Blog Posts

Cool Down Tips

Any resident of Arizona is no stranger to the heat. Average high temperatures are supposed to reach above 100 degrees ! Today on the Liv Avenida Blog we have suggestions for impactful ways you can cool in or out of your apartment this season. Drink plenty of water. Water is vital to not only giving you life but keeping you hydrated and feeling fresh, physically. Staying hydrated keeps your mind sharp and your energy levels high, so be sure to replenish the fluids your body releases throughout the day by drinking up! Invest in a good reusable water bottle to cut down on waste. Ice your pulses. Greatist encourages you to “ pamper your pulses ” if you need to cool down fast. Invest in a few ice packs if you get hot easily and apply them to your pulse areas to decrease your body temperature and relax the heart rate quickly. Wear sunscreen. Wearing sunscreen protects your skin from the harmful effects of the sun. Protect your skin, not just in the summer but all year long! Invest in makeup with sunscreen, if you wear it, to make it more natural to you. Wear a hat and clothes made of lightweight, breathable fabrics that allow for proper ventilation throughout the day to give your body a break. Encourage good airflow. Air flow not only keeps your body cool but also your apartment! Use fans to encourage this, and block the harsh, hot light of the sun from warming up your apartment by using blackout drapes or curtains. Switch out your dark, silk, or polyester sheets for lighter-colored cotton ones to stay cool while you sleep, too. How do you stay cool in the summertime here in Arizona? Share your wisdom with the rest of us by leaving a comment below. Thanks for reading! We hope these and any other tips you come up with this month help you stay cool, fresh, and full of energy in the upcoming months.

Tricks to Teach Your Pet

Liv Avenida is proud to be a pet-friendly apartment community here in Chandler, AZ. Today on the blog we’re featuring a few ideas for having some fun with your pet — namely, by teaching them tricks! Try these ideas with your pet to encourage discipline and healthy interaction between you and your pet this summer. For Cats Acing the Shell Game This game is perfect for cats because of how smart and naturally adept at hunting they are. It’s also great for exercising and honing their mental skills. Start with a cup and a treat, associating them together so they know to look for the object under the cup. Add in other cups and switch out the treat for a ball or another small object to get them to guess the right cup, every time! Using the Toilet Getting rid of a litter box can seem like an unattainable dream, but it’s possible, and you may be surprised at how well it goes for you! Just be patient and slowly walk your cat through the process. After about three months, your cat can learn how to sit on the edge of the toilet. Just be sure to flush (or teach them to pull a string to do it on their own)! For Dogs Waving For an easy trick that’s sure to help break the ice when introducing your pet to a new person, try teaching your dog to wave. It’s surprisingly easy. Just keep on stock your dog’s favorite treats and a clicker if you are using clicker training. To complete this trick, your dog should first know how to shake paws. Follow the rest of the tutorial at The Spruce. Opening a Door This can come in handy for all sorts of situations. Choose a door that is appropriate for the weight of you pet. A more lightweight door will work better for a smaller dog, for example, than a heavy door would. This is a moderately difficult trick but it’ll be great to show off to any visitors to your apartment. What are your favorite tricks to teach your pet? Share any tips you have for accomplishing these or any other tricks by leaving a comment. Good luck! We hope you have a great time bonding with your pet this summer.

Ideas for Avoiding Excess Heat at Your Next Barbecue

May is here, and it’s National Barbecue Month! We know that firing up a grill may not be appealing here in sweltering Chandler, AZ. But you can still participate in the fun of a classic barbecue by trying these ideas and tips, in or out of your apartment here at Liv Avenida. Start Later Arizona is always hot, especially during the summer, but it cools down slightly in the evening! Make the most of that fact by starting your barbecue later in the evening. It can make a big difference. Cook and Eat Inside Cooking, naturally, brings heat. But with central air conditioning and ceiling fans, you can keep your home at a temperature you’re comfortable in and avoid venturing out into the stifling heat to find a park with a grill and eat. You can also even grill on your private patio, if you have one, to air out your apartment. Ask anyone attending your barbecue to contribute dishes and sides to take some of the load off your shoulders and to lessen the amount of time your oven has to be on. Try Water Games If you are hosting your barbecue outside, water games are great way to combat the heat and keep you energized. Games are also perfect for keeping people engaged and encouraging fun. Try a water balloon relay or even a DIY slip and slide for some fun in the sun. (Just don’t forget the sunscreen!) Head to the Pool Liv Avenida provides a must-have amenity for any home in Arizona: a pool! It’s a perfect spot for hanging out, relaxing, or even working on your fitness goals, if you’re a fan of swimming. When everyone’s ready to freshen up, jump in for a great way to end the day. What do you think? Are barbecues worth the heat? Share your tips for making a great one here in Arizona by leaving a comment below. Thanks for reading! We hope you have a good start to the summer at our apartment community this May.

