A-ha!

[feuervogel]

(Not the 80s band.)

I've figured it out. I want to live in an apartment/condo because I hate taking care of a large space and an outdoors area. I don't like gardening, really, and yard work sucks. We have a very nice Yoshino cherry tree, a nice Japanese dwarf maple, and two lovely gardenias, plus the disheveled herb garden. I'd miss the trees and gardenias. Herbs I can grow in pots in the window/on the balcony.

Our HOA is up our noses about our grass all the time, and they sent us a nastygram about our mailbox recently. I've been on Ben about replacing it for a while, but he's always like "no, it can wait; I don't want to replace it until it's completely destroyed" (and the mailbox falls off and lands on my mum or azalea or something and kills it, yay thanks dear). And of course right now isn't a very good time to add yet more expenses.

I just don't want to deal with maintenance and upkeep of the outside of a house, or deal with cleaning a 2100-sq ft (195 m^2) house. Just vacuuming took a little over an hour yesterday, and I didn't touch two of the rooms (my sewing room and the bonus room which, as I mentioned, is piled high with stuff that Needs To Fucking Go NOW). I got up a good bit of cat hair, more than could be generated in a week, which gives me hope that weekly vacuuming is actually going to make a difference in cat hair levels.

Comments

[smarriveurr]

This is pretty much my attitude to getting out of apartment living. It's a harsh dichotomy, because I'm sick of hearing my neighbors all the time and trying not to make too much noise in turn, but I really don't look forward to the upkeep of a standalone house. I hate mowing, I hate shoveling, I hate repairs... pretty much everything that gets taken care of for you in a rental situation, I like. Plus, hey, the worst happens? Your stuff is insured, you can't be upside down in your apartment, you move, done.

But, damn, privacy and peace and quiet and no kids on my damn lawn...

[feuervogel]

Yeah. The taking care of things outside part really sucks, and if you've got a bitchy HOA like we do, you have to maintain it to their standards. But not having people on the adjacent wall or floor/ceiling is kind of nice.

[picklish]

Stupid entropy. It's amazing how much work just having a large space can be.

I feel very similarly to you about gardening and yard work. If I need greenery, I'm far more happy to go enjoy a public park than having to maintain my own personal one.

[feuervogel]

It's an especial lot of work when you've got two lazy people, one of whom is a pack-rat. We just (well, Ben did) went through the filing cabinet and now have a really big stack of things to shred, in addition to the recycling.

[ladyegreen]

I think it's good to know yourself this way.

[feuervogel]

I just wish I'd known it sooner, rather than think I wanted the suburban lifestyle and be stuck in it instead of living in a slightly smaller house in town...

[tammylee]

Word to the big bird. I sometimes would like a bit of yard to grow things but I DO have two balconies which we rarely ever use...

I love living in an apartment-style condo. My neighbours are rarely a problem (lots of retirees around me) and I don't have to worry about caring for the exterior of the building or the land.

It can, however, be a pain. For instance, I wanted to screen in my back balcony so I can sit out there and not get eaten alive by mosquitoes but the condo board rejected my proposal because it would interfere with the aesthetic of the exterior of the building.

[feuervogel]

We have similar stupid rules in our neighborhood. If we wanted to put up a screened deck out back, we'd have to submit a proposal to our homeowners' association. They have some really nitpicky rules, like the percentage of clover that's allowed to be in your yard. Ugh.

[xjenavivex.livejournal.com]

I am enjoying watching you take steps around the house and talking about it. We are in the same boat. Also, I hate yard work.

[feuervogel]

Thanks :) Yard work is the pits :P

[pharna.livejournal.com]

I heart patios.

I guess I'd love to trade because I'm in a Japanese shoe box with a door.

Of course, I'd really rather just have a real deck that I could put my hydroponic citrus trees on and enjoy what I like most about a garden without what I like least! :D

HOAs are proof that America is the dumbest nation on earth.
Oh no, how dare you look kinda poor and bring down property values even if it's good for the environment, etc. etc.

I just don't get the Murrican bullshit over outdoor laundry lines. Makes no goddang sense.

[feuervogel]

If we had money, we'd replace our deck with a covered porch and make most of the back yard a cement patio, with possibly a fireplace/grill thing. Which we'd almost never use, because in summer, it's just too hot in our west-facing backyard.

When we bought the house, we were living an an 800-sf apartment that was 2 bedrooms, 2 full baths (aimed at students, of course), a hallway-style kitchen, and a living/dining area. We were on top of each other all the time. If there'd been a third separate room so we didn't have to cram both our desks into one room, it might have been OK, but the 3-BR places were too much.

If I had an outdoor line, I wouldn't use it. The humidity's too high, so it would take forever to dry, never mind that it could rain suddenly. Also, sun bleaching sucks. We have a folding wire rack that we set up in the bathroom.