(Update: I feel like that blog post title would indicate we're moving far, far away, when in fact, we're just moving somewhere within the Nashville area. Sorry to get anyone too excited or whatever. Carry on)
I don't normally do any sort of theme on this blog space, because I want this space to be one in which I can come to and type out things I think about, as I've mentioned many, many times before. Well, I've been thinking a lot lately about...
...the next few months and how scary and/or exciting the prospect of changes can be sometimes. So I'm going with a theme for a little while until everything is normal again.
But I'm not scared about what's to come, what's on my mind has me very excited! Yes, moving! No one really likes to move, am I right? I mean unless you hate your neighbors or you hate your commute or whatever reason, moving is a chore. A chore I'm going to write about here on this blog post until a new normal is established. There are many effects that are going to happen because of the move. I've got kids and pets and blah blah blah that will need to be adjusted to a new place. There's the packing, the physical move itself. All of it, I think will make for an interesting couple of months of blog posts. So I guess i'll just start right now...
We handed in our 60 day notice of our intent to vacate or apartment when our lease expires on the 31st of October. My wife works for Lipscomb University, and they own a few properties near campus that they rent out. Employees get first dibs on the houses and apartments, so we decided to look into what they have to offer. They had two units that would be opening soon, a two-bedroom, upstairs apartment and a house. Now, full disclosure, we pay about a thousand dollars a month in rent right now, and our water is included in our rent bill, so we usually end up cutting a check to our apartment people for close to $1100 every month. Our income has changed a lot in the past four and a half years, and our rent has increased something like $100-$150 since we moved in. I'm making less money because I took less hours to stay home with the kids. The savings in daycare alone was a wise decision for us to make. But when it came time for our lease to be renewed, it said it was going up $100 if we renewed. We're already strung out financially, so without any sort of guaranteed place to call home lined up, we handed in our notice. Basically, if we stayed there at that price, we would just have to go hungry for one week each month, just pick the week you don't want to eat. (and we love to eat, damnit.)
Now, back to the Lipscomb properties that were available. The two bedroom, upstairs apartment didn't have a washer or dryer, nor did it have hookups for them. At this point in our lives, we're over laundramats. Not to mention that fact that we use cloth diapers, and I ain't hauling the wetbag to the laundramat EVERY SINGLE DAY to do that shit (literally.) And if that wasn't enough of a deal-breaker, they didn't accept pets, so that place it out of the quesiton. Unfortunately, the price was almost worth the sacrifice, as it was almost half of what we pay right now. Sure would be nice to have an extra $400+ a month. But I ain't leaving Bowser or Shredder behind.
Now, there's the house. It's a two bedroom little thing right next to campus. If there wasn't a giant, 8-foot fence, we would be on campus. I'm thinking of loosening one of the fence posts so my wife can cut through there to get to her office, which would be about a 5 minute walk across the newly expanded parking lot on the campus' north side. That is, of course, if we want to live in this house. We're going to look at the house on Wednesday. Judging by the outside (I've driven by it a couple times, even though it's on a dead end street) our expectations of the inside are low. The trees and stuff outside are pretty overgrown, and could use a serious trim. So, massive curb unappeal. I don't think unappeal is a word, but you know what I mean. Bethany and I said if it's not a total shit-show on the inside, it's perfect for what we will need. It's already in Green Hills, and that's where we do most of our grocery shopping anyway. The Green Hills branch library isn't far from there, and I take Evie there often anyway. It's next door to her work, and that's where we spend most of our gas money on, is to and from her work. Cut that out and we're saving, I hadn't done the math yet, but rough estimate, about a hundred miles a week, maybe? Also, the rent in about $100 less than what we're paying now, not including water, (but we'd pay that anyway, duh) so financially, it's a smart move. Also, it's a house, not an apartment complex, so I don't have to worry about any sort of idiot upstairs neighbor stomping around, or forgetting he was cooking something, pass out, and set the building on fire or something. It'll be a driveway, not a parking lot, so no one is gonna hit my car with their car (though there are those rough looking trees out front of this house, they might fall on the car...thankfully Nationwide is on my side.)
The hiccup is I think I remember Bethany saying that the house is available on the 1st of October, and our lease isn't up until the 31st. I hope that gap doesn't railroad any plans, but if they do, I sure will blog about it! Another small hiccup is there are washer and dryer hookups, but no actual washer and dryer, so we'll have to acquire that. We'll figure that out. Not concerned.
Without those hiccups, however, I can't stop thinking about how excited I am to move into new surroundings, whether it's this particular house or not. Luckily, I haven't seen the inside of it yet, so my heart is certainly not set on it. Another thing, we're just not ready to buy a house yet, but maybe after renting one for a year, we'll be closer to that ultimate goal. Wish us luck as we get on the move. The excitement is so think you could cut it with a knife.
