Moved!

Well, I’m still unpacking and setting things up, but I have moved. And it is good. Gone are the leaky days, the moldy smells, and the AC that knocks out the circuit with the fridge on it. I am now living in a slightly smaller but much nicer place in the city. It has central air, a new water heater, a new washer and dryer, curtains already installed, and the best part, an extremely responsive and knowledgeable landlord.

I’ve got about 3-4 more boxes to unpack, but that’s coming along nicely. Since I’m in a smaller place, I’ve had to have a little rule: if it doesn’t have a home, it can’t live in mine. In other words, if it’s something I don’t have a reasonably logical place for, I’m not keeping it! I have lots of storage spaces here (three largeish closets, a locked closet in the back stairwell, and a basement locker), but I don’t want to keep things I don’t need.

I’ve found out some things:

1) Clothing that did not fit in the old apartment will not suddenly fit in the new apartment.

2) Shoes that are torn up and ugly do not suddenly become beautiful and new in the new apartment.

3) Expired medicine and personal care products do not become unexpired in the new apartment.

It’s a fun learning experience.

Also, with the move, I’ve been spending more than necessary (mostly on eating out… oops!) so I need to cut back a bit. I’ll have a lovely dental visit next month that will cost a few hundred dollars, but I can work it out. The biggest thing is that I need to curb my extraneous spending, which means meal planning and leaving my credit and debit cards at home unless I actually need them (to run errands or buy gas). Actually, I really need to just go back to my cash budget. It’s too easy to spend more than I intended when I have cards. Granted, my biggest “extra” expense this month was legit stuff for the new place (sheets that aren’t worn through and a toilet paper holder, which is like the one thing the place lacks), but the whole buying lunch at restaurants for myself is not a good deal.

Oh well. I will be making crock pot chicken stock, so I’m thinking a good soup week should get me back on track!