My Cheap Apartment

Through all the changes I have had in my life over the last year I decided I needed to trim some monthly expenses. I lived in a really nice apartment so I moved into a much cheaper place to save a fair amount of money every month. I wanted to remain living in downtown Ottawa so my options were a bit limited. I did find a place in my budget but there are a lot of reasons it is so affordable.

The most obvious thing about my place is it is a basement apartment. With that you don't get a lot of natural light. I have found this to be a huge drawback. I don't have the, 'it looks so nice out - I need to get out' feeling that you get when you live above the ground. Ahh, but it's cheap.

There is only once coin operated washer and one coin operated dryer in the building. There are only six units so waiting for the washer and dryer is not usually a big problem. Where the problem sits is when one of the machines breaks. In the 4 months I have been here, twice the washer has been down for maintenance. This means I may have to wait it out or go to an outside location. Neither option is very good.

the door key is very poorly planned. There is a very deep cut very close to the base of the key. As such, I have already broken one key off on the lock and I expect more to break. It is simple physics, if you put a lot of torque on a small piece of metal, it will eventually fail.

I do have a indoor parking spot that I can secure however, I have to wiggle the car into and out of the spot. There is nothing easy about my parking spot and driving a Nissan Altima, which is a long car. It is not a convenient or quick process to get in and out of the the parking spot. Ahhh, but it's cheap.

The oven is terrible. The temperature control is terrible, I still haven't figured out how to set it to ensure my meals turn out ok. I have to disable the smoke detector or it will go off constantly, from pre-heating to completion. It is no where near level, everything slides to the back.

My landlord leaves a lot to be desired. the damage from previous tenants was not repaired before I moved in. the apartment was not cleaned before I moved in. My keys were left under the front door mat when my lease kicked in. I have rented from both corporations and individuals and this is by far, the worst landlord I have had.

I fully understand when you consider everything I am not doing that bad. I have a roof over my head that doesn't leak and I live in a good neighbourhood. Most of all, it isn't forever. When my lease is up, I can find a place more suited to what I want. In the meantime, i am saving a whole bunch of money and everything will be better in the long run, and that's why I'm going through this exercise.