Torture

Sometimes when I need a break from work, I search through Craigslist looking at condos. This is torture. We won’t be able to afford a condo for a while. In fact, I found this cool mortgage calculator online, and based on our income and debt load, we can afford either a) a closet in our neighborhood, or b) a spacious three-bedroom home in Crackville.

I love my current apartment. It’s got the sweet wall design. It’s in a great neighborhood. My neighbors are a little weird, but overall I’m pretty happy there. But sometimes squeezing me, Chris and our 100-pound Rottweiler into our one-bedroom apartment gets a little frustrating. Two bedrooms would be nice. Two bathrooms would be even nicer. Having a kitchen that Chris and I could both stand in at same time would be amazing. But such a place in our neighborhood (or any other neighborhood we’d want to live) in our price range doesn’t exist.

This apartment is actually the smallest one we’ve lived in. It’s also the most expensive. Chris and I have a habit of paying more in rent while losing space. Our first apartment in Syracuse was a huge two-flat. It had an in-eat kitchen, two bedrooms, a full dining room and living room, and free laundry. Our neighbors/landlords were a little crazy (the husband tried making himself wings out of an old tent in the basement. Seriously.) But the rent was dirt cheap and the apartment was beautiful, so we were happy.

But eventually we decided we wanted a dog, and the landlords wouldn’t allow pets. So we moved out of our sweet, cheap apartment and got a much smaller, more expensive apartment that allowed pets, all so we could get Rosie. But really, can you blame us?


But eventually, we decided that we wanted to be back in the Midwest. So, after spending a few months living with my parents, we found our current apartment. It’s half the size of our first place and more than twice the rent. And so, I spend my breaks looking at condos we can’t afford, at least not now. Someday we’ll be able to buy a place, and hopefully it’ll have a big kitchen, at least two bedrooms and maybe even a little yard for Rosie. But until then, I’ll just keep torturing myself.