Kelly Kreth

Probably the biggest mistake my landlord ever made was giving me her cell number. 

In February I was due to begin paying rent—I had paid a year up front back when I moved in—and she texted to let me know where to send the check.

Before that, when I needed to get in touch with her, I typically would call her husband as I have the number of the shop he works at around the corner and get random workmen to relay messages to him, but figured texting was a far better, convenient and deliciously passive aggressive way to communicate.

Sure those white-gloved doormen buildings are luxurious, but who wants to make small talk every time you walk into your building? Not to mention the fact that you may need to have your feet firmly planted in the 1 percent to afford holiday tips for a fleet of doormen.

Can you tell we're trying to make our doormanless-self feel better here? It's easier than you might think, actually, because in the last couple of years, a plethora of products and services have sprung up that make the unattended life easier (and safer, too).

Here are five to add to your personal survival kit:

In my previous column, I gave some tips for surviving in a tenement-sized apartment. This time, I thought I’d focus on something else I know quite a bit about: Surviving in a walk-up.

When I first moved to Manhattan I lived on the sixth floor of a walk-up tenement. I was young and so excited to finally be living in NYC in an apartment I could afford alone, the stairs didn’t seem daunting at all…at first.