I haven’t written here in a while, and I keep telling myself it’s because I’ve been busy. But I’ve put off too many things I normally do for that reason, and it’s becoming a lame excuse. So here I am writing about something that happened 4 weeks ago.
After one year living in Michigan, I renewed with my apartment complex even though they increased my rent by almost 25%. I thought that drastic of an increase was ridiculous, but stayed. I liked the fact that I could walk to work.
But two things happened. One, I found out that people moving in around the time I renewed were offered the same rate I was when I moved in, the year before. So I was paying almost 25% more than my neighbors for the exact same place. Actually, a worse place, because theirs had a fresh coat of paint. I was furious when I found out. Second, the office I work at was moved several miles away. So not only did I have a reason to move, I no longer had a reason to stay.
So for what seemed like the entire month of October, I shopped for a new place to live. I came very close to renting a nice little house near downtown. The neighborhood didn’t seem all that bad, but the house didn’t come with all the necessary appliances. And having none, I thought the move-in price was a little high.
I checked out a nice apartment complex within walking distance of my new office location. They were slightly more than I was paying, but almost seemed worth it because it was more square feet. I applied there, and waited like two weeks, without a word from them.
I also had two friends that wanted me to rent a room in their house. This was difficult, knowing that no matter what I did, I had to disappoint someone. In the beginning of October, they both wanted $500 (utilities included) for their room. I told them both I had apartments I had found that were reasonably clean, closer to work and not much more expensive. One of them changed their price, the other didn’t.
During the time I was waiting for approval on the apartment complex downtown, the one room that became cheaper finally hit a price so low I couldn’t refuse. I have a longer commute, but the price became so low that I couldn’t say no. Hopefully I can save some money and pay down debt a little more now that my living expenses have gone down dramatically.
