And the hunt begins

I went to the two apartment showings I set up last Thursday (February 1) and brought my dad along because, you know, stranger danger.😆 They were both basement apartments, newly renovated and the landlord/homeowner seemed nice, but they were both pretty small. The first one we looked at wasn't too bad but the homeowner lived upstairs with their 6-year-old son and husband, and they had a home gym on the other side of the basement. We could hear her husband running on the treadmill while we were in the apartment. Not a great impression. The second one was smaller both width and height-wise; the ceiling was maybe 3 inches above my head!💀  The layout was very awkward and honestly I don't think my queen-size bed would even have fit in the 'bedroom'.😂 The homeowner seemed really nice, he worked afternoon shifts, has a teenage daughter 50% of the time, and travels a lot, but the space was WAY too small. Both apartments were also looking for immediate occupancy, which didn't work for me. I'm glad I got out and looked though, to get a better idea of what I want. 

I've been searching around online and sending out lots of messages, I only get a response from maybe 40% of them, but it's all a work in progress. I had two showings set up for today (Sunday, February 4) but one of them got canceled, which is probably for the best because it was out of my budget but it was a nice big 2-bedroom apartment. I'm still going to the other one this afternoon, which is also a 2 bedroom apartment in a small building, but there were no pictures online. When I asked they said there were no pictures because the tenant hadn't moved out yet. My hopes aren't high but it doesn't hurt to go take a look, right? I have another showing booked for Tuesday after work which is also for a 2 bedroom I believe, the pictures don't look great but that's mainly because the (I'm assuming) current tenants' furniture is in them and it's messy. I sent out a handful more messages for postings on Facebook Marketplace this morning so hopefully, I hear back from a couple of them and can book more showings. 

One thing that's kind of stressful is that 95% of these listings are looking for occupancy ASAP, so even if I find something within my budget that I really like, most places won't hold them until April 1st so I can give my 30-day notice. But I don't want to give my landlord notice and then not find something and feel the pressure to move somewhere I don't love because of time restraints. UGH. I talked to my boss about it last week and she mentioned when she moved here before starting her practice, she had a really hard time getting responses from people and ended up getting a real estate agent to find a place to rent. I called and left my name and number with an agency that's near my house and was told an agent would call me back so we'll see how that goes. My boss said she didn't have the pay the agent anything for the service, they were paid through an arrangement with the property management company that she got her townhouse through.

I did my budget tracker yesterday too, which was a little confusing at first but once I figured out how the premade sections and everything worked, it was pretty interesting to see everything laid out. I did my entire January income/expenses on it and holy sugar, I spent A LOT of money in January.😬 Between buying multiple concert tickets, baby shower presents, and a stupid amount of take-out, I spent an insane amount more than I made in January.🤪 My goal for February is to cut back ALL my spending, especially the Amazon orders and take-out. I've also told myself I am NOT buying any concert tickets for a while. I have 3 concerts booked over the next year and that's good enough for me. The only other one on my radar right now is one of my favorite smaller artists Marc E. Bassey, who announced last week he's going back on tour. He's only booked West Coast tour dates so far but if he announces a Toronto show, I HAVE to get tickets. Or a ticket at least, since I don't have anyone to go with me.😂 Luckily, last time he came to Toronto the tickets were only $40 or so, so I imagine they will be cheap again. 🤞

That's more or less the jist of my last few days, nothing overly exciting. I do have a little bit of a 'dating' story so maybe I'll write about that later 😇