I feel like I blow people's minds when I tell them...it's okay to invest a little money to make the place you plan on living in just a little nicer. Even if you're renting. When I moved into my place I spent about $500 and a weekend to fix the place up. I painted the whole apartment a nicer shade of white so it wasn't just landlord primer, redid all the caulking in the bathroom and fixed/touched up a bunch of trim and doors, repainted the radiators, sanded and painted the window sills, replaced a couple light fixtures and all the old switch and outlet covers. Even put in a new kitchen sink faucet and shower head cause having nice faucets is like, one of the best $50 you'll ever spend.

I don't know, the apartment was in fine shape when I got it, definitely wouldn't have expected the landlord to make the fixes and upgrades I did. But $500, a case of beer and a long weekend and my apartment looks way nicer then it did when I moved in.