Couch 204: The Refactorable Couch

In my experience, one should plan on getting screwed over when you move out of an apartment. It's happened more than once with me.

Then i go to the liquor department at the pharmacy store and i dont know the difference between a pint and a fifth true story!

Im not sure what a trustee is, but even co-executor on my moms estate was a PITA. Going back and forth with the lawyer. Id make sure everything was right with the will beforehand. My mom spelled her name wrong or something and was too cheap and or lazy to change it, so we got stuck with the problem.

Eta - let us know what teas you make.

Yeah i never expect to get my money back. But then im a slob and im always late leaving.

Too much "testing" of chloroform...

I’m moving out of my family’s home, so I’ll be alright that way. It’s just too much property and too big of a house for me to care for.

I’m sorting through *four* people’s stuff. Gahhhh!
Most of it is going. Some going to storage for a while.
Family is not hurrying me to move, so I have time.

Just snapped out my window. Don't know why it's sideways.

If I don't end up breaking something by the end of the night or SH badly, I'll be so surprised. I feel like I'm at my breaking point today. I haven't been able to relax or take a nap all day. I did finish my last assignment for the week 3 days early, but that's it.

If I planned for that, it would mean I could never justify moving as an impoverished student. And I absolutely had to move to get away from my horrible roommate.

I didn't expect my deposit back. It's being asked to pay more than half my income for the month in addition that has me upset.

I think that was in response to my post about my enormous invoice from my previous apartment complex.

I didn't say it was fair. In my experience they will get you for any and everything they think they can get away with. I'm not saying I never damaged anything and I expected to pay for those things. But I've also been stuck with a bill for normal wear and tear and cleaning fees even when I left the place spotless. If I were going to rent again, I would probably put aside some extra money each month to pay for whatever BS they come up with at the end.

Sorting through stuff is the worst.

Hmm, where can I get some of this mythical extra money of which you speak?

I am a saver and a planner. That is what has me so upset - that the projected fee was so wildly inaccurate that there was no way for me to possibly anticipate how much I needed to save - and saving as much as I would have needed to would have meant I needed to go without for a while. I can accept if that was necessary and it's not even really about fairness or unfairness, I just hate the unexpected. Reasoning that I should have deprived myself of going to therapy for two months just in case I got slapped with a charge that was exponentially larger than the highest projected cost of repairs by a factor of almost five is expecting me to be some sort of seer. And they actually did not charge me for normal wear and tear, they just apparently had the price down incorrectly on their sheet or something. I have some money left in my IRA. I can afford to pay taxes to take what I need out if I have to. Technically, I do have the amount in my account without doing that since I'm honestly pretty ****ing miserly. Finances are a major source of anxiety for me due to having to spend like $450 - $500/month on healthcare (prescriptions, therapy, labs, doctor) and I only receive $1100/month. There is no extra money to put by every month from that - and my school schedule this semester has put a stop to how I previously earned money. I live in fear of my carefully, painfully scraped together savings being depleted before I graduate next December. That is what this is about. Not a literal inability to pay this bill.

Just makes me really anxious and it doesn't help my financial anxiety that I feel like I've had to spend tons of money lately due to moving.

But now with what you've said, I feel like maybe I can't afford therapy at all. Because there's honestly nowhere to take money from except there - and apparently, there's no way to predict what I might be charged. My financial anxiety says I don't dare go more than once every other week if that's what's going to happen. But going so infrequently will be worse than not going.

I did take a video of my current place when I moved in because I had to do a ton of cleaning and to document the condition because they didn't have me do a move in checklist. Honestly, I tend to think the property manager woman will feel favorably about the way I leave the place because it will be in better condition than when I moved in. But you never know. I just feel conflicted because I don't want to cause myself to suffer for another year and a half over something that might not even happen. And honestly, I don't have confidence that C will pick a therapist I have any interest in talking to next time.

I think it was in response to my being slow to move. But moving been on pre's to-do list for quite a while. There are so many old ladies on the couch right now, it looks like some of us forget what its like to be a struggling student. That is not in keeping with the spirit of the couch and i am sorry.

Eta - you contribute SO MUCH to the couch and to pc. Your posts are very erudite. I might have to google that myself!

Maybe my schedule will allow me to get a job next semester. I'll think of something... one of my professors, who also happens to be my advisor, did mention something about hiring students to help with research. Maybe that could be an option. But I'll need to ace the two classes I'm taking from her... hmm...

Look, I get it. I'm sorry if I offended you somehow; I was trying to offer some hard-earned life lessons. I was working poor for a long time before I went back to school and got my degree. I've lived in places where there were mushrooms growing out of the bathroom floor and the only heat was a woodstove which I couldn't get going to save my life or space heaters that I had to put about 3 feet from my head in order to stay warm in the winter. I've had to do my own car repairs (clutch, radiator, brakes, oil changes). I once had to drive a car with the heater on when it was 95 degrees so it wouldn't overheat. Fun times. They've left me with money anxieties to this day. I'm not suggesting you go without therapy. I'm simply pointing out that these things happen frequently when you're renting. When they happened to me, I was never prepared for the extra expenses either. If I could go back and speak to my younger self, I would tell myself to save something. If I recall, you're in the same major I had or something similar. Look into campus jobs. I had a job in our classroom technology (Blackboard at the time) department doing small coding jobs. Later I got offered a position as an undergraduate teaching assistant helping out with the lower level classes. These things were doable while studying because, as a student, the hours were limited. I could not have continued to work an outside job with my major because of the workload. I tried. It wasn't happening, but these on-campus jobs were perfect and tied in with my coursework.

My younger dog is not a huge chewer but he still wants a chicken covered rawhide when I give one to the chewier older dog. Younger dog eats off the chicken coating and then brings the half chewed slimy stick to me and drops it in my lap. This is our new disgusting morning ritual.

Because my father lives on the Texas/Mexico border, he buys his most expensive medications in advance in Mexico for those months that he knows he's going to fall into that donut hole.

I saw my Pdoc last night. I had to wait three hours to see him because I didn't have an appointment. He must have gotten really behind because a guy was there for a six o'clock appointment and didn't get seen until 8 PM. I did find out that his cash only fee after 12/31/19 will be $200.00. I still plan on interviewing PDOC's but I can afford that four times a year if I have to. He paid for the supplements he suggested for me himself that he gave me last night and he gave me three books to read. Gave them, as a gift. He said it was going to be really hard to leave some of his patients, like me, so he was happy to know that I would be willing to see him for a while longer. He talked to me about the importance of hope, which admittedly has been very hard lately with the SUI feelings. He didn't charge me for the appointment last night either. I'm happy to know that there is at least a backup plan because I'm not happy about the reviews I have been reading online on some of the other Pdocs in the area. I was talking to some of the other patients in the waiting room last night and getting some names of people that were a definitely do not see. My PDOC talked about my religious leanings and about things that bring him hope. It was almost like a therapy appointment.

When I did some retail therapy a couple of weeks ago, I special ordered these shoes from Vans. They have flamingos on them! I adore flamingos!

They're awesome, Kit.