PianoWow

I’ve collected quite a lot of stuff since moving two years ago.  While this move included more stuff, it was not as great a distance as my last move.  Both moves seemed equally difficult.  

One of the blogs I subscribe to on google reader really helped a lot with my move.  I’m talking about Unclutterer.  I somehow knew I would be moving to a smaller place, so I took to reading this site and its new posts adamantly.  The attitude there is refreshing.  While a part of me wants to collect the latest and greatest toys, I don’t always like to let go of things I’ve used in the past.  This blog has helped me reduce the amount of clutter and get me somewhat more organized before and after the move.  Thanks, unclutterer!

Still, I had lots of things I wanted to keep that wouldn’t fit in my new room in my friend’s house.  So I rented a 10×10 storage unit, and started moving boxes and smaller things in my car about two weeks before I actually had to be out of my apartment.

All my furniture I moved with a U-Haul truck in two trips: one to storage and another to my new room.  The day with the U-Haul was a long one.  Many thanks to my friends that helped.

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.