Moving
*blows the dust off* Ahh, livejournal. My only safe rant place on the web. because I don't have to worry about anyone in my family reading it, ever. ^_^
So I'm going to be moving in the next month or two. Grandma's house, which wasn't even officially on the market, is being bought by my uncle. Huzzah! Basically he's buying my mom's half out, which is awesome for her. We don't even need to finish the rest of the renovations. He's gonna let my drunk-ass cousin live there with her hubby and kids from various sperm donors. But you know what, that is a rant for another day when i'm not so stressed and in the mood to work myself into a rip-roaring depression about family unfairness.
Lonog story short, I need to move out. Well, mom does too, but she's already decided to go home to the house she actually OWNS and see if she can beat my sister into some shape and save what is left of the house before my sister turns it into an episode of Hoarders. I, however, cannot possibly, for many mant reasons, move back in there with my idiot sister, and not just because of the crowding and the filth. I'm using the nicer sounding excuse of pet allergies.
So i'm house hunting. And apartment hunting. And even roomate hunting, because the fact is I really can barely afford to pay rent/mortgage/etc. Well, at least not on a place that is actually liveable and/or not so far from work that i spend more in gas than I make in a week. Unfortunately my lovely little hometown is a place where everyone wants to be, which is great for some things but sucks when I want cheap rent.
Looked at a house that was a foreclusure at $49,000, which i figure as the extreme up end of my rang, and it was mess and woudl need a TON of work. I'd have LOVED to be able to take such a cute little house and fix it up, but how can I do a ton of repairs when I can barely afford it in the first place? Sad. I hope it finds a good owner this time. :( Looked at another place today in the same price range, smaller but much nicer and move-in-ready with the exception of appliances. Nice place, practically accross the street from my sister, but not quite, which woudl be nice for mom and the kids. BUT after chatting informally with a loan officer it doesn't look good that I coudl get approved for that much at this point.
Now another option is renting, but the average rent in this lovely lakeside tourist trap is $550-$700 a month. Fine if you have two incomes but, ha, i don't. I make $650 in TWO WEEKS. Addin insurance and utilities and debts I have already and, you know, food and fuel and junk, and no. Not gonna work so great.
I looked at a coupld of places that were $350 and $400 and eek. Small i was expecting, but these were bad beyond small. Yes, I could probably survive a year there but it woudl likely suck. I am not a tiny person who will fit well in a tiny space unfortunatly and the building felt like it would fall down any second.
So I'm looking at a place tomorrow that looks nice on a website and from teh outside but who knows inside, and it's $450 a month. That's hopefully do-able but tight. I worry most that I won't be able to save anything towards something better any time soon if I am stretched that thin. I guess I can see it as motivation to get a better paying job? A second job that actually works with my schedule? A way to make money off my photos or writing? *sighs* i dunno. I know I'll be fine in the long run. My family isn't going to let me starve, and I already HAVE a household as far as furniture, kitchenware, etc goes. I just need a place to put it (and find it in my sister's basement of course.)
So tomorrow I go look at this apartment which is $450, and I have my fingers crossed because it sounds like a great place for the price. Which also worries me that the landlord will be picky about who he takes, since he lives downstairs. But I'll panic about all of that tomorrow. The good news is that if he offers it to me i can whip out a check for first months rent and one month security on the spot because I've been saving up for just such an event. Of course that woudl leave me with a scary scary small amount of money but I'd have a place to go. IF it's nice. IF they accept me. IF something doesn't come up between now and then that sucks all my cash. *worryworryworry* >.<
For my own ref and worrying, my basic budget for a month:
$1300 in pay
-$215 for car loan
=1085
-$100 for credit card
=985
-$50 for gas
=935
935-450 for rent = 485 for everything else. - approx $150 for utilities? (guessing on the high side) =335. For food. I KNOW I can eat on WAY less than that. :)
Also need insurance though. That could suck rocks but only needs to be paid every three months, if i remember from the last time I did this? Unfortunately Michigan is a REALLY expensive state for insurance. I should call an insurance agent tomorrow too, huh? Arg. Just get a quote so I can budget. I should also be able to go way lower than that on utilities, just I don't know I assume the worst for now.
I'm very very glad that I have been working to keep my spending-on-credit down and get things paid off ahead of time. If I still had student loans or a $10,000 credit card i'd be SOL here. I wish I didn't have that car payment but my town is too small for public transportation and I can't count on a bike or walking when 1)winters suck and 2)i get out of work at 11:30 pm. I can fix up the bike and use it some nights, and hopefully keep the fuel costs down. Alas, my long weekend road trips are a thing of the past for a while. D:
So yeah. I just need to breathe. Focus on the positive, like "YAY my own place after all these years yay yay yay!" I mean, really, this could end up being best thing in forever for me. Just it's scary right now while everything is still all up in the air and I don't know which way to focus my energy. I'm trying to follow too many paths at opnce and I feel like I'm getting no where. Once I narrow the field I can make some progress, and once I get my place and can focus, I'm gonna rock the situation and be just fine. But I need to get there and I don't feel like I have much support in this from family and all of my friends are so far away. :( So you guys get dumped on! All... none of you probably! :P
I'll probably update more on facebook and twitter than here, I'll try to remember to post here as things go but this is sorta my blog of last resort lately. :( But it's also my safe place... I guess I just save it for important things I really really need to get off my chest. *L*
So I'm going to be moving in the next month or two. Grandma's house, which wasn't even officially on the market, is being bought by my uncle. Huzzah! Basically he's buying my mom's half out, which is awesome for her. We don't even need to finish the rest of the renovations. He's gonna let my drunk-ass cousin live there with her hubby and kids from various sperm donors. But you know what, that is a rant for another day when i'm not so stressed and in the mood to work myself into a rip-roaring depression about family unfairness.
