Are you too good for your home?

All I want to do is post pictures of my lunch today so I can got on with my life but no! Blogger is disagreeable tonight. Maybe in a bit it'll work. In the interim I'll bring you up to date on my newest deliberation.

The question of the day is where to live next year. Living in the suburbs with my parents is out because of all that independence and draw of city living and such. The other options are to rent an apartment, invest in a condo or loft, or live in residence.

My immidiate thought was that I would rent a bachelor apartment. I don't want to share because I'm not very good at sharing. And I call myself a kindergarten teacher... Really, I like to live alone and don't want to have to worry about someone else's stuff, habits, personality, or whatever might come up. I also don't want any friendships to suffer.

Then I got offered all this money so my next idea was to invest in real estate. I can buy (AKA get a huge mortgage) and avoid throwing money away on rent. I will be in Toronto for eight months definitely and probably a lot more but I'd like to eventually live there (well, I think I do) so if I leave for a little while I can always rent it out. I think certain neighbourhoods are very up and coming and by buying now I could be setting myself up well.

I was getting all excited about this idea.

But then I thought that I really don't have that much money. And I have no idea what my bank account will look like next year. I'll either find a job (and with an MA in Sociology I won't be able to go all that far) or I'll move on to a PhD. Who knows what my financial situation will be like, but likely it won't be great and I won't have a large sum sitting in my bank account from a year spent in Korea.

So.

That led me to my most recent tentative decision to live in the graduate house at U of T. It's that terrible building that looks like it has no windows. The set-up is three or four person apartments with private, SMALL bedrooms and shared bathroom, kitchen, and living room. At first the idea of living in residence again repulsed me - the terrible furniture, the terrible smell, the terrible sharing. But it's starting to sound pretty damn good. I only have to commit to the eight months of my program (instead of a year long renting contract). It only costs $600 a month including utilities, where the kind of apartment I'd want near U of T costs around $850 without utilities (or roommates). It's right on campus and close to everything. I don't have to worry about moving furniture. It's quick and easy. I don't know how it'll be having friends over, or whether I'll feel too controlled by my roommates, though. Who knows, maybe I'll actually like my roommates and meet some decent people in my building.

Has anyone lived or known someone who lived there? Any thoughts or impressions about all this?