Category: Apartment Living

More Thoughts on Moving (Gripe List Edition)

As I mentioned the other day, as September approaches I’m getting antsy about the prospect of possibly moving to a new place. Spending an extended amount of time at a few of our friends’ really nice places this weekend has only compounded my desire to pack up for greener pastures! Taking into account the rager that kept me up until 4:00 Sunday morning, let’s just say that most of my thoughts this weekend have had to do with the possibility of a new place.

Time for the gripe list. If for no other reason, I’m doing this for me–so I can see it all written down in one spot. Maybe rereading it in a few weeks will tip the scales one way or another?

  • First and foremost, if nothing is done about the noisy parties, we are so out of here. It’s kinda a dealbreaker at this point. Repeated complaints from a lot of tenants have done nothing, but rumor has it “something” will be done today.
  • The paint. I don’t mind that everything is painted white, white, white. I have nothing against white paint–in fact I like the idea of a blank canvas. However, I don’t know what kind of paint they used but on frequently used or brushed-up-against places, it flakes off and leaves little white pieces all over the floor–especially the kitchen and bathroom cabinets. This is so aggravating! It looks really shabby and we’ve only been here a little over eight months.
  • The neighborhood. Not only was Doug’s bike stolen, but his truck was vandalized and the object of an attempted break-in. It got to the point that selling it became an attractive option. I don’t know why it was targeted, and it still makes my blood boil since I know it was special to him. Thankfully my dad generously gifted us a 12 year old vehicle that does not draw attention to itself and has been unscathed so far (knock on wood).
  • Wonky layout. The long and lean apartment makes it so awkward to space plan. I’ve been challenging myself to be creative but I think I’m just the kind of person who likes walls, and doors, and real divisions between rooms. At least now I know I wouldn’t do well in an urban loft type of place!

Renters, what would you do? Is it worth the hassle? Getting a new place is tempting but the physical act of moving is the worst! Weigh in! 

If you didn’t read the whole gripe list, I am not offended! If you did, please know that despite my renter’s remorse about our current place, things overall are on the up and up and I’m not letting this drag down my mood or anything. Overall these are happy days! I’m happy to be living in America’s Finest City and enjoying life!

Pondering a New Apartment

September is looming. The end of a lease is kind of like a DTR for apartment dwellers. It says, “where do you see yourself for the next six-to-twelve months?” To get the best price, you often have to lock yourself in to a longer time commitment.

Tons of thoughts are swirling around in my head. I am not in love with our apartment complex, but I know our “generous” 825 square feet is hard to find at a reasonable price. Most 800+ apartments/condos/houses are in the $1600/mo. range here in San Diego! I don’t know why I feel uncomfortable sharing how much we pay per month, but I do. I’ll just say it is certainly less than $1600.

We walked through an apartment that is 725 square feet yesterday. 100 less square feet, but over $200 less per month than we are paying now. I know that if we consider homes in the 700 square foot range, we might be able to find a few good candidates at a lower price point. Saving $200 per month amounts to $2400 per year! But can I (we) live in that small of a space?

The cons about our current place:

  • Noisy neighbors
  • Awkward layout
  • Expensive
  • Third floor
  • Little natural light
  • Inattentive management

The pros:

  • We already live here (i.e, no moving trucks!)
  • Unusually large sq. footage for a one-bedroom
  • Dishwasher
  • One reserved parking spot
  • Pool and hot tub (that is, during the rare moments when they aren’t too crowded)
  • Easy freeway access

Luckily, I have a couple of months to ponder this and troll craigslist to see if a better option opens up. I don’t really want to move again, but I do want a new place! The truth is: I want to buy a new place! With all these bloggers I follow making big moves I want to have my own homebuying adventure and start rolling some of our hard earned money into real estate equity (doesn’t that sound grown-up?) rather than filling the pockets of our property management company every month, and having nothing to show for it.

As I diligently try to squirrel extra cash into savings for a down-payment, I will continue to hem and haw about whether we need a new apartment or not.

Any advice for me?? 

An Office in a Drawer

You’ve seen my desk before, but today allow me to share a photo of the rest of my office:

Office in a Drawer

Whenever I can, I try to think of my experience living here in 850 sq ft and share what I’ve learned with other apartment dwellers. One of my small space solutions is paring down office clutter and keeping a streamlined system of the most useful items! I certainly don’t have a spare room to function as an office and guest room anymore, so I decluttered a lot of things I used to think were office essentials.

Items I now consider essential for my “office” are as follows:

  • Pens, Pencils, Sharpies
  • Stapler
  • Envelopes
  • Sticky notes
  • Blank paper (printer paper and lined paper)
  • Checks
  • Stamps
  • Tape (scotch tape and packing tape)
  • Ruler
  • Blank cards for all occasions
  • (Honorable mention: three hole punch. Not a necessity, I find it useful.)

I know the list will be different for many people, but even working in an actual office for a year, I still feel like this minimal list will meet the basic needs 99% of the time.

Having a dresser smack dab in the living room is something many might consider unconventional, but I am really pleased with how well it has functioned in storing all kinds of things. I highly recommend it as a storage solution for those living somewhere small. All of my dishtowels, cloth napkins, and placemats are in one drawer. Packing and shipping materials for my Etsy store live in another drawer (along with some random board games). Anyway, today I am going to focus on the top right drawer and share with you how I maximized the space to hold all of my office essentials.

Slightly messy office drawer

Every now and then, it’s good to reorganize a space like this. Even though I threw away very little, it’s a good refresher to know where everything is and to straighten up a little bit. I started by taking all of the items out of the drawer:

Items that live in my office drawer

As you can see above, my desk is made up of a wooden top and a set of two legs. There aren’t desk drawers to speak of! The crate turned on its end holds files and techy gear (charger cords, software CDs, etc). Everything else lives clear across the room (oh, the horror of getting up and walking across the room!) When I do need to make the interminable trek of about 12 feet, it’s nice knowing that everything will be exactly where I expect it to be.

So, I set about putting everything back into the drawer in a orderly manner. I even emptied out the white box, and placed things back into it thoughtfully. Seldom-used items like a box full of new checks are on the bottom layer, and frequently used items like tape and stamps are easily accessible. I condensed two of the boxes of envelopes. A few things like the swiffer and the cube with prom photos on it (!!) got moved to other places in the apartment. I do have a separate craft drawer in another room, so from there I took out this woven box of notecards for all occasions and replaced it with a ream of printer paper and some lined paper. Those are essential, but I found I don’t use access as often as I use these cards.

Everything got put back in neatly:

Office drawer organization

Office drawer organization

Don’t have a spare dresser in your living room? Go back and look at the list at the beginning of this post. All (or most) of these items would fit very easily in a milk crate, in a paper box, in an under-bed box, or even in a kitchen drawer! It’s easy to run a tight ship if you simply keep just the essentials on hand (and avoid the siren song of the school supply section of Target in the fall).

I’m certainly no expert on eliminating clutter altogether, but in this realm I think I’ve got it whipped.

Any things you consider essential that aren’t on my list? Do you have a smart way to hide boring stuff like office supplies? Please share in the comments!