I feel stuck between a rock and a hard place (as you might have guessed from the title). I'll illustrate that point.
Seriously, moving shouldn't be this complicated. Let me lay out the scene.
Our lease in the house is up at the end of this month here in Campbell. Jason and Crystal are now married and wanted to look for their own place. Chris wouldn't commit to anything, so I couldn't rely on him as a roommate, and then he started looking for his own place in the Palo Alto/Mountain View area. So I decided to live with Sean, Christen, and Heather up in the Redwood City area. It was going to be a cool move, because Sean is one of my very best friends, I like Christen a lot too, and Heather seemed like a very interesting person as well. However, it was going to mean I'd have to commute to work, and would raise my monthly bills about 200 bucks in gas costs alone. So, yeah, not ideal, but I'd be living with cool people, so awesome!
So we spent yesterday checking some places out. Nothing really seemed to click, for one reason or another, so we said we'd keep looking. Today, I got a text from Jason asking if I'd be interested in living in our current house one more year. I guess Jason and Crystal weren't finding much to their liking on the outside...that, and our current landlord said he'd lower our rent in order to keep us. Which is pretty awesome. I'd probably save between 75 and 100 bones a month in rent over what I'm paying now. Add to that the 200 or so in gas I wouldn't have to spend to commute, and that's a pretty significant monthly savings.
And I wouldn't have to move, which appeals to me on so many levels. The catch being I'd have to bail on Sean and Christen, which I hate. I told them I'd live with them, and we've been looking for places. It seems like a shitty time to bail. But at the same time, the situation has changed. I now have an option that makes sense on so many levels that it would be pretty stupid for me to turn it down. Financially, I'm running pretty tight as it is. Anything that can help keep things in line is always a plus.
I guess where I'm at right now is that my head tells me that I need to stay here and save the 275-300 a month I wouldn't have to pay in rent and gas. My head tells me this is the smart, responsible decision. But my heart tells me that I shouldn't bail on my friends. The cynical part of my heart also tells me that my friends would all hate me if I bailed on them. Although my head then tells me that Sean would understand and wouldn't hate me so much. Sigh.
I'm really not pleased with the timing of all of this. If people had decided they wanted to stay another year even a week ago, this isn't an issue. But for it to happen right after I start looking for new places with Sean and Christen, well, that just kind of sucks. But 300 bones is 300 bones, not commuting is not commuting, etc. And it's not like Sean, Christen and Heather could't find a 2 bedroom place pretty easily...possibly one even further north than I could live to help out Sean's commute. Still, I feel shitty and an worrying about it nonetheless.
Guess I just gotta talk to everyone and hammer something out. Fuck, I hate this shit...
I'm going to try and sleep...
3 comments:
300 x 12 = 3600. Not to mention the cost of moving and such. Talk to Sean and Christen. Let them know if it screws them up you can move with them, but odds are, they'll be like "ok, let me just change the search from 3 bedroom to 2 bedroom." If you were going to bail on them, this is the time.
I say stay and save money. Sounds like Sean and co. don't have a place yet, so it won't be too much of an issue. Cheap rent and no commute is a good reason to stay
JMB
$3600 over a year is like 8-9% of my annual salary, before taxes! I really can't pass up an opportunity to spend that much less over the course of a year. I do feel terrible, and staying in the house isn't completely set in stone yet, but it's like 90% probability of happening. Ugh, I hate shit like this. Christen is going to hate me forever (Sean will understand, though).
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