New Place

So I have a new apartment, on the other side of the tracks, and the other side of the Freeway. Way out there, and I only have a bike.

It's nice to have a place of my own; no roomies, no furniture, no AC, no screens on the windows, no real ventilation in the place, no window coverings at all, no laundry facilities in the immediate vicinity, etc. But it is the only place I could find that I could afford that I could actually put all my stuff in. Now the question is whether I can convince the landlord to let me fix up the place in exchange for rent: Some of the things I want to put in are rather expensive... Like a washer/dryer. Expensive by themselves, to say nothing of adapting the apartment so it has the hookups for it... Blinds run at least $400 (480 was the quote I got), Screens and fixing windows so they actually stay open instead of wanting to come crashing down is gonna cost, too. Replacing the fan in the bathroom (hole in ceiling where it should be; plug and everything there, but no fan, no cover), covers on the lights, cleaning the place (filthy when I got here, but I don't think I'll get a discount for that), replacing vent covers for the heater. If I were to do all that over the next six months (length of contract) I could end up not paying any rent... Which would be funny, because I'd still be paying out all that money to improve the place... We'll see if they let me do it.

I plan on having a housewarming party anyway, but I won't have it until the place is reasonably presentable, and clean. So it'll be a while...

LB

PS, if you want an idea of how dirty the place is, I filled up the vacuum just cleaning one room. ONE ROOM. The one room looks tons better...