Dear Apartment Gods,
Please, oh please let us find a dog-friendly 2 bed/2 bath within walking distance of the L. We’d like parking included. We also wouldn’t mind granite counter tops, stainless steel appliances and wood floors…equal sized bedrooms and new bathrooms…oh yeah, and keep us way under budget and within 4 block s of the park.
With Love, Nicole & Katie
I’m moving.
First let me say that apartment shopping is a HUGE pain in the butt. While I have loved seeing Katie almost every day for the past two weeks, along with the past two Sunday mornings (not a pretty sight), I’d prefer not to see her under these circumstances.
If you can imagine it, our apartment search consists of us driving the wrong way down one-way streets, relying way too heavily on my iPhone map to navigate our new neighborhood (which quite frankly is embarrassing considering we have lived here for 4 years), getting lost again, being scared to get out of the car at places listed as a “great deal!”, jumping into car after working with someone who had quite possibly used illegal substances right before our appointment, (there’s no doubt that guy HATED us)…you get the idea.
We know exactly what we want. But finding it is another story.
We find a place with the space we want, but it is 150 years old and falling apart. We find a gorgeous place that is modern and in the perfect location, but one bedroom is as big as a closet and doesn’t have a window.
I think if I’ve learned one thing over the past year, it’s that you just can’t have it all.
Perhaps this is a simple concept to most, but it wasn’t for me. I really thought you could “have it all” in an apartment, in a job, and in just about everything else.
Perhaps you are your own worst enemy, striving to have it all in a world where “perfect” just doesn’t exist.
My apartment search has mirrored that of job seeking and one’s career: it is almost impossible to find the whole package without a flaw. And at some point, you just have to pick one and go from there.
Letting go of perfection is bound to give you a happier and more fulfilling life and career. Embrace the imperfections. Give up on having it all. Live the life you imagined and have fun doing it!
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If anyone can relate to where you're at in your career, it's Nicole Crimaldi: Nicole spent 5 years in corporate America, switched career paths, worked at a start-up, survived a layoff and is now self-employed. Nicole believes that career satisfaction is a huge part of overall happiness. Therefore, she started Ms. Career Girl to help other women get off the treadmill and onto a more fulfilling path.
{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
What a crazy few weeks it has been. Although, I must say, I wouldn’t have wanted to do it with anyone else! We found what we were looking for, and we are signing that lease ASAP (before we change our minds)!
It really has been quite a hoot. We’ve had a lot of good laughs, and maybe someday we will learn how to get around the hood without a map! haha
I think I recall a post from last year about why you didn’t think you’d ever live with a roommate again. What has changed?
Rob-
Katie is my best friend. She is like my sister- which makes her not really like a roommate. We even shared a tiny room with twin beds in it for 2 years in college (and somehow we are still friends).
We both live alone now and decided that this is the year of saving in order to reach our financial goals of buying our own homes. We felt that by making a 1 year “sacrafice” of living together, it would help us reach those goals faster. But yes, I couldn’t live with anyone but sisters, Katie or a hubby.
NC
So you’re telling me the perfect job doesn’t really exist because I was really, really hoping it did.
haha yep, I am telling you the the perfect job doesn’t exist. If it does, I haven’t heard of it. I used to think there was a perfect job, but now I’m convinced it’s all what you make it.
Just finished househunting myself – we settled on a small studio that’s really well located but has a tiny, cramped 1-person kitchen. I feel your pain and totally agree you can’t have it all! Well, maybe you can, if you have an unlimited budget. But we’re pretty happy with what we have, and hopefully living with Katie will let you guys sock away some serious money for your own places.
Good for you! I live in a really tiny place right now and I always joke that someday I’ll look back and want my tiny apartment and a simple life again. Let’s hope we spend more time OUTSIDE of our apartments at this stage of the game.
Congrats, Nicole! Finding an apartment in this city can be a real challenge! Just when everything you’ve seen is too small, expensive or totally run down, and you start contemplating homelessness, you finally seem to find the perfect place!
(At least that’s been my luck. And since I have to start apartment hunting soon, I’m hope I didn’t just jinx myself!)
Good luck with your upcoming search. It’s definitely a waiting game and takes serious patience! It’s also hard to pick a neighborhood around here considering there are so many great ones!
Thanks!
Not going to ask specifically where your moving, but from the sounds of your (hilarious, and so like me) reliance on phone maps, it’s a new neighborhood for you? That’s the best part of Chicago, I think – such a variety, and so easy to get from one place to the next.
I’m slowly learning to let perfection go; it does make things so much easier. Good luck with the apartment hunt! Your search sounds very similar to my search for a house… not as fun as I thought it would be! LOL
I think letting go of perfection lowers expectations. Unrealistic expectations is often the source of disappointment, anxiety and even depression. Striving for perfection is essentially setting yourself up for disappointment.
I’m moving back to Toronto from China in a month, and two girlfriends and I are currently in the process of finding a place for us to live together. Due to my geographic location, I’m not as involved in the house-hunting nightmare as I would otherwise be…lucky me! Your advice about understanding that “you can’t have it all” is well-taken, though, especially because we’re all recent graduates. The idea that we’ll find a place that we love in a location that’s idea for the price we want to pay is just absurd, and we need to recognize that.
I think, in many cases, young people get a little brainwashed about what they should expect from their first apartment or home by the media/television, and maybe even their peers. It’s what leads to people living beyond their means and also to “lifestyle creep”…two things that I am determined to keep in check!
*ideal…oops!
I know exactly how hard it is to find a place that you are really comfortable to live in. After graduation and moving to a new town I was faced with a never ending apartment search. After a while I realized which mistakes I made, it was so obvious, too high expectations on a too low budget. What I learned of it is to gather information before you even start to search. In which neighbourhood would you like to live? What are the mean prices per square meter in that neighbourhood? How much do you want to spend on rent? What kind of an apartment can you afford in your favorite neighbourhood? So really do your math before you start looking for a place. In the end you will save a lot of time and energy.
Love this post! I can definitely relate- living in an apartment built in 1920 for the last two years has been an exciting challenge. Nothing in life is perfect. The things that appear to be “deal breakers” so often are opportunities to change our frame of reference. Something you think you will hate may be an opportunity to learn something new about yourself.