So this morning I received a notice on my door saying that I have not paid my rent and that if I do not pay it in so many days they will evict me, blah blah blah. Annoyingly I actually sent in my rent check via USPS. Why did I do this? Because they have no drop box and their office hours conflict with my work hours. Sodding Hell.
This of course means I have to do the following. I must spend money for a stop payment on the check. Then I will have to drive down to a gas station and spend money to purchase a money order. Then I have to take time off work to deliver this money order. All of this money spent or lost on top of a late fee from the complex.
That is when I came to a thought. A tempting one. Let them evict me. “Wha?!” you say stupefied by my suddenly irrational and irresponsible idea. Wait, let me explain.
You see, I pay $500 dollars a month for 660 square feet of mundane cookie cutter hell. Since I’ve moved in they have done nothing but disappoint me. My carpet was shampooed without being vacuumed first. There is a large bleach spot in the center of my living room. I can’t vacuum in a northerly direction because the grain of the carpet resists my vacuum. My intake vent was filthy and when I asked them to clean it they only painted over the dirt and fuzz. The apartment smelled like smoke when I moved in. They said they cleared the spider eggs from my hallway but they are still there. They forced me to get rid of my rat after saying it was okay to have it. Most… annoyed. On top of that, I pay $100 a month in electricity and I’m hardly in my apartment to begin with.
Along with my other bills I wind up eating at home more often than not which wouldn’t be so bad if my friends were not constantly trying to get me to come out and eat instead. The worst part is cooking for one I tend to end up waisting more food and money than I should.
In the end I look around at all my stuff and all the space and think to myself: “I can live without most of this.”
Must Haves:
1. My Camera
2. My laptop
3. My 24” monitor (there is a good reason)
4. My books
5. My clothes
6. A box full of sentimentals
7. My tool bags
8. Xbox 360/PS3 (strangely enough they are also sentimentals)
Like to haves:
1. My desk
2. My lamp
3. My office chair
4. My Colour Laser Printer
5. My Asian inspired dinner ware
Do not needs:
1. Tables
2. Couch
3. Dressers
4. Desktop
6. Over sized bed
7. Wall hangings
8. Extraneous plates, cups, etc.
9. About ten to twelve boxes of extra crap.
I could comfortably live with so very little in less than half the space. We’re talking all of maybe 200 square feet. Assuming I’m paying per square foot now (which know I’m not but for the sake of ease on my math challenged mind) that would mean my rent would be around $152 dollars a month. All I need is a bathroom and a main room. In 200 square feet I could have a hot plate, a mini-fridge, and a microwave along with a bed and my desk.
Yes, not glamorous in the least, nor very attractive. What does it leave me? Freedom. The extra money to do with as I please, to travel whenever I want. Instead of losing more than a quarter of my monthly pay in housing I only lose a tenth maybe.
Then I realised no such place exists. How sad. At least not in America. In Japan they do. For about the price I estimated. The problem with Americans (mind I love my country and the freedom it gives, it’s the cultural mindset I’m about to mention that upsets me) is the need for more stuff, more space, more land. Ever expanding. Ever acquiring. Ever in search of better and bigger luxury. I will admit, I am guilty of such things. I recently said I want a motorcycle. I don’t need one, and it certainly would take up more space. I have no justification other than I can’t store it inside anyway.
So I want you dear readers (yes, I realise right now there is only one of you but perhaps in the future more will come along and read back through the archives) to imagine this. An apartment complex built similar in style to an indoor storage facility. Many small rooms no more than 200sq feet in size with community areas such as kitchens and lounges. You live simplistically and perhaps even learn to socialise with those around you. It’s amazing. Think about it… with how much you make now compared to what you spend on your housing. Think how much money you would have to go out and socialise in public? Amazing.
Okay, my rant has run out of steam… I’m sure I had more but I don’t know where it went.
Back to work for me.
