As I type with frozen hands…
Sitting here doing laundry I’m wondering… Shouldn’t an apartment laundry room be heated when it’s below freezing outside?
Okay, I exaggerate. It’s not actually below freezing. But I’ve been in here when it was and I’ve never been so damn cold doing laundry, even dressed in multiple layers of clothing. I don’t think I should have to keep my winter coat and gloves on to do my laundry. A sweatshirt? Fine, but dressing up for winter weather just to do laundry is ridiculous.
The laundry room has a heater. It’s right there on the wall below one of the windows and I’m sure it works beautifully. It was super toasty in here the first cold day I had to do laundry. And it’s been on fan mode another time, too. But for some reason, it hasn’t been heating the room all winter.
You can lift up the cover and push buttons for heat, cool or fan. But none of them work. I think the landlord made it so people can’t turn it on super high and leave it on, or come hang out in here all day with the heat on to avoid using and paying for their own. But if they can do that, shouldn’t they just set it for a low heat and leave it? It is honestly freezing, and here I am handling cold, wet laundry.
I happen to think that leaving it on low, even if it’s only set to 60 degrees or something, will actually decrease their costs. The water heater in the corner for the washing machines won’t have to burn up so much energy trying to keep the water hot. And the dryers won’t have to work so hard to warm the freezing cold air to dry clothes. Sure, we pay to use the machines, but their expenses would still be decreased.
But I suppose turning the heat up would have one downside. There’s a woman in #11 that likes to come in here to smoke. She won’t stand outside her front door like everyone else in the complex. Every time I walk in here it reeks of cigarettes and it’s disgusting. I finally got out of working at a smoke-filled bar and I have absolutely no desire to be subjected to it here. If I ever catch her in here smoking when I come to do laundry, there will be words. She knows she’s not supposed to do it in the buildings, otherwise she would be smoking in her own apartment.
Done ranting… for now.
Getting situated
I’m going to make this simple. It’s list time.
Things I love about my new apartment:
- It’s HUGE and way cheaper to rent than it would be pretty much anywhere else.
- A half bathroom downstairs means I don’t have to go upstairs to pee.
- It has a second bedroom for my office stuff and guests.
- It actually has closet space.
- It’s bilevel. Bedrooms upstairs and living space downstairs means if someone is sleeping, it’s easy to keep quiet and still do what you need to do.
- I have more kitchen cabinet and counter space than I can use right now. Soon to be remedied, I’m sure.
- It’s close to everything.
- I don’t have noisy neighbors. Nice change from living on a university campus.
- Even though it’s big, I’m never far from my wireless router which means I get great signal anywhere in the apartment.
- Opening the windows upstairs lets air all the way through the upper level with a great cross breeze.
- I have a large attic space to store stuff, including boxes I will reuse so I don’t have to go Dumpster diving.
Things that may get irritating about my new place:
- As with most apartments, the paint is cheap. This means that if something gets on the walls, cleaning it off also involves removing a bit of paint.
- None of the sliding windows line up like they should to be locked when closed. I’m going to be talking to maintenance about it.
- The stairs are not wide enough. I finally fell down the last few steps today while the cable and Internet guys were here setting things up. I had slipped several times on the ends of the stairs before, but hadn’t fallen.
- There’s a spot in the floor right in front of the full bathroom sink that creaks badly. It’s impossible not to step on.
Things yet to be done this week (if possible) before being super busy at a new job:
- Get a public library card. I’m desperate for something new to read and can’t afford to buy all the books I want.
- Change my auto insurance policy from Michigan to Indiana and add renter’s insurance.
- Go to the BMV to change my license, registration and plates.
- Stop by my new office to start the paperwork.
- Set up automatic, online bill pay for all my new bills.
- Make sure my address everywhere is changed.
- Close an old bank account and link my new bank account to my online bank.
- Drive around the county to try and get my bearings and figure out where things are.
A new place to call home
My mom, fiance and I just got back today from yet another trip down to southern Indiana. We did some serious apartment hunting and ended up getting about as lucky as you can get. We drove down Thursday, hunted yesterday and came home a day early.
We found a fantastic apartment. It’s a two bedroom, one and a half bath place. It’s actually bilevel with the bedrooms and full bath upstairs and the living room, kitchen and half bath downstairs. The place even has room for a dinner table and a pantry shelf if I want one. It also has a pull-down ladder for some attic storage space. It has a back door that leads to a tiny little concrete patio, which we would use for grilling should we get a little grill. I’ve got an assigned carport spot and there’s plenty of other parking for the fiance and guests. It even has central heating and air conditioning. Even more astonishing is the rent. Ready for this? It’s a total steal at under $500 a month.
It’s a gem of a place — clean, open, airy and updated with appliances (including a dishwasher!) that are only four years old. The carpet is in great shape, with only a few stains in the master bedroom that will likely come mostly out when the carpet gets cleaned. There’s lots of kitchen counter space and storage as well as a coat closet and a linen closet upstairs. The bedroom closets are plenty big enough, as are the bedrooms themselves. There’s no place for a washer or dryer, but the complex’s laundromat is across the parking lot and cheaper than going elsewhere. It’s got some new machines and an exercise bike (of all things) to use while waiting. Added bonus — my water, sewer and trash is paid for with my rent. All I pay is electric and any cable, internet or phone I want.
The place technically wasn’t even available to rent. The story of how we came to get it is kind of sad. We were looking at some other apartments the landlord owns, walking through with him, and he was able to show us this one. The young woman who is moving out this weekend was diagnosed with leukemia and has to move back with her parents for hospital trips and cheaper living expenses. She was 90% moved out when the landlord showed us the place, and is actually happy to have someone taking over right away. The landlord is being really nice, just letting her break the lease with no fees and is refunding everything for her.
The location is great. It’s across the street and back a ways from a 24-hour Walmart superstore and other shops. Surprisingly, it’s very quiet being so close to a main road and so much shopping. My new bank is also right there, as are several other very nice conveniences. I’m only a few miles from work which means I can snooze just a little longer.
A possible future bonus is that they allow pets. You all know I want a dog. This place doesn’t require an additional deposit for the dog and only adds like $15 extra on the rent a month. While we may not have a dog for quite some time, it is certainly a possibility with this apartment. My guess is that we’ll be staying for more than the one year lease term.
And I’m moving in literally a week, starting my new career soon after. Despite how terrifying the process is, it’s all starting to come together… and fast.
