admittedly, the beginning of our relocation to nyc wasn't great. neither of us had been having much success finding jobs, and we were tired of crashing with either of my parents. it felt like we were dating teenagers, staying in my childhood bedroom. and having limited funds means having limited fun.
we were so uncomfortable, we were getting really grumpy. at one point, bib told me that our move to nyc was supposed to be a fun adventure, but instead, we were broke and bored out of our minds in the suburbs. finally, things got so uncomfortable at my dad's house that I woke up one morning and told bib, 'fuck it, we're going to look at apartments this weekend.' his words really resonated with me, and he was right. it was supposed to be an adventure. so i told him that we should take the risk and get an apartment, that way we force ourselves to make it work, rather than sit around and be bored and mopey.
so we got to it. we drove all over nyc... through every potential, affordable and unaffordable neighborhood, to help us decide where we would want to live. bib was sold on astoria. the neighborhood-y feel, the liveliness, the restaurants, the everything! we looked at a couple of apartments in sunnyside, because lately so many articles rave about the huge apartments and affordable rents there, but no matter how big those kitchens were (they were huge!), there was nothing that we liked about sunnyside. nothing to do, one train that never runs on the weekends, and for god's sake, every building that we walked into smelled like curry. and i am not being racist, i love a good curry, but i just don't want to smell curry or smell like curry everyday.
in 1 day, we saw about 8 apartments, and the last one was the one. it's just around the corner from the last apartment i lived in, before i left for Egypt. it's in the perfect location, and the landlords (a young, newlywed couple, like us) live in the building. they renovated before we moved in, so we were able to choose our own paint colors too, and got a brand new apartment for our new adventure.
so how did we get the place without jobs? with money! in nyc, you have to show your income and that income needs to be at least 40x your rent. if it isn't, you can always get a guarantor, someone who will sign for you, which we did. we also had to put an extra deposit down, so in the end, we had to give up 4 months of rent upfront. it was the last bit of my savings that saved us. and then bib got a freelance job the week after we signed!
the move did have some bumps though. the day we moved in was god awful, all the roads were blanketed with black ice. there were accidents and pile ups the entire way from nj to Astoria. it was so bad, that i cancelled the guys i had hired to help, in fear that they would get injured and sue us! worse than that was the whole storage situation. thanks to my dad and one of his (many) ex-bitch-wives, i lost almost all my clothes, my mattress, sofa, and vintage mirror, when they poorly threw all of my possessions in a storage right after i left. so many things had to be replaced. on the one hand, it was a disaster because we did not budget for this at all. but on the other hand, we were able to start from scratch and furnish our whole home together.
we decided that we weren't going to go cheap and buy all ikea stuff that would need to be replaced in 2-3 years. when we do things, we go big, we do it right. so, to crate and barrel we went. and how did we afford this without jobs? with zero interest credit cards! after over a decade of excellent credit history, it paid off in my time of need.
we're still not finished decorating and furnishing, but the place is so cozy and it's so us. it is so amazing to come home to our home. our first real home since we've been married. just in time for our 1st anniversary! we are so happy with our place and our neighborhood, that not a week goes by, when we're walking around town, or lounging in our living room, that we don't say how much we love it. the smells, the sounds. astoria is home.
i've said over and over that i've never loved living anywhere as much as i love living in astoria. and while i will admit that astoria has improved since i was away, the truth is, it's so much better, and i love it all so much more, because of bib.
we were so uncomfortable, we were getting really grumpy. at one point, bib told me that our move to nyc was supposed to be a fun adventure, but instead, we were broke and bored out of our minds in the suburbs. finally, things got so uncomfortable at my dad's house that I woke up one morning and told bib, 'fuck it, we're going to look at apartments this weekend.' his words really resonated with me, and he was right. it was supposed to be an adventure. so i told him that we should take the risk and get an apartment, that way we force ourselves to make it work, rather than sit around and be bored and mopey.
so we got to it. we drove all over nyc... through every potential, affordable and unaffordable neighborhood, to help us decide where we would want to live. bib was sold on astoria. the neighborhood-y feel, the liveliness, the restaurants, the everything! we looked at a couple of apartments in sunnyside, because lately so many articles rave about the huge apartments and affordable rents there, but no matter how big those kitchens were (they were huge!), there was nothing that we liked about sunnyside. nothing to do, one train that never runs on the weekends, and for god's sake, every building that we walked into smelled like curry. and i am not being racist, i love a good curry, but i just don't want to smell curry or smell like curry everyday.
in 1 day, we saw about 8 apartments, and the last one was the one. it's just around the corner from the last apartment i lived in, before i left for Egypt. it's in the perfect location, and the landlords (a young, newlywed couple, like us) live in the building. they renovated before we moved in, so we were able to choose our own paint colors too, and got a brand new apartment for our new adventure.
so how did we get the place without jobs? with money! in nyc, you have to show your income and that income needs to be at least 40x your rent. if it isn't, you can always get a guarantor, someone who will sign for you, which we did. we also had to put an extra deposit down, so in the end, we had to give up 4 months of rent upfront. it was the last bit of my savings that saved us. and then bib got a freelance job the week after we signed!
the move did have some bumps though. the day we moved in was god awful, all the roads were blanketed with black ice. there were accidents and pile ups the entire way from nj to Astoria. it was so bad, that i cancelled the guys i had hired to help, in fear that they would get injured and sue us! worse than that was the whole storage situation. thanks to my dad and one of his (many) ex-bitch-wives, i lost almost all my clothes, my mattress, sofa, and vintage mirror, when they poorly threw all of my possessions in a storage right after i left. so many things had to be replaced. on the one hand, it was a disaster because we did not budget for this at all. but on the other hand, we were able to start from scratch and furnish our whole home together.
we decided that we weren't going to go cheap and buy all ikea stuff that would need to be replaced in 2-3 years. when we do things, we go big, we do it right. so, to crate and barrel we went. and how did we afford this without jobs? with zero interest credit cards! after over a decade of excellent credit history, it paid off in my time of need.
we're still not finished decorating and furnishing, but the place is so cozy and it's so us. it is so amazing to come home to our home. our first real home since we've been married. just in time for our 1st anniversary! we are so happy with our place and our neighborhood, that not a week goes by, when we're walking around town, or lounging in our living room, that we don't say how much we love it. the smells, the sounds. astoria is home.
i've said over and over that i've never loved living anywhere as much as i love living in astoria. and while i will admit that astoria has improved since i was away, the truth is, it's so much better, and i love it all so much more, because of bib.
No comments:
Post a Comment