Woodhaven
In five days, I’ll be moving out, and this is a day I’ve been looking forward to since I had to move back home in November 2008. We found a two-bedroom apartment in Woodhaven for $597 a month. The lady said they were normally $722 a month, and we’d save $125 a month if we signed by August 31. Of course, they probably tell that “special” to everyone throughout the year. This apartment complex is almost identical to the one we looked at in Riverview. Actually, the Woodhaven and Riverview complexes are owned by the same company. We opted for the Woodhaven complex since it is closer to the expressway and a variety of other shopping locations. There’s also a bowling alley nearby. I’m only going to have to drive five minutes to work at Wendy’s, which will eliminate 20 minutes each way. And, for my other job, which takes me as far north as the southern fringe of Detroit, I’ll save about 30 minutes each way.
The apartment we’re getting is 807 square feet, and we also get a storage cage in the basement, which is good for my spare tires and other junk like that. The two rooms are almost the same size, so we don’t have to argue over who gets the larger bedroom. In fact, the “master bedroom” is a mere four square feet smaller than the other bedroom but has a larger closet space. We’re getting a first floor apartment, which I prefer since I don’t want to lug my stuff upstairs. And, first floor apartments stay cooler in the summer. The complex pays our heat, so we’re probably going to have the heat cranked up to 85° when it gets cold. There’s also a pool, but I doubt I’ll use it until next summer. Another positive feature is that we’re not forced to choose one cable/internet company. We have the option to have AT&T U-Verse, which is a lot cheaper than Comcast. However, I’m unsure when we’ll get this service, because I have to worry about paying other bills for the first month before I can get such luxuries.
Even before we managed to move in, we experienced one problem already, and I hope it’s not a sign of things to come. We went there on the 19th and signed the papers to get the apartment on the 31st. We paid the application fee of $40 and a “holding fee” of $75, both of which get credited toward our first month’s rent. The holding fee, as the leasing agent told us, guaranteed that we’d get the exact apartment that we looked at. I even asked her that, because she said the holding fee wasn’t required. But, I paid it anyway since it got credited toward our rent. Well, no sooner than four days later, the leasing agent called me and said that someone wanted to move into that very same apartment that day, and she wondered if we wanted another “similar” apartment instead. I told her I’d have to get back to her on that. Instead, we went there the next day and spoke to her manager to inquire how she could’ve given our apartment away after I paid the holding fee. So, we complained, and the manager gave us that apartment back. I was pissed, because if we lost the apartment that we looked at, then we would’ve probably just gone somewhere else instead of getting a similar apartment that we haven’t seen. That would’ve taken up more work and time on our part.
Money’s going to be tight for the first month for, because I just now started working again. While I can afford to pay my bills working as few as 25 hours a week at Wendy’s, I don’t want that to be my only source of income, and it won’t be for much longer. Plus, as I know how fast food places go, something as simple as asking for a certain number of hours a week isn’t a guarantee. I plan on working as much as possible at Wendy’s, but I also plan on substitute teaching 3-4 days a week, which I get paid almost twice as much to do that. I want to save up some money in case of an emergency, and I want to buy things and not live in frugality. Right now, I only need to make around $155 a week to pay all my bills, but I plan on making $400-470 a week total during the school year - with a maximum, though unrealistic, potential of near $600. If something goes wrong, I can easily cancel my car insurance, downgrade my cell phone options, or stall some student loan payments. I’m already guaranteed to be a substitute teacher at Lincoln Park. I just have to wait for the school year to start and hopefully other districts to get a hold of me to increase my options. Most likely, my bills (now including the apartment) will have to be paid for with Wendy’s paychecks for the month of September, and I simply don’t get paid enough nor am I guaranteed any amount of hours to where I feel completely secure in my finances. But, if I didn’t have that job, I wouldn’t be able to move out at this time. So, in addition to being able to eat at work, I guess I can be grateful for that job and take the job with some seriousness that I’ve never had before with a job of that nature.
Most of my stuff is packed and ready to go. I just need to sort through my clothes and some old boxes in the garage. I think it’s time to finally figure out what I want to do with that treadmill. It’s been sitting in the garage unused for many months now since I have no room to use it here. I doubt I’m going to use it regularly when I move into this apartment, and I don’t want to move it from my garage to just put it in the storage cage or closet. I’m trying to minimize the moving process as much as I can, because I know my parents are useless for help. Once I move out of Monroe County, I’m not going to have much reason to come back. I’ve already set up a new bank account with a branch in Woodhaven, and I’m not the kind of person to just randomly come home for a visit, which I might have to do for awhile to get mail that will have my old address on it. Other than that, I’m going to be coming down for soccer at Munson, and once the winter indoor leagues start, I might just go to Taylor instead of Monroe - pending finances.
