Tuesday, April 24, 2007

My rent is going up...again!

Calories eaten yesterday: 1345
Fat: 48g (32%)
Carbs: 105g (32%)
Protein: 115g (35%)

Weight this morning: 141 (One week ago: 142.2)
Calories burned in exercise today: 88

moneyNo workout for me today. I was woken up by my apartment manager knocking on my door and handing me a letter notifying me that my rent is going up AGAIN. The new owners only care about money and are raising the rent the max allowable by law every year. I will now be spending almost $750 a month for my studio apartment. From $717.94 to $741.63 - a $23.69 increase. Last year it was $22.94 - the max increase allowed on my old rent. If they keep raising the rent I will have to move. :( Rent control might sound good in theory, but it really isn't much safety. My salary is not keeping pace with the owners' desire for money. The old owner only raised my rent once and was apologetic when he did so.

I did a quick search on Craig's List and found there are cheaper alternatives in this area, many of which would likely work for me. So the option is there. It's just such a pain to look for a place, pick up and move (and move with a feral cat), and clean a very lived-in apartment!

To save money I downgraded my gym membership from all-club to one club. That will save me $10 a month. I also got rid of the 250 text/pix messages on my phone. That's $5 a month. I can still use the service, but will have to pay per message. I'm racking my brain to find where I can cut corners to afford this rent increase.

I'm also figuring out which anabolic supplements to keep and which to drop. I can also drop my tea at night and buy off brand green tea for drinking at work. I can have less wine, and not go out to dinner with Brad as often. I'll buy fewer non-essentials at the grocery store such as energy drinks. *sigh* And this would all be unnecessary if the owner of the building weren't trying to make more and more money with no regard for the difficulties of their tenants. Isn't $700 a month for a studio enough?!? :(

Anyway, I didn't get a workout in because today was my bimonthly City run to check my P.O. Box (I get my mail in a different city (and county!) than where I live - long story there, but it works for me. Then I came back across the Bay and headed to work. I did walk from the train station to work which is 1.5 miles.

I went on a last shopping spree at WalMart - bought some cat stuff, WalMart brand diet cola, low-carb protein shakes, a couple toothbrushes (one to scrub in the corners of the bathroom and kitchen), acne pads, and even found some NutriSystem Honey Mustard Pretzel Sticks snacks.

Tomorrow is grocery day and then maybe I can get back to the gym on Thursday.

The only good news to report today is that my Bay To Breakers bib and timing chip were in my mail. A photo will be forthcoming. Because I registered the first day registration was open I got my lowest number ever - 931! Wow...only three digits instead of the four or five I have always had before.

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4 comments:

Amy Dungan said...

Sorry to hear your rent is going up. It's tough enough nowdays to make ends meet without some landlord getting all greedy on you. If our rent went up we'd have no choice but to move. We pay too much as it is. But such is life...

Arthur_of_Old said...

=-(

JustForToday said...

That's terrible that your rent is up so much. Good for you though for cutting corners healthily... i.e. not saying "I could save money if I changed my diet and stopped eating healthy." :) Keep up the good work!

pendell said...

Prayer about the rent. I know that sucks.

My apartment makes nominal rent raises, if my rent gets raised at all. I believe it's because it's family-owned. How can you find someone like that?

Respectfully,

Brian P.