11 June 2011

Housing for the discouraged

So the buying a house thing also fell through.  I got tired of dealing with banks that were theoretically desperate to get rid of properties but unwilling to do so in practice.  I took another look through my last apartment search for something
  • big enough to fit the books I'm currently storing offsite
  • that had wood floors to help reduce my allergies
  • that was cheaper than what I pay now (I have my rent and the monthly fee for the storage closet where I store all my books)
Surprisingly, I actually found something.

What I'm looking forward to
  • more room for my kitchen magnets (not really)
  • a freezer (frozen vegetables!)
  • room for all my Minnesota books
  • 670 square feet
  • not being over the entrance (no more feeling every entry and exit, no more smoking below my window!)
  • Open south windows
  • a bedroom I can seal off to allergy-proof it
  • less claustrophobia for those who visit
  • not living next to the stairs (no more hearing all those giants clomping up and down all the time)
  • lower rent
  • not being right next to a highway (no more listening to the drag racers!)
  • quieter living (stern, tough grandmother manages the place, and she doesn't tolerate noise)
  • no bugs (apparently, they don't like going much higher than the first floor)
  • playing with where to put stuff for maximum efficiency in use of storage space (graph paper!)
What I'm not looking forward to
  • no microwave (for the 4 times a year I kind of need one)
  • no dishwasher (good thing I don't use very many dishes)
  • no disposal (does anyone have any experience with how to keep the sink from getting clogged?)
  • 2 flights of stairs
  • coin laundry
  • coin laundry two flights of stairs away
  • trying to find a cheap bed
  • packing for the move
  • the move
  • the pain
  • worrying about other people getting hurt during the move
  • the need to get a portable AC for the bedroom since the AC is in the living room
  • manual garage door
  • coordinating the move, so it's as cheap as possible
Any advice on how to make this all as painless as possible?

6 comments:

  1. You need a PLN! I can help. And you can get drain thingers at a hardware store for cheap that will keep the sink from getting nasty.

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  2. A new living space -- how exciting!

    If it helps, I've never lived in a place with a disposal, and my sink has never clogged. Occasionally we just clean it out with a cup of baking soda and a couple cups of boiling water.

    Good luck and have fun!

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  3. Is a PLN the same as a plan only with less a? Hooray for drain thingers! I'll have decades of habit to overcome, so anything that can help prevent disaster will be great!

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  4. It's especially exciting to arrange things because I am a big nerd. It's like a puzzle: How many bookshelves can I cram into this space . . . ? :) Thank you for the home sink remedy. Does that just dissolve anything that might be left and flush it through?

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  5. Oh, wow.

    Have you really had a disposal your whole life? I never really have.

    Sinks are extremely resilient - just don't put solids down there, and it'll be fine. Little bits of stuff aren't a problem.

    My family never had filter things and it generally wasn't a problem - most sinks have plugs with larger holes in them to you from putting down anything big.

    And if it ever gets funky, just pay attention, and try boiling water or draino - they'll usually do the trick if it isn't too bad down there.

    We had more trouble with the garbage disposal breaking down when we had one than we did with the non-disposal sink.

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  6. It's true, I've had a privileged adulthood (especially because in it the garbage disposals never malfunctioned except when my moron of a law school student roommate put a peach pit down it . . .

    I'm glad to hear it's hard to clog them, but I feel like I will still need a thinger to make it super hard for me to clog it . . .

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