Lonog story short, I need to move out. Well, mom does too, but she's already decided to go home to the house she actually OWNS and see if she can beat my sister into some shape and save what is left of the house before my sister turns it into an episode of Hoarders. I, however, cannot possibly, for many mant reasons, move back in there with my idiot sister, and not just because of the crowding and the filth. I'm using the nicer sounding excuse of pet allergies.
So i'm house hunting. And apartment hunting. And even roomate hunting, because the fact is I really can barely afford to pay rent/mortgage/etc. Well, at least not on a place that is actually liveable and/or not so far from work that i spend more in gas than I make in a week. Unfortunately my lovely little hometown is a place where everyone wants to be, which is great for some things but sucks when I want cheap rent.
Looked at a house that was a foreclusure at $49,000, which i figure as the extreme up end of my rang, and it was mess and woudl need a TON of work. I'd have LOVED to be able to take such a cute little house and fix it up, but how can I do a ton of repairs when I can barely afford it in the first place? Sad. I hope it finds a good owner this time. :( Looked at another place today in the same price range, smaller but much nicer and move-in-ready with the exception of appliances. Nice place, practically accross the street from my sister, but not quite, which woudl be nice for mom and the kids. BUT after chatting informally with a loan officer it doesn't look good that I coudl get approved for that much at this point.
Now another option is renting, but the average rent in this lovely lakeside tourist trap is $550-$700 a month. Fine if you have two incomes but, ha, i don't. I make $650 in TWO WEEKS. Addin insurance and utilities and debts I have already and, you know, food and fuel and junk, and no. Not gonna work so great.
I looked at a coupld of places that were $350 and $400 and eek. Small i was expecting, but these were bad beyond small. Yes, I could probably survive a year there but it woudl likely suck. I am not a tiny person who will fit well in a tiny space unfortunatly and the building felt like it would fall down any second.
So I'm looking at a place tomorrow that looks nice on a website and from teh outside but who knows inside, and it's $450 a month. That's hopefully do-able but tight. I worry most that I won't be able to save anything towards something better any time soon if I am stretched that thin. I guess I can see it as motivation to get a better paying job? A second job that actually works with my schedule? A way to make money off my photos or writing? *sighs* i dunno. I know I'll be fine in the long run. My family isn't going to let me starve, and I already HAVE a household as far as furniture, kitchenware, etc goes. I just need a place to put it (and find it in my sister's basement of course.)
So tomorrow I go look at this apartment which is $450, and I have my fingers crossed because it sounds like a great place for the price. Which also worries me that the landlord will be picky about who he takes, since he lives downstairs. But I'll panic about all of that tomorrow. The good news is that if he offers it to me i can whip out a check for first months rent and one month security on the spot because I've been saving up for just such an event. Of course that woudl leave me with a scary scary small amount of money but I'd have a place to go. IF it's nice. IF they accept me. IF something doesn't come up between now and then that sucks all my cash. *worryworryworry* >.<
For my own ref and worrying, my basic budget for a month:
$1300 in pay
-$215 for car loan
=1085
-$100 for credit card
=985
-$50 for gas
=935
935-450 for rent = 485 for everything else. - approx $150 for utilities? (guessing on the high side) =335. For food. I KNOW I can eat on WAY less than that. :)
Also need insurance though. That could suck rocks but only needs to be paid every three months, if i remember from the last time I did this? Unfortunately Michigan is a REALLY expensive state for insurance. I should call an insurance agent tomorrow too, huh? Arg. Just get a quote so I can budget. I should also be able to go way lower than that on utilities, just I don't know I assume the worst for now.
I'm very very glad that I have been working to keep my spending-on-credit down and get things paid off ahead of time. If I still had student loans or a $10,000 credit card i'd be SOL here. I wish I didn't have that car payment but my town is too small for public transportation and I can't count on a bike or walking when 1)winters suck and 2)i get out of work at 11:30 pm. I can fix up the bike and use it some nights, and hopefully keep the fuel costs down. Alas, my long weekend road trips are a thing of the past for a while. D:
So yeah. I just need to breathe. Focus on the positive, like "YAY my own place after all these years yay yay yay!" I mean, really, this could end up being best thing in forever for me. Just it's scary right now while everything is still all up in the air and I don't know which way to focus my energy. I'm trying to follow too many paths at opnce and I feel like I'm getting no where. Once I narrow the field I can make some progress, and once I get my place and can focus, I'm gonna rock the situation and be just fine. But I need to get there and I don't feel like I have much support in this from family and all of my friends are so far away. :( So you guys get dumped on! All... none of you probably! :P
I'll probably update more on facebook and twitter than here, I'll try to remember to post here as things go but this is sorta my blog of last resort lately. :( But it's also my safe place... I guess I just save it for important things I really really need to get off my chest. *L*