My first and only apartment was the one Mr. FG and I shared after we got married.
We had only a few pennies to rub together, but mercifully, there was a basement apartment available for a mere $425/month.
It was just one bedroom, but the bedroom was pretty large, and so was the bathroom.
And we had an impressive number of closets there; two full closets in the bedroom, two closets in the bathroom, and one in the living room.
It wasn’t perfect, of course. It was in a basement, we had no washer and dryer, the stove was avocado green, and there was no dishwasher.
But the important thing is that we could afford it! A $425/month rent payment makes a lot of inconveniences tolerable.
Our affordable rent allowed us to save up enough money for a house down payment in 2.5 years.
And that house purchase allowed us to get into the housing market right before it exploded (in a good way), so in a way, our basement apartment is one of the most profitable financial decisions we ever made.
The very first was one I shared with another intern in a sketchy neighborhood in Phoenix while I was working at the Arizona State Senate right after college. The police helicopter would somewhat regularly spotlight my window while it was looking for criminals, and there were occasional gunshots, but it wasn’t a bad apartment–two bedrooms, pretty big, and it even had a dishwasher. Because I was splitting the rent, it was only like $250 a month.
When the internship ended, I took a job at the Senate and she left, so I moved within the same complex to a studio apartment. That was my first solo apartment. That was a definite step down. About the same rent since I was paying it on my own. No dishwasher, no bedroom, and a roach infestation. I actually lived there with my husband for about six months. You want a good test of compatibility? Try sharing a studio apartment. 🙂
My first apartment was in college. I was paying my own way through school, working as many as three oart-time jobs. It was a two bedroom, one bath that I shared with a friend from work. Favorite memory: my roommate was selling Avon as her second job. She had a major crush on the UPS driver. I thought he was pretty cute, too, but she was seriously gaga over him. We could see the parking lot from our place, so she always beat me to the door when the brown truck pulled in. Finally, on the last day we lived there, I was the only one home when the truck rolled in. I answered the door and was shocked to discover that the cute UPS guy was at least half a head shorter than me. Because my potential dating material radar was height adjusted, I never would have noticed him! Oh, so shallow were we back then.
When I started college in my early twenties (I delayed college to work and save money), I had an efficiency apartment about three blocks from campus in the heart of Richmond, VA. It was tiny, the kitchen was the size of a closet, and it had cockroaches…but it was my very own! No more sharing with roommates. I was in heaven.
Wow, Kristen! The cows…and is that an animal cage by your dining table? Lol! You guys were really in love! I can assure you my first place was also…interesting to reminisce about.
Haha, yep, that was our guinea pig’s cage.
And for some random reason, we had a cow theme in our kitchen. I don’t even remember why we did that!
Together, my sister, her roommate, my best friend and I rented a second-floor apartment. One bedroom, one bath — it was supposed to be only for three months — we barely made it through without a death or two in the household. And then it was just mine with occasional sharing with my sister for five years, and then just my sister’s for five years after that. It was kind of hard to say goodbye to it when she finally moved out.
One bath could be hard for three girls!