I am now a "Chicagoian". Is that what they call themselves? Well whatever the name of a rose, it still smells as sweet. Which is to say, that I still have this sweet new pad here in Chicago. So a couple of quick things about finding a place,and having it ready for school.
First things first. Any place you decide to rent NEEDS/ nay HAS to be well within your budget. Granted Im getting $60K a year, of course I could stay in a place for $1200 a month and have no money on the side and make the semester needlessly tight. Or I can act like I have some sense and find a modest place. Being that this is Chicago (one of the larger cities here in the US) finding "a place" was bound to happen. The real trick was finding a place that was A) well within the budget B) had most of the features I need in an apt, and C) Had room for me to grow in. Lets take them one by one shall we?
1) So my place here is a 1bd/1 bath for $950. What that ends up meaning is that for that price I get a kitchen, living room, bathroom, and bedroom...and since I did research and spent time looking, i got the added bonus of an "extra room" which in reality is a sun room, but ill be making into an office (more on that to come). So there has to be +/-. For that phenomenal price tag on this large square footage I had to look well outside of the immediate area of the school. In essence Im compromising time in the mornings and proximity to the school for more sq ft for a lower price. To me that is a good trade off considering I made sure my place is off the Public Transportation that goes directly to my school.
2) Make a list of all the things you Need/Want in an apartment, and stick to it! You never know, you might find that dream place that has all the things you want. Ill be honest this place doesn't have everything on my list but it has most of it, and a few extras that made it worth it. For instance the kitchen here is not as large as I may have wanted and it lacks a dishwasher, but the space I lose in the kitchen I gain in an "office". Which is good because I intend to spend more time working then cooking anyway. Whereas originally I was going to have to put a desk in my room, now I have a fairly substantial dedicated work area that should help improve my concentration and productivity.
3) Room for growth is important to me for a couple of reasons. If you have ever had a place of your own before, you may have experienced a particular side effect: Leaving with more crap then you started with. When I moved from my last place I was amazed by just how much "stuff" I had. Now could I have been a scrouge and got a studio for 5 or 6 hundred dollars....SURE! Would I have had space to be comfortable and accumulate the inevitable junk that comes with living somewhere for 3 years...of course not. This place gives me some space to grow and also space to simply get up and walk around. Being able to move from room to room is often overlooked but essential part of making a place feel "homie".
So there you go, just a little bit about my new place. You will hear me referring more and more to the Den, and may even catch some pics soon. We are really getting closer and closer to the start of this wild ride, so you'll be hearing from me more and more.
Marqus
Keep Clawing Away...
Posts
