In any case, they're raising our rent by another $50. They've raised it by $20 every other year we've lived there. But this year? This year it's too much.
I've lived in this apartment since November of 1998. When I move out, I will have lived there for nearly four years. That's the longest I've lived anywhere since I moved out of my parents house in 1997. (I moved four times between September of 1997 and November of 1998. Maybe this was just temporal karma.)
But $705/mth for rent is where I draw the line. This is where I stand up to be counted. I say, "That is too much money for the services you provide and I kindly decline." So we're out. We're gone. The survey will go back with the checkmarks of movement. And we'll be out...
I hate moving. I really do. I know I haven't done it for four years, now, but I remember how horrible it was. And now I have so much more stuff that it's going to be even harder. Life creeps on like a disease of acquisition and there's not that much you can do to stop it.
Rob (who seems to want to keep living with me - for whatever reason) and I discussed a nice townhouse. Possibly a condo. I'd love to live somewhere that had a fireplace again.
A lovely townhouse with a fireplace and a loft. A half bath on the main floor and two full bathrooms upstairs.
In my dream, everything is perfect. Reality will probably be a little different, but I'll search for what I want and settle for what I can get.
After all, that's what life is: Striking a harmonious balance between what you'd like to have and what you can get.
(Sometimes, though, you don't have to settle for what you can get - you can keep looking. I promise.)