Spring Cleaning Week 4: Minding the Details

Deep cleaning your home in Chandler, AZ can be a big undertaking, but if you’ve been following along with the guides on the Liv Avenida Blog, we hope you’ve been able to pace yourself reasonably. It’s now time to tune in on the details. Take each of these areas a day at a time to make it more manageable. Clean appliances and furniture. If you didn’t clean these parts of your home while you were completing other chores, now is a great time to do it! Follow this checklist for cleaning kitchen appliances for making sure you clean them safely and thoroughly. Don’t forget smaller appliances, too. Unplug and turn over toasters to empty out crumbs and clean out your microwave. And take out the cushions of your furniture to deep clean those, as well, removing anything that can’t be vacuumed up and then vacuuming or cleaning your upholstery as needed. Disinfect touch points. Your hands touch plenty of things throughout the day, so it’s important to not only wash them often but to disinfect spots of your home that you regularly (or even not so regularly) touch. These areas include doorknobs, blinds, light switches, cupboards and handles, your phone, and more. Dust. Dust gathers everywhere, so clean those spots you may overlook, like tops of ceiling fans, blinds, frames, lights, shelves, baseboards, and anything else you can think of. Your house will sparkle and you can rest easy knowing you’re breathing clean air once you’re finished! Detail the floors. The appearance and state of the floors in your apartment can have a big impact on how your home looks and feels, so make them shine this week. Vacuum the edges and corners of the room, take care of stains, and mop surfaces to keep them sparkling and clean. Upkeep your home. Of course, living leaves a mark — and that’s ok! Do what you can to stay on top of upkeep by setting and sticking to a schedule of when you’ll clean these and other areas of your home again so dirt and grime don’t build up and so you can easily spot clean as you go. Rest. So this isn’t an area to clean, but it’s important to remember! You’ve done a lot of cleaning this month, so treat yourself to something fun or enjoyable, like a movie or your favorite dessert, and rest up so you can enjoy your home. What other details are important to give attention to while you’re focusing on spring cleaning? Let us know what we’ve missed by leaving a comment! Thanks for following along with our guide to spring cleaning. We hope these tips and ideas make deep cleaning easier and more effective for you all year long.

Spring Cleaning Week 3: Conquering Laundry

Getting through the mountains of laundry heaping up in your room or your laundry area can be a drag, but you can do it efficiently by focusing your time on your task and using a few hacks to make each load count. Apartments at Liv Avenida have a washer and dryer, so we make it even easier to accomplish this chore on your own time here in Chandler, AZ. Try these tips for a better laundry day! Stick to your time table. We’ve already stressed in our last few posts the importance of keeping a schedule for when you expect to accomplish chores, and laundry is the prime example of how doing so can really make your day more successful. Start at the beginning of the day or as soon as you get home and toss a load in, making sure to set an alarm on your phone if you don’t think you’ll be able to hear the timer when it’s finished. Promptly move your items so you can start a new wash and get the cleaning and drying out of the way so you don’t have to stay up late or procrastinate folding. Treat and sort your items every day. This is a habit that is important to do, regardless of whether or not you’re doing laundry, because it ensures you stay organized and your living space isn’t cluttered on the days you’re not doing laundry. It’s also important for keeping your items in good shape. Be sure to treat your clothes with stain solutions or odor removers as soon as the stain occurs or as soon as you remove your clothes and shoes. A little bit of baking soda sprinkled into your shoes or a bag in your hamper can do wonders for keeping things fresh! Load smart. Your washing machine can take a lot, but it’s easy to find an excuse for putting just one more item into your load. This can lead to overstuffing your load, trapping dirt in your clothes and stopping soap from reaching all items, as well as overworking your machine. So keep your schedule maintained so you don’t have to stuff everything in at once. Sort according to like colors and any similar care instructions. But on that note, many items (besides towels) can actually be washed on the delicates cycle. This trick can lead to a wash that is gentler on your things and can improve the lifespan of your clothes. Try it out! What are your best tips for laundry day? Share your ideas by leaving a comment. We hope you have the best laundry day (or days) ever this week!

Spring Cleaning Week 2: Taking Care of Main Chores

We hope you’ve had a successful first week of April here in Chandler, AZ, especially as you’ve focused on cleaning and decluttering your Liv Avenida apartment! Today we’re back to the cleaning grind, turning our attention to those bigger cleaning tasks that will get your home looking and feeling fresh. Follow along for a guide of what to cover. Set a schedule. Sure, you may be following a weekly schedule of spring cleaning in general, but when it comes to tackling larger tasks, having a daily schedule of what you can clean can help you compartmentalize your task so you’re not overwhelmed by needing to do everything in one day. Of course, if doing it all in one day works for you, go for it! Choose your pace, but if you want to do it one day at a time, we’ve got you covered! Start with the bathroom. Cleaning the bathroom can be one of the more grimy and less pleasant places to clean, so it’s a good idea to get it over with first. Gather up your bathroom cleaning supplies and get to work! Spray your shower and toilet first and do another chore, like cleaning your mirrors, while you wait for the cleaning to take effect. (Just be aware of any chemicals that may leave stains if left on too long.) Use a scrubber with a long handle to scrub the walls of your shower and rinse with a spray bottle or your shower head. Then scrub and rinse or wipe down your toilet and sink. It may be tiring, but then you can finish with easier tasks, like sweeping the floors. Then go chore by chore. The bathroom is one of those places you should clean all at once, but other rooms can be cleaned chore by chore so you can focus on one thing at a time. For example, similarly to how you decluttered each room all at once, you can also go room by room wiping down counters and surfaces, focusing on cleaning stainless steel, and vacuuming or mopping. What are your best tips or cleaning supplies for cleaning main rooms like bathrooms and living areas? Let us know in the comments so we can all benefit! Thanks for reading.