Storage Solution (aka The Rent Is Too Damn High)

Forget Ron Paul and the Libertarians.  I have found a viable third-party for our political system: The Rent Is Too Damn High Party. 

 


Mr. McMillan, I may have chuckled at a montage of your debate performances on CNN; and I laughed out loud when Kenan Thompson parodied you on SNL.  Little did I know that two years later, your words would be ringing loudly between my ears during my apartment search in Chicago.  You were right: The rent is too damn high.

In the lead-up to Ian’s job offer in Chicago, I channelled my inner apartment broker and researched the be-jeezus out of downtown rental offerings.  Here’s how my internal dialogue went during my internet-research-athon:  Oh this one’s big-dog friendly, has nice square footage, an indoor pool, some of the utilities are included, and it’s gone.  Well, this one has great views, walk-in closets, an on-site dog run, and it’s gone...

As we learned later when we contacted our real-life apartment broker, rentals in Chicago are being snatched up as quickly as cheapo flatscreen TVs at Walmart on Black Friday.  With 98% of units currently rented, the rental market in the city is crazy, and prices reflect the increased demand. So *Investment Tip Alert* we re-allocated some stock into the rental market and prepared for some sticker shock as we visited various buildings with our apartment broker last week.  

Happily, we found a great apartment in the West Loop neighborhood.  It’s dog friendly, within walking distance of everything (including Teddy’s veterinarian), has an in-unit washer/dryer, a lovely kitchen, and great building amenities.  We’re excited for the big move in May!

The downside of course, is the cost: we’re going from paying $1/square foot in Indiana to paying $2.50/square foot in Chicago, which means we're going to lose about 300 square feet.  The upside: I have 300 more reasons to go to my second favorite place in the world after Disney World: The Container Store.

Indeed, I love storage and organization, and our soon-to-be downsized apartment has re-directed my attention towards the nooks and crannies of our current furniture set-up. With robot-like vision, my critical eyes are targeting inefficient uses of space.  First target: our media cabinet, which was chockablock full of DVDs.

This media storage solution was inspired by my pre-iPod high school road trips.  Instead of hauling along a bunch of pokey, cracked plastic CD holders, I put my ‘NSync, Coldplay, and Anastasia CDs in a soft, plush zippable disc wallet to save space in my backpack.  Fast forward a decade, and Target still sells disc wallets, even really big ones that hold more than 200 discs.


After an hour of alphabetizing our DVDs and growing unappreciative of the presence of bonus discs, I'd freed up four whole shelves in our media cabinet. Anne - 1; Clutter - 0.

This is what marriage looks like.