Good and Bad Things About our New Apartment #2

Four and a half years ago, I did a post on Good and Bad Things About Our New Apartment, and we moved out of that apartment 5 months ago and I still have yet to go over the good and bad things about our current apartment.  I'll be comparing our current to our previous apartment a bit.  I'll start with the bad to get that out of the way.

Bad:
- Less storage space
It's unfortunate, but the way we looked at it, it forced us to get rid of a lot of crap that we didn't need.  I took 2 or 3 trips to Value Village with stuff to get rid of shortly after we moved.  I still have another trip to eventually make.  I'm waiting for Christmas so that I can go through the Christmas things and decide which of those things to get rid of.  But both our outdoor storage and bedroom closet are smaller than our last place.  But fortunately for me, I'm very good at making things fit.  

- Farther commute for myself
I have a part-time job that I work every so often, and our move made my commute a bit further.  I'm ok with it, though, since I don't work 5 times a week there like my girlfriend does at her job (see below).  And there are multiple routes I can take, depending on traffic and if I'm making a stop for gas or groceries on the way home.

- Less free parking
Most of the parking is in the building's underground garage (see below) which is assigned, so outdoor spaces are limited and fill up fast.  Fortunately, we've only encountered one time so far where there were zero free spots available outside at our building when we got home.  But it's bound to happen again someday.

- Nearby street we can hear
Our last two places have been far away from busy streets, so there was no hearing passing traffic, even with windows open.  But here, we can hear traffic.  Fortunately, it's a 25 MPH road, so it's mostly quiet traffic, kind of like a white noise.  This isn't much of a negative, but if I could get rid of it, I probably would.

- Higher floor
Yet again, we do not get a unit on the ground floor.  And the funny thing is, when we were picking our unit, we had it narrowed down to two units at this place, and one of them was the ground floor and we didn't pick it.  I think it had to do with the timing of when it was available.  Anyway, we have to go up another flight of stairs (3 rather than 2) to get to our unit, but fortunately we have an elevator.  Also, going up stairs is good exercise.

- Package locker/leasing office further away
Again, I can look at this as a good thing as it forces us to get more exercise, but if the weather's bad or it's too dark, it just forces us to drive.  I wish the leasing office and package lockers were closer, but it's still not that far.  

And now for the good things:
- Quieter, don't hear neighbors as much
Sure, we still hear them, but it's less than our last place.  There is a neighbor a few doors down that has one of those small dogs that barks... a lot... but when that dog isn't yapping its little face off, it's a very quiet building.  Well insulated.  

- Shorter commute for my girlfriend
I don't commute too much as stated above, but my girlfriend works a typical 9-5 job Monday through Friday, so she commutes five days a week.  One of the biggest reasons for our move was to get her a shorter commute, since she was often getting home over an hour after she got off, even though it wasn't that far of a drive.  

- More open layout and a kitchen island
I've kinda combined two in one, but they go together, I think.  I like our open layout more, which the kitchen connects to the living room, and we have our bedroom and bathroom to the sides of them.  I like how our bathroom has two entrances to it, one from the bedroom and one from the entryway/kitchen.  And we have a kitchen island, which I've used in many different ways already, from holding cooking appliances, preparing foods, and holding our diffuser or record player.  When I start doing puzzles again, I'm going to do them on the island.  

- More secure, indoors, elevator
Not sure what the word is for our type of building, but you need a key fob to get in (or to be buzzed in from the call box), and the hallways are indoors.  We also have smart locks that don't require a key, but a passcode.  I'm still getting used to not using a physical key for our door (and understanding the security behind it).  And we have an elevator for when we're tired or carrying something heavy.  It sure came in handy with our move!

- Ceiling fans and lights in every room
One issue we've had with most of our places is not having ceiling lights in the living room and/or bedroom.  We've had to rely upon lamps for lighting.  Now, we have too much lighting (lol).  Also, we have ceiling fans that work very well in keeping us cool on warmer days.  Unfortunately, the pullstrings on them break OFTEN, which is quite a nuisance.  But maintenance always fixes them fairly quickly.

- Garage for one of us
We have a garage below our building where people park their vehicles in addition to spaces outside.  We have one spot, which we share.  We decided my girlfriend would have it for the colder months (October-March) and I would have it for the warmer months (April-September).  She doesn't like defrosting her car (I don't mind) and she's instantly indoors once she gets home on those dark and cold evenings.  I also don't want my car out there for the pollination season, which starts around April.

- Just as good if not better of service for TV, internet
I'd say our internet signal, which we get wirelessly through Verizon, is just as good as our previous place.  I think the TV antenna signal we get to watch basic channels is better.  There are trees, but they're not as dense nor close.  Haven't had major issues with either.

- Electric fireplace
We also have an electric fireplace for the first time.  It provides a soothing ambience as well as warmth.  I've already used it a little bit, but I can definitely see myself using it a lot more when it really cools down.  It doesn't take long for the warmth to emanate from it, either.

Well, that's all I have about our new apartment for now, but if I add anything else, I'll be sure to put it in a different color.