So we are house hunting. There is the slow dawning realization that our absolute highest amount we can pay in rent is still only high enough to get us a tiny one bedroom apartment or else a crumbling squatter shack with absentee landlords. This realization was initially crushing but then I realized that we only have one income. One day soon the old man will start bringing home some bacon and then we will be rich! Well not rich, but between us we will eventually be making the salary of one roughly middle class person. To me that seems the very lap of luxury!
Do keep your ears peeled for good places for us to live, though. Gigantic weird warehouse space? Poolhouse? In Los Angeles lots of people live in poolhouses but I think that is less a thing here.
Yesterday we looked at a place that was the exact same quality and size of the place we are currently living, but it was $200 more a month. We were like, what are we doing? While waiting for the landlord, the guy who lives next door (in a very nice looking house covered with American flags and Tea Party posters) came out on his porch and told us that the house we were looking at was a piece of shit and all its past renters have been douchebags, but what can you expect with rent that low, you’re only gonna get meth heads and squatters. Then he said “no offense to you guys.”
All in all it was a disheartening day, but we tried to meet it head-on by getting home and frantically deep-cleaning our house, including underneath the kitchen sink and all the dog laundry. We also washed the dog. That’s part of cleaning our house! It feels better in here now (and certain people smell better). We want to invest more in our personal space and I think we’ve been using the fact that we live in these weird little rented dumps as an excuse to not do so, but that’s wrong. Even a weird rented dump can be a nice home you care about. The next challenge is to purchase a badass vacuum cleaner, a decent couch, and a dehumidifier. If I had those things I think I would be happy (famous last words)
I have a scary lump in my throat and so I emailed Fiona, describing it to her in detail and asking her if it’s cancer. This is something I do to Fiona every couple of months probably. I feel like it is par for the course when you become a doctor–your friends are allowed to constantly bombard you with frantic pleas for long distance medical advice. She wrote back more sternly than usual, informing me that I am “not nice enough to get cancer.”
Great news!
(I will sue her when I get cancer)
That’s a very cool joke by Fiona.
Cleaning makes me feel way better about wherever we live, so I wholeheartedly support this plan. Do you know Unfuck your Habitat? HELPFUL. http://unfuckyourhabitat.tumblr.com/
I find that weird lumps in my neck are generally swollen lymph nodes, & a precursor to getting sick. Get to sleep and eat some lemons!
do not under any circumstances eat lemons in your sleep,
NO MATTER WHAT OTHERS TELL YOU.
that is funny because when i have my own personal attacks of “i have cancer!” one of my justifications is that i’m such a goody two shoes. billy joel called it.
I constantly struggle with the condition of my apartment. Currently, I am at threat level blue. It’s not clean, but it could be a lot worse. A lot. But I just repainted my kitchen and rearranged my furniture, so everything seems hopeful. That’s what Abe taught me. When things start to seem vdreary, acquire a project that will reinvigorate your living space.
As for searching for new apartments, I suggest searching on foot or bicycle. Pick a neighborhood that you like that has reasonable rents and look for homemade signs. If you use a leasing agent they’ll always show you something just above your price range because they think you are lying when you say that you don’t want to spend more than $600 a month. Even if you can’t find exactly what you’re looking for, you’ll get a better idea of what you can ask, so that when somebody looks you dead in the face and tells you that they *have* to charge $1,100 for a doghouse, you will know they’re lying.
Matthew and Julia rented a two-bedroom house with yard for $1,000/month by placing an ad on Craigslist under housing wanted. I can’t believe it worked, but it did.