily action items, not your regular routine chart.
3. Once the list is created, decide who in the house will be responsible for each chore. If you live alone, you can probably skip this step. Assign responsibilities fairly.

For the other four tips, read the full article.

Over at Lifehacker, they have a step by step guide to How to Hang Pictures Without Destroying Your Walls.  One of the tips we liked was this one:

Bonus Tip: Use Disposable Hooks

3M’s Command line of plastic and metal hooks also work well to hang light pieces of art and posters from drywall or concrete, without the need for drills or nails. Apartment dwellers in rental units, college students, or anyone else who’s technically prohibited from hammering or drilling will find them especially useful. The adhesive strips that come with Command hooks go on easily, cure quickly, and remove without damaging the walls (in most cases,) which is a huge benefit if you like to change out the art on your walls frequently, or just don’t want to risk drilling or hammering nails into them.

The trouble with these kinds of disposable hooks, Velcro strips, and other mounting strips is that they’re generally rated for very light objects. If you have small, light plastic or acrylic frames with photos or printed posters in them, they’ll work well. If you have a solid wood frame or oversized pieces of art, they may hold for a few days, but your art will come clattering down unless you use three or four hooks to hold it up.

Check out the very informative full post.