The Art of Living in NYC

Ok, so duh: NYC is the best city in the world. We have the best restaurants, the best shopping, the best museums, and the best parks. But also, living here is like living NOWHERE else. And I mean that in a good and a bad way (cue the Frank Sinatra song).

Cause there is an art to living in NYC...and if you ever wanna try it, there is some shiz that you're gonna have to deal with that you most definitely *don't* have to deal with if you live anywhere else.

Check it:

1. Storage

Face facts: you will have none. Like, N-O-N-E. Consider yourself lucky if you have one friggin closet in your entire apartment. If you have a walk-in closet, you're probs VERY rich (unless its one small-ish walk-in closet and no other closets, which is mostly what we have). I don't care which nabe you live in, brownstone, walk-up, doorman building, etc, you're gonna have to get creative as all get out with your storage sitch.

Here's what's worked for us:

• Double duty furniture: we tried to maximize our space, by choosing some furniture pieces that also provide storage options. Our banquette in our kitchen (from Ballard Designs) has seats that open up and provide storage underneath the benches. We keep extra paper towels, kitchen supplies, and toiletries in there, and no one ever knows.
• Customize storage spaces: we own our place, so we have a bit more flexibility, but even if you are renting, there's a lot you can do. Visit Ikea, or the Container Store and figure out some solutions that might help you maximize your space. We hired a custom closet builder to go into our front coat closet, our little broom closet and our walk-in bedroom closet (that we turned into a utility closet) and added shelves, drawers, etc.

2. Carrying Stuff

Right so if you own a car, doing errands and picking crap up is no biggie: you go where you need to go and that's the end of it. Here in NYC, we gotta carry all the stuff we buy. Translation: IT SUCKS A GIGANTIC DIZZLE TO GO SHOPPING. If you live in a doorman building, getting things delivered/sent to you isn't such a big deal. However, now that my ass is stuck out in Brooklyn, this is another ish entirely. For those of us who do slum it without a doorman, believe you me, we came up with a plan B right quick: get packages delivered to work; get stuff delivered to a super; or befriend some annoying neighbor who works from home to get all your crap for you so you can pick it up when you get home from work. One thing I can promise you: things like going to the Grocery store are a whole nother animal here in NYC. Which is why I'd like to intro you to your new best friend: Fresh Direct. Fresh Direct is a grocery store, only it doesn't reaally exist...it's ALL ONLINE! You order all your stuff from the comfort of your living room and then someone just brings it all to you. Getting fat has never been so easy! This is the stuff that dreams are made of, ppl. Oh hello, soap.com! What's that? You'll bring gigantic packages of paper towels, and toilet paper and double bottles of shampoo to me SAME DAY DELIVERY (no charge!), yep. Look into it.

3. Laundry

If you have a washer/dryer in your apt and you live in NYC you're either rich or very fucking lucky. We have washer/dryers in our basement and we're STILL way luckier than a lot of other people who don't even have any laundry facilities in their buildings at all. Thing is, I still don't want to spend all day down there doing laundry...and so we still send our laundry out. We have a service that comes and picks it all up, and then the next day BOOM: they come back and drop it all off. It's kind of like magic. As for dry cleaning, my best advice is drop your stuff off at a place that is close to where you get on/off the subway. This way you can drop stuff off on your way to work, and pick it up on your way home.

So yeah: living in NYC is a bit of a challenge, but trust me: it's still totally worth it. Ok fellow NYers: wtf did I miss?