movin' on up

It's funny how things can change one's life so drastically, so quickly, so unexpectedly in the span of a day. That is exactly what happened to me this week. I'm getting a little ahead of myself, so here's the backtrack.

You already know I've been having a hard time feeling anywhere close to normal about my routine since returning from my vacation. The days have really been starting to drag making life almost unbearable for me. I like to keep busy but have run out of stuff to do indoors. My place is immaculate and there's a scant few things left to get rid of. The Texas summer is at it's peak, so there's really no where for me to go to. To make matters worse I was dreading the arrival of my lease renewal since I was coming up on my final 60 days of the current one. The problem was that I knew they would be raising my rent regardless of how long I renewed for. The plan was to stay another 7-8 months at which time I would finally hit the road. The shorter lease meant the increase would cost more, but I just wasn't sure how much more. I received the renewal notice at work and it turned out to be $100 (at minimum) more than what I'm paying now. Not drastic, but not good because this forces me to alter my budget plan. Shopping for apts online, and a few phone calls later only proved that rent would go up more than $100 anywhere in the area. I gave up and resigned myself to having to pay the increase, and got back to work. Later in the day, when looking for a coworker, I learned he had caught the shuttle home. 

Jump back to seven months ago I was visiting a friend for his birthday in said neighboring city. This is the same friend who put me and the beagle up after arriving in Texas. He had recently moved out of his 1 bdrm and into a 2 bdrm unit in the same property. He was even looking for a roommate and asked if I would be interested. At the time I was four months into my lease so this was out of the question. I briefly entertained the idea but ruled it out because I would have to commute to work. About a month later that I learned there was a shuttle service in place that would've made this a non issue.

Skip ahead to when the coworker took the shuttle home, and that's when the revelation hit me. A few quick texts and a phone call later garnered me all the details I needed. The room was still available, and he was about to post an ad for it. I calculated that moving in with my friend will save me an additional $400 on top of the scheduled $400 per month I will start saving in Oct which nets me a total of $800 a month saved. The change of address also saves me $300 per year on my insurance. And the move also allows me to rid myself of furniture/assorted housing items well in advance of my departure as well as no longer being tied to a time restraining lease. I can leave sooner or later, if the need arises, than my departure date.

I swore I wouldn't room with anyone or move anywhere until it was time to leave. Funny how life sneaks up on you like that. The pluses of this are too great to ignore, and there aren't any downsides since we've already lived together (albeit briefly). The next two months will be all about purging the stuff I no longer need and moving the few things I do to the new place.