Well … I’m extremely unhappy to report that all the places we looked at last night sucked. If the place was decent, the neighborhood was not, and vice versa. I cannot believe the nerve of some sellers and the asking price on their places. I’m starting to wonder if we’re expecting entirely too much for what we’re willing to spend, or if we’re just not looking in the right places. Or maybe, just maybe, considering the state of our economy, if we’re just not being foolhardy enough. Seems to me like most people are what they call house-poor. Which essentially means their mortgage is so high that they are neck deep in debt. I refuse to go into debt just to get a nice house. I have my eventual retirement to plan for and I’ve seen too many people in their “golden” years get stuck with a tiny budget because they have no savings and social security does not pay much.
So the search will continue, but it’s not looking very promising. We either settle for something kinda blah for (in my opinion) more money than it’s worth (but still within our self-imposed budget), or we move even further away from the city. That last option isn’t very feasible between Joe’s commute into the city and having to already drive 45 minutes to get the kids (if it wasn’t for them, we’d both be seriously considering moving out of state, but that’s not an option). If we move any further out, it’s just gonna suck way too much. Why have a gorgeous house if you’re never home because you’re stuck in traffic?
I honestly don’t know what to do right now. I guess we can just wait until the right place comes along, but Joe’s parents move to Arizona next month and they have been giving us, and want to give us, a bunch of items we don’t have room for, including a freezer that we can’t possibly take unless a) we have a place or b) we don’t mind spending more money a month for a bigger storage space. And what if we don’t get something in a reasonable time frame and end up spending more money in storage fees than the freezer is even worth? I’m drowning in stuff as it is and I’m not much of a pack rat (anymore). We just shifted stuff this morning from our building’s storage unit to the one we pay for, but we’re still in serious need of some extra room. The apartment is getting more and more cluttered and seems to be shrinking every day. I’m not happy about any of this. It’s stressing me out.