The apartment we’re getting is 807 square feet, and we also get a storage cage in the basement, which is good for my spare tires and other junk like that. The two rooms are almost the same size, so we don’t have to argue over who gets the larger bedroom. In fact, the “master bedroom” is a mere four square feet smaller than the other bedroom but has a larger closet space. We’re getting a first floor apartment, which I prefer since I don’t want to lug my stuff upstairs. And, first floor apartments stay cooler in the summer. The complex pays our heat, so we’re probably going to have the heat cranked up to 85° when it gets cold. There’s also a pool, but I doubt I’ll use it until next summer. Another positive feature is that we’re not forced to choose one cable/internet company. We have the option to have AT&T U-Verse, which is a lot cheaper than Comcast. However, I’m unsure when we’ll get this service, because I have to worry about paying other bills for the first month before I can get such luxuries.
Even before we managed to move in, we experienced one problem already, and I hope it’s not a sign of things to come. We went there on the 19th and signed the papers to get the apartment on the 31st. We paid the application fee of $40 and a “holding fee” of $75, both of which get credited toward our first month’s rent. The holding fee, as the leasing agent told us, guaranteed that we’d get the exact apartment that we looked at. I even asked her that, because she said the holding fee wasn’t required. But, I paid it anyway since it got credited toward our rent. Well, no sooner than four days later, the leasing agent called me and said that someone wanted to move into that very same apartment that day, and she wondered if we wanted another “similar” apartment instead. I told her I’d have to get back to her on that. Instead, we went there the next day and spoke to her manager to inquire how she could’ve given our apartment away after I paid the holding fee. So, we complained, and the manager gave us that apartment back. I was pissed, because if we lost the apartment that we looked at, then we would’ve probably just gone somewhere else instead of getting a similar apartment that we haven’t seen. That would’ve taken up more work and time on our part.
Money’s going to be tight for the first month for, because I just now started working again. While I can afford to pay my bills working as few as 25 hours a week at Wendy’s, I don’t want that to be my only source of income, and it won’t be for much longer. Plus, as I know how fast food places go, something as simple as asking for a certain number of hours a week isn’t a guarantee. I plan on working as much as possible at Wendy’s, but I also plan on substitute teaching 3-4 days a week, which I get paid almost twice as much to do that. I want to save up some money in case of an emergency, and I want to buy things and not live in frugality. Right now, I only need to make around $155 a week to pay all my bills, but I plan on making $400-470 a week total during the school year - with a maximum, though unrealistic, potential of near $600. If something goes wrong, I can easily cancel my car insurance, downgrade my cell phone options, or stall some student loan payments. I’m already guaranteed to be a substitute teacher at Lincoln Park. I just have to wait for the school year to start and hopefully other districts to get a hold of me to increase my options. Most likely, my bills (now including the apartment) will have to be paid for with Wendy’s paychecks for the month of September, and I simply don’t get paid enough nor am I guaranteed any amount of hours to where I feel completely secure in my finances. But, if I didn’t have that job, I wouldn’t be able to move out at this time. So, in addition to being able to eat at work, I guess I can be grateful for that job and take the job with some seriousness that I’ve never had before with a job of that nature.
Most of my stuff is packed and ready to go. I just need to sort through my clothes and some old boxes in the garage. I think it’s time to finally figure out what I want to do with that treadmill. It’s been sitting in the garage unused for many months now since I have no room to use it here. I doubt I’m going to use it regularly when I move into this apartment, and I don’t want to move it from my garage to just put it in the storage cage or closet. I’m trying to minimize the moving process as much as I can, because I know my parents are useless for help. Once I move out of Monroe County, I’m not going to have much reason to come back. I’ve already set up a new bank account with a branch in Woodhaven, and I’m not the kind of person to just randomly come home for a visit, which I might have to do for awhile to get mail that will have my old address on it. Other than that, I’m going to be coming down for soccer at Munson, and once the winter indoor leagues start, I might just go to Taylor instead of Monroe - pending finances.