For one of my classes we have to write two review research papers. This week the professor said that we should start thinking about what we want to work on. I thought this was very exciting and promptly started my research, which requires internet of course!
As part of me saving money, along with my landline phone and cable/TV, I gave up my internet connection. Maybe it was too extreme, but saving a bit more than $200 a month was very appealing to me at that point. So I don't have an internet to do my research at home and thus I have to do all my research at school. Two nights this week I was in the library until 10:30 reading papers.
Also as part of my saving money, I gave up my car. The lease was conveniently up in the middle of August and I did not get another car! Obviously, I couldn't afford the lease, or insurance, or taxes. But also when I found out how much I have to pay for the parking at school, suddenly public transportation became very appealing! I live 15 minutes walk away from the bus stop, and the bus ride, depending on the time of the day, is somewhere between 40 minutes to an hour and the bus runs regularly throughout the day. So I thought student life is probably more on a par with taking a bus than having a car!
Going home late at night is tough only because my street is very steep; it truly is a hike to get home. Half of my 15 minute walk is in my street! I have been trying to get home early, because by 10 pm I am so beat that I just want to go to bed!
Because of my research I wanted to stay late at school and so I called my mom and asked if I could stay with them for the night. For one, my parents live very close to the bus stop, just two minutes walk on the level street, and for another they live half way between school and my place, which reduces a good half an hour from my commute. My mom said yes, and then my dad called to tell me do I even have to ask! My parents are the sweetest people I know.
Basically I have stayed at my parents three nights since Sunday night, including last night. This morning at breakfast my mom sweetly said, this school arrangement is very nice; we get to see you more often. Jokingly I told her, please don't be this nice to me, I might move in! To which she responded that it was a smart thing to do! She said that she and my dad had talked about it when I first told them I was giving up my job, but they had decided to let me consider it on my own!
Thus all day today I have been entertaining the idea of renting my place.
The pros are that I don't have to worry about the mortgage; I am guessing the rent is going to take care of that. Plus I don't have to worry about the utilities. So basically I am not going to deplete all my savings! I have reasoned that I haven't been home much since the school started a week and half ago; I have gone home just to sleep. I have been leaving around 7 am and the earliest that I returned has been after 8 pm, and that includes the weekend. So I am thinking maybe while I am at school, I don't need my home! Maybe I could move all my stuff to the basement and rent the upstairs.
On the other hand, I don't want to give up my privacy! I am thinking maybe I don't need to be at school this much in a few weeks. But then being home, I don't have my usual entertainment of the internet and cable TV. Plus I don't want to watch DVD or listen to music, because that means TV/DVD player/radio/CD player, which means higher electricity bill! Not to mention that when I am home, now that is getting cold, I have to turn on the heat higher, which means higher gas bill! So being home more is not that appealing! Also I don't have any extra money to entertain, having friends and family over, cooking or even baking. I don't have a boyfriend at the moment so I truly don't need that much privacy, do I!
But again on the other hand, I don't want to move in with my parents and inconvenient them. They have their own schedule and they might start going out of their ways to accommodate me. At the top of my head I cannot come up with one situation that this could happen, but I just don't want to take advantage of their kindness.
There is one more possibility, that I move to the basement and still rent my place. My basement is finished and I have two small rooms and a full bath there. I don't like the smell of my basement, but short-term, I think I can handle it! The structure of the house is that the garage and the backdoor are on the ground level; then there are stairs to go upstairs and stairs to go downstairs. At the top of upstairs' stairs there is a door. I am thinking maybe I could put a door at the top of downstairs' stairs and then the two levels are going to be completely separated. I wonder how much that is going to cost! Anyhow, the garage and obviously the front door could be for the tenant, and I could come and go from the backdoor. It might work; the only complication might be the shared utility bill. How I am going to figure that one out fairly!
In any case if I want to rent my place and move my stuff downstairs I have to start getting rid of some of the stuff I don't need. During the weeks that I was brainstorming how I could reduce my living expenses, one of my coworkers suggested selling stuff I don't need on the eBay and earn some money that way! I have never used eBay and so I checked the site briefly today to see if people are selling the kind of stuff that I might want to sell, mostly cloths, and was pleasantly surprised that yes, they do. So this weekend I am going to start thinking what I can sell on the eBay, take pictures, and then Sunday night when I am at my parents again, yes I did invite myself again to watch Mad Men there, only 5 more episodes left, I will figure out eBay and post my stuff for sell! I don't think I am going to make much money this way, but at least I am getting rid of some clutter.
Once I got rid of some clutter, I am going to move the stuff I don't use these days to the basement, systematically, so that if I need them I don't have to look for them; how I hate looking for things!
Hopefully, I have some time to think this over and make my final decision. If I decide to rent my place, it is going to be from this January to the next. I think I can bear to be without my home for only a year. I know one thing for sure; if I rent my place the burden of not having an income is going to be so much less!
If anyone is reading this, have a great weekend.
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