melworks | Entries tagged with moving

Wow. Has it been that long since I posted?
I guess so.
Okay. So, here we go...

I"m in a new place. Lance, one of the two prospects I seriously considered when I was first looking, contacted me on FB and asked if I would still be interested in renting his room. I said sure, and moved in on the 1st of July.

The rent is okay. $550 a month and that includes all utilities. If there's a downside, it's that I'm living in suburbia with nothing within walking distance. If my car breaks down, I'm pretty much fucked.

But, so far, so goood.

I knew Lance from the Store. He used to be a regular, and his geekiness is evident in his home. There's Star Wars, Harry Potter, Doctor Who, and comics related stuff all over the place. He watches One Piece most nights before he goes to work/bed. And did I mention that he's a cop? Yep. I'm living with the PoPo. LOL.

The room is nice, and I have my own bath. The bedroom's not furnished, but I went out and grabbed an airbed and I'm pretty much good to go. Today I improvised some blackout covers for the window using a black plastic tablecloth and some painter's tape. We'll have to see how it holds up.

My mail continues to vanish into the either, so I've switched my bank stuff to paperless delivery. Eventually, I'm going to notify everybody of my new address (but will NOT be going through the Post Office as those guys are fucking incompetant) and actually have stuff delivered. And, eventually, I'm going to have to go and update my driver's license, AGAIN. Pheh. But I'm waiting until next month before I do that and I'm not going back to the place I went last time. Those people can DIAF.

The Store has been super slow on the last couple of weekends. Not surprising since it's so fucking hot here that no one wants to go outside. Hopefully, things will get back to normal soon.

And that's where I'm at right now.

Oh. And, for some reason, I've been writing a shit tonne of comicporn. Don't ask me why, because I have no fucking idea.

So, I've left Chuck's place and am set up at my Mom's.
It's...not an ideal situation.
I love my Mom, but this house is, like, one hundred years old. And there isn't shit to do in this town.
Like, literally, nothing to do.
But, at least I can rest my bones somewhere for a while.
And, once I got online, the wifi is pretty decent.

I'm writing this in my new place, which is just two blocks away from my old place. Jorg helped move my bed, which was a bugger, and I moved the rest. Only had to make one trip, but halfway through unpacking, I realized that I'd left my bathroom stuff behind. So, back to the house to pick them up.
New roomie, Chuck, cooked dinner and we chatted over dinner and beyond.
I think I may have come across as something of an asshole. But it's early days yet and we'll see how things go.

Four more days until I move out of my current place. I've packed up 95% of my stuff. The only stuff left, is the stuff I'm still using on a daily basis.

I was going to take the bed apart this past Monday, but Jorg convinced me to leave it in place until the actual day of the move. He'll help me take it apart and move into the new digs and put it back together. The rest of the stuff, I can move on my own.

I'm getting weirdly sentimental about everything now, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I've lived in this house the last seven years(!), and a lot has happened during that time.

So, the Great Hunt has ended.
I'm taking the room in the house just a few blocks away from my current home. It's the place I talked about in my last entry.
Since then, I've gone back and taken a second look, which I'm glad that I did. I had somehow convinced myself that the room was smaller than it actually was and painted blue. *Shake My Head* It's funny the things our minds do to us, isn't it?
Jorg has been emptying out the house on Mondays, in preparation for moving Ashley's stuff into it next month. The living room is now almost completely bare and there are boxes stacked up everywhere of all kinds of stuff. The other day, he had to put his dinosaurs in the attic. (Jorg has had these three massive dinosaur figures posed in one corner of the room for ages!)
The kitchen table and counters are covered with stuff, but at least I can use the stovetop and the microwave without any real trouble.
The kitties do not know what to make of any of this, and I shudder to think how they're going to react to being relocated to the downstairs. Poor chonky babies. I would take them with me if I could, but that's not feasible.
Today, I helped the new roommate/landlord, Chuck, move some furniture out of the bedroom I'm moving into. It wasn't difficult. The worst part was putting the mattress out on the curb for the trash guys to pick up tomorrow.
I'm actually looking forward to moving into the new place. It occurred to me that once I've got settled and have updated my mail address, that I might be able to order stuff from online and actually have it SHOW UP. The mind reels.
Also, I've been feeling the urge to do some solo RP, but just can't seem to get anything going. It's very disheartening.

