So, there are a lot of changes in the works for this year already. Mike's sister, Mimi (her nickname), has moved in with us and been with us since about the 6th. It's made us realize even more just how small this apartment is but things seem to be moving along as smoothly as they can. It's not too difficult, with the exception of lack of room or privacy, in this apartment right now. Mimi sleeps in the bedroom at night while Mike and I are working, then she's usually up before we go to bed.
I've been getting a lot more work done because we have several goals for things we need to save for. The first being we still have to file for bankruptcy. The second is we need to move into a bigger apartment. The third is getting a car. The last is saving to one day do the IVF with PGD procedure.
The first two goals are the most urgent. We just need to get the financial issues behind us before we move anywhere, so we're hoping to file and be done with it in the next month and a half, then move by mid March or early April. We discussed moving into a 2 bedroom where we are now but it really won't afford us that much more room and we'd still need our storage shed. So, we looked at the costs of paying our own utilities and rent combined versus having it all paid in one where we are now. We've pretty much decided that when we move, we'll be moving out of the complex we are in now based on those calculations.
Roughly, the costs of moving to a 2 bedroom here, are really much more than it will be to have all of the extra utility/other bills again. It's roughly $1250 a month with internet access for a 2 bedroom where we are now. We figured we paid at most $350 a month for all of our utilities (electricity, gas, internet, satellite/cable, water/sewer/trash) per month at the highest during the summer. Most of the 2 bedroom apartments we're looking at range from $660 to $780 a month with water/sewer/trash included. So even if we spent $350 a month on utilities it still wouldn't cost as much as a 2 bedroom where we are now.
We figure it's about $200 to rent a truck and will probably take at least 2 to 3 days to move regardless of whether we stay where we are or if we move to a bigger apartment. We have to look at affordability more than anything else. Mike roughly brings in $1570 a month after taxes and I average about $600, I could make more but until now that's been sufficient. We would have very little left if we had to pay $1250 a month and the money I make would become even more important, so the times when I don't have work would just cause stress instead of being another day off.
Mimi is in the process of looking for a job, and she has a hopeful prospect that she's going to apply & possibly interview for on Monday. It's an on the job training type thing but if she gets it she'll be starting off at about $9/hour and working a minimum of 20 hours a week, then if she proves to be a reliable worker she'll get more hours up to possibly full time, which would really help us out a lot, especially if we have to make payments to the court after the bankruptcy if we have to file Chapter 13 (we're hoping to file Chapter 7 but who knows).
We made an agreement with her that once she starts working, she'll pay a third of the rent while we are in our current apartment then once we move she will pay us about $300 per month with utilities included, it could be more but just depends on how much the rent is wherever we move but we don't want to take all of her money. I've been in that situation and it's not fair, so we won't do that to her. We figure even if we have to pay $1000 a month for rent, a third of that or the costs of the utilities would be about $335, so it's a pretty average figure. Then if we move somewhere where the rent is more like $700, then she'd be paying a third of the rent and $50-$85 towards the utilities too. That's pretty good for your first place.
But until she gets a job, we will be supporting her. She doesn't really ask for much but her eating habits are very different from ours and so much stuff comes into the house that we don't normally buy, like soda (we are water, juice and milk people for the most part), candy bars, and chips. Well, keep your fingers crossed that she gets this job and then we might be moving sooner but if not, then it'll be in the time frame I already mentioned.
Oh, don't know what happened (except maybe the Jack in the Box Mike brought home on Friday) last week because I had a really good week and according to my home scale early in the week I'd lost 2 pounds, but when I weighed in I'd gained 2.2 pounds. Oh, well, that'll teach me to eat that heavy before I weigh in.
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