Sunday, January 6, 2008

Going Green

Going Green is the way of the world these days, or so it seems, so why not help your residents (and your complex) find ways to do this...

There are several websites that can help find ideas that are doable. Changing the light bulbs we use, cutting off the lights when we leave a room, etc. are just a few simple ideas.

Here's a few websites to help you with ideas for your residents:

http://www.ivillage.com/green - iVillage is a site that is full of information on all areas of life.

http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/shows_hlwed - Living With Ed is a show on HGTV. It stars Ed Begley and his wife. He has made it his job to teach everyone about going green.

http://www.earthshare.org/tips/moreeasy.html - a list of ideas that can help go green

These are just a few sites that can help you pass along some ideas to your residents.

Thursday, January 3, 2008

A menu of ideas

Have you ever thought about doing up a "menu" of sorts for your resident activities? Do up a list of fun things that you are able to do with your residents, send it out and let them choose what they would like to do...when they turn the "menu" back in, you can see which items your residents want to do and do those.

This will help keep you from planning something and having no one or very few residents show up...

A few of the things you could list are:

crafts for adults, crafts for children, book club, learning more about budget planning, cooking lessons, learning a new language, learn about container gardening, resident breakfast/lunch/dinner/cookout, decorating for an apartment (decorating ideas that won't hurt the walls, etc.), fitness club (the biggest loser sort of thing), quilt making, etc.

Things that you have the money to do (you don't want these "menu" items to cost your resident too much. A little cost to the resident isn't that bad, just make sure the cost doesn't go overboard.)

Things that fit your residents. If you have an elderly property, you probably don't want to plan a relay race that ends in a water balloon throwing contest.

"Menus" can be a fun way to find out what your residents would like to do...and don't forget to leave them a space to write down some ideas of their own.