I looked at the house/room a few blocks away from my current resident this morning. The owner, Chuck, is a semi-retired gay widower. He's a self-described 'quiet, introvert' who lives with two older rescue dogs and a couple of tortoises. He's a counselor at a local help center and works four days a week. He seems a bit sad, but I can live with that. He's renting because he doesn't want to live alone, so the rent is, like, $300 a month. That's amazing for this area.
The house was built in 1948, but it's been expanded. The back yard is amazing. There's a fish pond, a fire pit, a greenhouse and hanging chairs.
The bedroom is a bit small, but it's got built in shelving. I don't think my bed (a queen) will actually fit, so I'm going to go back in and measure to see how crowded it would be. If it's literally wall to wall, I'll probably put the bed in storage.
Definitely going to offload my endtables and probably my storage cubes.
And more trips to Goodwill will occur in the future.
Looking at moving in on May 6th.

So, I've got two locations to check out re housing.

One is in a little community about 20 minutes from the Store, in a totally residential neighborhood. Not a single convenience store in sight. *sight* It's a two story house with a smallish yard. I know the guy renting rooms from work. He used to be one of our comic subscribers. He works for a local police department on their forensics team. He would be about a 180 degree change from Jorg. LOL. The rent is $650, which is a little more than I want to pay, but it includes everything. I'm not sure if the room would be furnished or unfurnished. I shall find out tomorrow night when I go and check it out.

The other possibility is just a few blocks away from my current residence. The owner replied to my add in the 'Rooms Wanted' section of Craigslist. He's a semiretired social worker, widowed in 2022. He lives with two elderly rescue dogs and a pair of tortoises. He's not looking to make a profit of the rent, he's just tired of living alone and wants some company. We've been emailing (and I've been cyberstalking) and he seems like a legit nice guy. His rent is only $300, everything included, and we're going to meet this Monday. If he's as nice as he seems, I'm probably going to go with him as then I wouldn't have to adjust my stuff quite so much.

So, wish me luck!

So, the downsizing is mostly done except for the furniture. I have taken two tubs of clothes to Goodwill and two large garbage bags to the dump. I've rehomed most of my books, and have begun to actively search for a new place to live.

I'm mostly checking Craigslist and FB Marketplace for room shares, although I've learned that people are posting roomshares on real estate sites now as well. That's a new twist to me.

I did a FB post, letting folks know that I'm looking and if they hear anything to drop me a line. As soon as I did that, I started getting texts from Jorg's wife, Ashleigh, with links to apartments in the area. I believe she has an overinflated idea of my income.

I'll be making about $1200 a month after the MoveOut, so I figure I can pay about $600, max, in rent. And that has to include utilities. Ideally, I'd like something with a month-to-month lease, close to my current location because I really like where I live. I don't know if that's going to be feasible.

I may have to live out of my car for a while, or, WORSE, move back in with my Mom in The Town Waiting To Die. *sigh*

Also, I think this Chromebook I'm on is on it's last legs. It's been over a year since the update expiration and I'm starting to get website malfunctions. I can't watch Netflix on this thing, which was an excuse to get rid of Netflix. That's money saved right there as I mostly just watch YouTube videos anyway. I will NEVER buy another Chromebook, ever again.

What I am starting to think of as The Great Clean-Out continues.
The other day, I packed up all my old TTRPG books and took them in to The Store. Jorg would want to pay me for them, but, honestly? I don't care about that. I don't look at them so if I weren't putting them in the Store, I'd be selling them at 2nd & Charles or donating them to my local library.
This week, I am taking in the books that I have accumulated over the past few years. I've filled up a box, and was surprised at how empty my shelves are now. Apparently, I don't have as many books as I thought I did.
I'm also starting to sort through my clothes.
After the clothes are done, I'll probably start selling off furniture. I really can't see keeping anything, except, maybe the bed. I do love that bed. It's nice and sturdy and the mattress is broken in quite nicely.
My kitchenware is just going to go to GoodWill.
Altogether, progress is being made.

The closing looks like it's going to happen on the 9th. I've had electricians out giving me estimates on a new switchbox and a roofer out to give me an estimate on repairing the dry rot in the attic. Finally wrangled a letter of committment from my HOA re said roof repairs. My realtor is really getting on my nerves now. Also, found out the closing is on the 9th, not the 11th as I thought. Pheh. So next week is going to be nuts.