I don't normally do any sort of theme on this blog space, because I want this space to be one in which I can come to and type out things I think about, as I've mentioned many, many times before. Well, I've been thinking a lot lately about...
...the next few months and how scary and/or exciting the prospect of changes can be sometimes. So I'm going with a theme for a little while until everything is normal again.
But I'm not scared about what's to come, what's on my mind has me very excited! Yes, moving! No one really likes to move, am I right? I mean unless you hate your neighbors or you hate your commute or whatever reason, moving is a chore. A chore I'm going to write about here on this blog post until a new normal is established. There are many effects that are going to happen because of the move. I've got kids and pets and blah blah blah that will need to be adjusted to a new place. There's the packing, the physical move itself. All of it, I think will make for an interesting couple of months of blog posts. So I guess i'll just start right now...We handed in our 60 day notice of our intent to vacate or apartment when our lease expires on the 31st of October. My wife works for Lipscomb University, and they own a few properties near campus that they rent out. Employees get first dibs on the houses and apartments, so we decided to look into what they have to offer. They had two units that would be opening soon, a two-bedroom, upstairs apartment and a house. Now, full disclosure, we pay about a thousand dollars a month in rent right now, and our water is included in our rent bill, so we usually end up cutting a check to our apartment people for close to $1100 every month. Our income has changed a lot in the past four and a half years, and our rent has increased something like $100-$150 since we moved in. I'm making less money because I took less hours to stay home with the kids. The savings in daycare alone was a wise decision for us to make. But when it came time for our lease to be renewed, it said it was going up $100 if we renewed. We're already strung out financially, so without any sort of guaranteed place to call home lined up, we handed in our notice. Basically, if we stayed there at that price, we would just have to go hungry for one week each month, just pick the week you don't want to eat. (and we love to eat, damnit.)
Now, back to the Lipscomb properties that were available. The two bedroom, upstairs apartment didn't have a washer or dryer, nor did it have hookups for them. At this point in our lives, we're over laundramats. Not to mention that fact that we use cloth diapers, and I ain't hauling the wetbag to the laundramat EVERY SINGLE DAY to do that shit (literally.) And if that wasn't enough of a deal-breaker, they didn't accept pets, so that place it out of the quesiton. Unfortunately, the price was almost worth the sacrifice, as it was almost half of what we pay right now. Sure would be nice to have an extra $400+ a month. But I ain't leaving Bowser or Shredder behind.
Now, there's the house. It's a two bedroom little thing right next to campus. If there wasn't a giant, 8-foot fence, we would be on campus. I'm thinking of loosening one of the fence posts so my wife can cut through there to get to her office, which would be about a 5 minute walk across the newly expanded parking lot on the campus' north side. That is, of course, if we want to live in this house. We're going to look at the house on Wednesday. Judging by the outside (I've driven by it a couple times, even though it's on a dead end street) our expectations of the inside are low. The trees and stuff outside are pretty overgrown, and could use a serious trim. So, massive curb unappeal. I don't think unappeal is a word, but you know what I mean. Bethany and I said if it's not a total shit-show on the inside, it's perfect for what we will need. It's already in Green Hills, and that's where we do most of our grocery shopping anyway. The Green Hills branch library isn't far from there, and I take Evie there often anyway. It's next door to her work, and that's where we spend most of our gas money on, is to and from her work. Cut that out and we're saving, I hadn't done the math yet, but rough estimate, about a hundred miles a week, maybe? Also, the rent in about $100 less than what we're paying now, not including water, (but we'd pay that anyway, duh) so financially, it's a smart move. Also, it's a house, not an apartment complex, so I don't have to worry about any sort of idiot upstairs neighbor stomping around, or forgetting he was cooking something, pass out, and set the building on fire or something. It'll be a driveway, not a parking lot, so no one is gonna hit my car with their car (though there are those rough looking trees out front of this house, they might fall on the car...thankfully Nationwide is on my side.)
The hiccup is I think I remember Bethany saying that the house is available on the 1st of October, and our lease isn't up until the 31st. I hope that gap doesn't railroad any plans, but if they do, I sure will blog about it! Another small hiccup is there are washer and dryer hookups, but no actual washer and dryer, so we'll have to acquire that. We'll figure that out. Not concerned.
Without those hiccups, however, I can't stop thinking about how excited I am to move into new surroundings, whether it's this particular house or not. Luckily, I haven't seen the inside of it yet, so my heart is certainly not set on it. Another thing, we're just not ready to buy a house yet, but maybe after renting one for a year, we'll be closer to that ultimate goal. Wish us luck as we get on the move. The excitement is so think you could cut it with a knife.
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