'Cracked' head strikes again

I was not expecting to have a crackhead update so soon, but here we are.🙄 If you read my last post, I called the police on her last Saturday (January 27) morning. Fast forward to Tuesday (January 30), I had a normal work day, got home around 5:30pm, and as soon as I got home my little brother texted me asking if I could drive him to our dad's house and his girlfriend to her group home. As much as I just wanted to sit on my computer the rest of the night, I can't say no to this child I spent more time caring about than his mom (my ex-step-mom). They came over and hung out for 45 minutes, then I drove them home, dropping his girlfriend off first and heading down to my dad's house. I went in to say hi to my dad for a few minutes and asked if I could borrow his cat carrier because I was taking Emmy and Wilson to get their claws cut on Thursday. I only have one carrier and there's no change I'm having one of them running around the car while I'm driving.😂 When I left his house I went to put the carrier in the back seat and noticed my car had been egged AGAIN.😡 This immediately made me SO angry, the whole drive home my mind was racing and I decided I'd had enough. I got home, texted my landlord about it, and called the local police department to ask if there was anything that could be done because unfortunately there's no video proof but there is no doubt in my mind it was the crackhead both times and definitely not a coincidence it happened days after I called the police on her. I got some semi-helpful information from the officer and my landlord said he was going to get security cameras set up on the exterior of the house. It's about fucking time. 

Oh remember that security camera I set up in my kitchen window after calling the cops on Saturday? WELL, I moved it that morning before I went to work to face my porch instead of my car because I had an Amazon package being delivered😞 I went through the footage but she must have been standing in the driveway when she did it because it didn't have her on it all day. That just added more fuel to the fire lit inside me. After getting off the phone with the police and putting a 'Mischief' report in through their website, I started looking at apartments. Unfortunately, I've been living in the same apartment for almost 8 years with no lease so I pay a substantially lower rent than anything on the market these days. The average 1 bedroom apartments are $450+ more a month for rent than what I pay right now. Luckily I've been living way below my means for a long time so I'm in a relatively comfortable place financially, but this move is going to require big changes from myself. I'm ready to make the sacrifice though, because I'm tired of being unhappy and uncomfortable in my own home. 

I sent a dozen or so messages to people with apartment postings online and set up 2 showings for Thursday. They weren't anything special but I wanted to see what was out there, what the sizes are, etc. Since I don't HAVE to move, I'm not going to jump on the first apartment I see, and I'm definitely not going to pay so much more in rent for another ghetto dump. I have the time and affordability to be picky. I have great credit, lots of references, steady income, I'm almost a landlord's dream. My only negative (in the landlord's eyes) is Emmy and Wilson. Although it's technically illegal to deny someone an apartment because of pets, it's never enforced. One of my first questions when responding to listings is 'I have two cats, will that be an issue?' while I could lie and not tell them, and once I sign a lease there's absolutely nothing they can do, I don't want to start off a new landlord-tenant relationship like that, and I would never get rid of my babies for a place to live. 

With that in mind, I've put together a mental (and now I guess actual) list of requirements for a new apartment:

• MUST ACCEPT CATS
• Newly built/renovated
• On-site laundry
• No carpets
• If it's a basement apartment, no young kids upstairs

I may add to that list later but that's what I've got off the top of my head. A dishwasher would be a huge plus, but not required (doing dishes is my least favorite chore). A basement apartment is not ideal, but if it is newly renovated and a good size, that's probably what I'll end up in because actual apartment buildings are $300-500 more a month😒 I realized that a lot of 2-bedroom apartments are only maybe $200 more a month than the 1 bedrooms so those are also on my radar as options. Ultimately, I need to figure out my budget, since I've never really had to budget before. I bought a cute pre-made budget tracker on Etsy and that's on my to-do list for this weekend. Once I break that down and have a better idea of what I can afford, it'll help narrow my search down. Like I mentioned before, I'm not in a rush because I don't HAVE to move, I'm doing it for my sanity and happiness, and luckily my landlord offered to change my 60-day notice to 30 days to move out, because of all the issues I've been dealing with. Ideally, I'd find a place sometime in February to move in on April 1, so I can give my notice by March 1 and only have to pay about $100 in rent that month since I paid last month's rent when I moved in and that's the amount it's increased over these 8 years. 

The wheels are turning, ideas are being put into motion, and the next couple of months are going to be hectic but it will all be worth it in the long run 😍