“A comfortable house is a great source of happiness. It ranks immediately after health and a good conscience.” – Sydney Smith
Even with practice – I”ve moved at least once every year for six years – searching for a place to live sucks.
Added challenges come with limited money in my bank account, a desire for privacy and safety and few cheap rentals available.
Of all housing qualities, safety and privacy rank at the top of my list. The problem is – privacy and safety seem to cost more money. But does a more charming neighborhood, friendly, quiet neighbors and a gate protect residents?
Creepers can just as easily hide behind picket fences as ratty apartment doors.
However, I feel more comfortable saying good morning to a man watering his azaleas than I do with a leery, muscular man with dozens of piercings and tattoos. The apartment with the muscle-man and yappy dogs didn”t get my application. And I have a piercing and a tattoo, but I don”t look at 20-something women the way he did.
Happiness makes the home and eerie vibes as well as emergencies can ruin it.
Cheaper rentals tend to be creepy, something I can”t afford as a single woman whose only weapon is a metal softball bat. And I”m not that great of a hitter.
Although safety tops all, having enough money to pay rent is essential.
Many rentals on the west side of Clear Lake cost $700 or more a month. That may seem like a deal to some people, but for a person with one small paycheck that price is fiscally irresponsible.
Houses and apartments that take a smaller chunk of my paycheck seem sketchy.
After looking in the paper and online for two months, I have yet to find an inexpensive, nice place where I can live by myself.
Get a roommate? Now that my former Chico roommates and I don”t live together we like each other more. Dishes can sit in the sink, bills can be paid when that one person has money and we all have privacy.
It”s also nice not having the possibility of getting caught watching a lame movie and eating ice cream when a deadline approaches.
The compromise seems to be paying more than an accountant might recommend, ignoring intuition or finding a roommate. Yearlong lease with lawn-watering neighbors and less play money, I”m coming home.
“Home is a place where a person lives, spends much of her time, or feels generally comfortable with. While a house or other residential dwelling is often referred to as a home, and is home to many people, the concept of “home” is broader than a physical dwelling. Home is often a place of refuge and safety, where worldly cares fade, with things and people you love becoming the focus. Home is central to one”s life, primarily emotional, and partially physical. It is an environment offering affection and security.
“The house a woman creates is a utopia. She can”t help it – can”t help trying to interest her nearest and dearest not in happiness itself but in the search for it.” – Marguerite Duras
Katy Sweeny is a staff reporter for the Record-Bee. She can be reached at ksweeny@record-bee.com or 263-5636, ext. 37.
