For many young people finding cheap apartments is every bit as important as finding a good job, and often much more difficult. Finding the right place for the right price can make you or break you. After all, if you’re in your 20s, you probably want to be in the middle of it all. You ideally want to find a cheap apartment in San Francisco, New York, Portland or some other hip urban center. Finding cheap rental apartments in good locations means that you can be at the center of it all, perfectly placed to find a good job, enjoy a beautiful city and make meaningful connections that will last you the rest of your life.
When I was working in San Francisco, cheap apartments were crucial to keeping a good quality of life. I was working downtown and I didn’t want to have a long commute. Being able to find a cheap apartment in the center of the city meant that I could work longer hours, get home earlier, and save money on gas and transportation. It wasn’t just a matter of wanting to live in the city where the action was. It really made a big difference in my career development.
When I first got there I couldn’t find any cheap apartments. At first, I thought of moving out of town. I was contemplating living in Daly City, even though I knew that it would be a pretty difficult commute. In the end, I decided to move into a multi-room house with roommates. This was a mistake to say the least. My roommates were all inconsiderate, irresponsible and borderline nuts. I knew that sooner or later, I would have to move out of that place even if I couldn’t find cheap apartments.
I suppose that I was pretty lucky. I found a great apartment for rent just in the nick of time. The tenant was moving out early and he was looking to sublet. He was offering a substantial discount and I would be able to stay there for the rest of his lease. Although I only had about eight months to stay in the place, I knew that it would be enough time to get on my feet. Sure enough, by the time that lease ran out, I was making more money. I was able to afford a more expensive apartment and stay downtown.
I recently moved. Despite all of the million things that goes along with moving that needs to be done. Informing the entire world of your change of address is something that needs to be done fairly quickly. I barely had any boxes unpacked before a postal worker was knocking on my door asking me if I’d filled out a change of address card. I told her that I had the little postcards, but it was most likely buried in one of the million boxes. She was very kind and had me fill one out while she waited. I was a bit perplexed at her inquiry and not used to having a postal worker delivering mail to our front porch. Apparently in my new neighborhood, that was normal.
So, I filled out a change of address with post office. That simply meant that all of my mail could and would be forwarded to my new address with those little yellow stickers on all of it. It would be up to me to contact all of the people I got mail from and let them know of my change of address. There are postcards or forms that you can purchase or print out with the basics that you can mail to everyone on your list. My utilities were already all informed of my change of address because they had to hook everything up in my new house. I needed to contact my credit cards companies and the bank with my car loan to let them know of my change of address. Some of them wanted it in writing, others would make the change of address over the phone. I did get a hard time about having a new phone number from a few companies because I did not yet have my phone line activated. For the most part, moving is an everyday occurrence so taking a change of address is not uncommon to companies.
I sent letters to the magazines that I subscribed to as well as any catalogs that I wanted to continue to receive. I do know, from experience, that even though the postal service may have a change of address for you, they might not forward magazines and catalogs. The people who move into your old residence may find themselves holding the magazines that you paid for and getting some free catalogs. I put in a change of address for my driver’s license as well, pleased to discover that for a small fee, I could do that online and have the change of address card mailed to me. That saved me quite a bit of time. After I was satisfied that I had given my change of address to everyone who needed to know, I could focus on unpacking the rest of my boxes. Lucky me.
