For the pretty much past year, since I moved from East Lansing, I had been living with my Aunt & Uncle in Ada. It was an arrangement that was originally supposed to last three months, time for me to look for a house. Well, I did look, but I didn’t find anything that really caught my interest, so instead I just ended up staying there far longer than originally intended.
Obviously, imposing on someone else’s life for a year is ridiculous, and I very much appreciate that they put up with me for that long. Although I haven’t yet found a house I’m interested in buying, it has been immensely helpful in my saving enough to make a downpayment when I do indeed make that jump.
Two weeks ago I started moving into an apartment. I found an ad on Craigslist from someone looking to transfer their lease. This was convenient for me as it got me a 9 month lease term at the rate of a 12 month lease.
The apartment is reasonably sized and in my opinion, a nice layout for a 1br setup. I’m sure I’ll find a way to fill it with crap, but that’s neither here nor there. Additionally, I’ll be able to get one or two garage spaces (something which is not always avaialble). I’m considering two since that would give me full lock control (they’re two stall garages) and also have the nice side effect of letting me get my car down here. The only down side I see to the apartment is that it’s ground floor so people in the parking lot can see in, but given that I end up spending minimal time just sitting in front of the window, I expect this to be of minimal concern.
While moving, I made the discovery of just how much household crap I’ve mooched off roommates in the past. I had a bed, a futon, a chair (desk to come), and well, that’s about it. I had to buy all kinds of odds and ends – things like bathmats, lamps, kitchen utinsels. The only big expense was a vacuum cleaner, but still overall, moving was expensive.
I don’t have the garage space yet, and I still have to acquire the desks from up North, but otherwise my life has pretty much been fully transfered. It’s glorious to have a kitchen again, I never realized how much I missed having a kitchen (even with my sporaddic use of it) until I really didn’t have a place to do cooking.
Oh, and don’t ever let a friend tell you you don’t need a microwave because the only things you cook in a microwave are bad for you. You reheat leftovers with a microwave, and living solo leftovers are plentiful.
