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Logistics of Move #1

As we waited for papers to be signed over in the course of these 45-60 days we had to make some tough decisions.

  1. My partner and I had to decide when he was going to start working at the new job, because that would be the last time I got help with the kiddos.
  2. Our next decision was where my partner was going to stay during the time he had to start the new job till the time we could come up and join him.
  3. Finally we had to decide how we were going to pay for the place he would need to stay at, because we were already in debt, and adding another bill to everything just seemed like a step backwards.

When

He chose the third week in February 2018 as a start date, he spoke to his new boss, and it was settled that that is when he would start. He told me when his moving date would be and what time he planned to leave, if all worked out.

Where

Secondly, his decision on where to live during the start of his new job. He first thought to live with my mom about one hour away from work, which I thought was crazy because it was an hour away and in the snow in the mountains it would have been a ninety minute commute, he hated long commutes. Even tho living with my mom was about $350 in living costs, it wasn't worth the gas to make it to work and back, which was much higher in price where he was moving to. So, we looked diligently for another alternative but a lot of the single studios and one bedroom apartments were very expensive for just one person. It was then decided that a roommate situation was best. So we looked on craigslist and we found a few roommate possibilities but still some were expensive. Then we found a good fit, one bedroom available in a 3 bedroom apartment shared with 2 other people for $500/month. He could pay by the week or by the month. So he called up and got the information. The room was furnished, just needed to bring linens and your clothes of course. The living room and kitchen were a shared space, and he would be sharing a bathroom with one other person. A pretty good deal! This price was unheard of in our state so he made a plan to go up north for an initial roommate interview, to see the place, collect the keys, put down the security deposit of $250 (which we scraped together from our tax return) and meet his roommates.
The plan was that he would go up with our son and see what it was all about and come home all in the same day, but I wanted to see where he was living and get a feel for some towns up there before we moved so I would know where to find an apartment when it came time to get one. So we all went up as a family, our 2 kids and us to see the town where he would be for the next month or so. It was a long drive but doable for a day. We packed a lunch and snacks so we would be prepared for "I'm hungry." complaints, and to keep it low cost because we were not in a good place financially to eat out. When we arrived, he had us stay in the car because having a family of four walk in on an interview for an apartment for one was just awkward. We waited in the car for about twenty minutes or so. When he came out he said he was so glad we didn't come in, the whole hallway was lined with the scent of cigarette smoke and wouldn't have been good for the kids. He also said it really was just a room on the top floor with a bed and a table and chair, pretty standard. He said it would do and got the key from his new roommate. The important thing was that he had a place to be in time for his start date. He knew this key was going to be a small hint into the lifestyle of a bachelor for a small while and I think he secretly liked that at the time.

How

Next thing, how to pay for this apartment he was going to be living in. Our in-laws were already helping us out with our mortgage payments so we didn't want to ask them. We tried to cut what we could from our budget, we cut school lunches for our son because we had recently learned of the "not fresh food" being served at the school, so we no longer paid for that. I moved my monthly shake powder subscription to start again in July, so that opened up some serious cash flow to be able to be put towards the apartment. One of the weeks in the month tho would be hard to scrape the $125 from, that was mortgage payment week, not only was the mortgage an issue but all of the credit cards were due that week too and it was impossible to cut those from our budget. We had to ask a family member to help us. My mom had offered to help out after she learned my partner wouldn't be moving into the trailer on her property (the one for $350/month), she said she would only help out if we absolutely cut everything we could from our budget to make way for the apartment payment, and then she would help out with the remainder. She was also on a strict budget, so this help from her was huge! We decided the one week we were struggling would be the one week she could help us out. So we decided she would pay one $125 payment and we would take care of the rest but if we for some reason couldn't make the other payments, that we would then just ask her for one more $125 week.

So the plan was settled and my partner's first rent check was due upon move in of $125 the day he moved in.

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