Last weekend, I moved to a suburb just outside of the city.  It’s about a 10 to 15 minute drive into the city, which isn’t too far.  I am renting a room in a townhouse with 3 roommates who were introduced to me through friends.   Since I have the master bedroom, I pay slightly more than I used to pay at my previous apartment.  However, the house is much nicer than the one I used to live in and my room is more than triple the size of my old room.  Despite the fact I pay more rent than I used to, I think it is justified by the quality of the apartment as well as my new commute, which is significantly shorter than before.  It used to take me about an hour to get to work and another hour to get home.  Now, my commute takes only half that time! This means I have an extra hour each day to be productive!

Now, some of you who have been reading my blog for a while, might be wondering why I am renting again when I had said that I wanted to buy a place.  I have a few reasons for this.  First, I have yet to find the right place that I can afford and in which the numbers work for me.  I also need to save more so that I can still have an emergency fund.  Finally, I realized that although real estate prices are slightly lower in my area and mortgage rates are great, I can probably realize a greater gain if I put my money into the stock market that has been recovering.  So, I will be renting for at least another six months and likely another year, while I save up more money and wait to see if I can find the right place. 

I lied about free chicken dinners to get you to read this post. Don’t hate me! I don’t know about free dinners, but I can offer you a coupon that gives you a chicken dinner that is basically free! One of my roommates decided to welcome me to the house my sending me a link for a coupon for a chicken meal (quarter white meat or 3 pieces dark meat) with mash potatoes and corn bread from Boston Market (which is only a few blocks from my new house) for only $1.  It is good for the whole week so I’m going to go for dinner every day this week! Enjoy!