Moving on
I’ve done a lot of thinking since today’s audio post. For those who missed it, apparently the new owners of my rental company are jacking up rent prices, striking at will and setting increases rather arbitrarily, it seems.
I didn’t get my notice yet. I assume it’s coming, because my place was assessed on Friday. Hopefully they saw the damage that the cats have done and have decided to charge me LESS rent. LOL.
So, the aspiration is that my rent doesn’t go up astronomically so that I can hang out for another year and try to get my life in order in the meantime.
But, I want to be ready “just in case” things don’t quite work out that way.
To move, or not to move?
TO MOVE
1. Fresh start? Love it. More bad memories within these walls than good memories.
2. Opportunity to move closer to work. SHORTER COMMUTE!!!
3. Gas prices: $2.36/gallon. And I put 400 miles on the car every WEEK. Moving closer to work means it’d be not only quicker, but also CHEAPER.
4. Possibility of getting a unit with a washer/dryer. No more laundromats or fighting for the one washing machine in my basement.
5. I need another bedroom for when the day comes that I will take my mom in. I have been hoping, though, that the day wouldn’t come for a loooonnng time (by then I would hopefully be able to afford to give her her own place. And she’s too young for a retirement home. LOL. I know — evil of me!)
6. Although — it would be nice to have an OFFICE or a DEN.
7. Eventually shopping for lots of pretty new home furnishings. 🙂
8. Change of scenery. Not having to drive past old employment establishments and not being where people better left forgotten can find me.
NOT TO MOVE
1. I live at the ramp to I-395. Totally convenient to everything in the metro D.C. area.
2. Might not be able to stay in Virginia — what would become of my lovely personalized license plates?
3. Pet deposits? Fucking ludicrous. I was looking at some places today that charge $300 per cat as a flat deposit and/or $35/month pet rent. Um, do they have jobs? Fuck that crap.
4. Financial ruin. I’d have to spend a lot of money in the short term (MONEY I DON’T HAVE RIGHT NOW) to save a tiny bit of money in the long run.
5. Dealing with the semantics: movers, security deposits, getting boxes, packing up my shit. Ugh. Pain-FUL.
6. Might have to give up my beloved balcony, depending where I end up going. Oh well — I’m grilling inside, then!!! 🙂
7. I need a new computer, TV and assorted furniture (to replace what years of moving/extended use/cat assaults have done to the current batch). Because I will throw a lot away when I move and do NOT want a bare apartment.
8. Learning a new commute and possibly leaving behind my ride alongside the Potomac River and my twice-daily views of the Washington Monument, Kennedy Center, the Lincoln Memorial and the cherry blossoms (in season).
OK, it’s pretty even right now. And maybe all the fretting is for nothing, but alas, it gives me impetus to excavate the hacienda and to live simply, any way you slice it.
On iTunes: Liz Phair, “Why Can’t I”