We made quite a bit of progress on our packing this weekend. We're officially at that point where we aren't really sure what to pack next. Our walls are bare and our bookcase is empty. We don't want to go too crazy, since we're still waiting to hear back from the bank on a closing date.
But, the closer we get to owning our first home, the more our conversations turn to all the things we won't miss about living in an apartment. So I thought I would list the "Top 5" things we are looking forward to not having when we move.
The first on the list is the trash compactor. Its what I would call a necessary evil. It's necessary to get rid of everyone's trash when you live in such tight quarters. But, when people don't use it properly, trash tends to start overflowing. This is what it looked like just two weeks ago...
Gross, right? You don't even want to know how bad it smelled...
This thing breaks down at least once a month. Sometimes, I think its just because people don't know how to use it properly. Once someone puts trash in it and it starts compacting, you have to let it finish before you open it up again. I doubt people are patient enough to wait, thus causing the machine to malfunction, and back up with trash to the point where people just leave it on the sidewalk.
Another thing I won't miss about living in an apartment is not being able to personalize. I love to decorate! I'm no professional, but I still like to personalize whatever space I'm living in. The fact that we can't paint or nail into the walls drives me crazy. The most I've really done to make this apartment feel like a home is create a gallery wall in our dining room space.
Noisy/smelly neighbors is something that has become a problem recently. When we first moved in nearly 3 years ago, there weren't many families living in our building. Now, however, practically every unit is occupied. So we now get to listen to our neighbors upstairs walking around or running on their treadmill. And we get to smell whatever our next door neighbor is cooking for lunch and dinner. Oh, and let's not forget the smell of cigarettes coming from the patio below us. Or the loud dogs in the apartment across from us who bark every time we pull our keys out. We're looking forward to having a little more breathing room between us and our future neighbors.
I think what we're looking forward to the most, though, is having a backyard. One of the downsides to living in an apartment, especially one on the second floor, is that you have only a small outdoor space and are typically limited to a balcony. Our balcony is large enough to hold our bikes and two chairs. But, our chairs are usually occupied by these four-legged furry creatures....
We can't wait to have a little bit of a yard and a large, screened in patio that will have enough seating for us and the cats.
Speaking of the cats, one of the things we hate about our apartment is the carpet. Our cats, as much as we love them, are prone to accidents. No matter what remedy we try, they still have the occasional accident. Having carpet makes it really hard to clean up the messes. Even if we can get the carpets clean, we know the pad underneath still isn't as clean as it should be. We've always talked about a house with tile or wood flooring, which would make cleaning up after our three fur babies a little easier.
So those are the things we're the most happy about leaving behind when we move. Any other renters out there feel our pain? What would you add to the list?
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