To Renew or to Move

That's a very good question.

Before trying all the begging, negotiating, crying, arguing, and back to begging them to not raise my rent, my renewal offer is asking for $75 more a month.

That's about $150 more than i want to be paying. Well, no, it's several hundred more than i want to be paying. I now understand why it's said that real estate is one of the safest investments to get into. People are always going to want space to live in. And I very much want to stay in mine.

I mean, i just started making furniture which will work great in other places, but PERFECTLY where i'm at now. I love living alone and having things stay where i put them down. No one to care if i forget to wash my dishes one night, or if i decide to run through my house just wearing socks. I have complete control of the tv, and no one to negotiate with if one of my friends crashes for the night. These are the things i've craved my entire life. I don't want to go back to walking on egg shells.

That, coupled with the fact that moving is a pain in the arse no matter who you are or what circumstances you're in. I'll already be helping one friend move within a month of my end of lease.

I never got around to painting, I still haven't re-arranged my kitchen cabinets, I want to try my room in a different layout now that my desk is no longer in the way. My mind is not ready to move!

Still i have to review my budget and see if i can make enough cuts to afford to stay. That coupled with negotiating with the complex to raise it less than $75 given that i'm a great tenant. No late or bounced rent checks, no complaints of rowdy parties, I promptly pick up packages and i know the office staff by name. I should be the kind of tenant they want to keep!

But I won't know until i go talk to them when the property manager is around on Monday. Most likely, given the low rates of this place, i'm on the loosing end of that battle. But i'll try to work things in my favor anyway.

No, Boyfriend Jon and I will not be combining our living situation right now. Neither one of us is ready to give up the independence of living alone and we like the way things are in our relationship right now. We'll reconsider things when the time feels more right. All i know is that right now, it's looking like my...our dream vacation to Hawaii might be put off until after summer instead of before summer. Ex-Nay on the summer because of too many kids on summer vacation means less bliss for us.

Time to get out the calculator, bills, and start a stricter budget.