First apartment story cont.

I didn’t know what to do after seeing my car repoed. I stayed outside in utter disbelief for 10 minutes or so. I had never thought my car would be gone. My mom had been paying on the car for years, and I had never made a payment towards it. I finally went back inside the house to sleep.

We all got up the next morning looking at one another not sure what to do about our current situation. My dad hadn’t worked in nearly a year; my mom last worked a few years ago, and I didn’t have a job either. We went to a local community center for financial help. My dad’s pride wouldn’t allow him to go through with seeking help. Instead, we went back home. We went over to my aunt’s house to call my sister, and she said it would be all right for us to stay with them for a while.

That following week, we stayed at their house. I had no desire to work or anything. My sister tried to line me up with several job interviews, but I didn’t go to either of them. I would always tell my sister that the jobs required applications to be turned in online. In my eyes, my parents didn’t care I was lazy, and my sister was turning a blind eye to it. The only person who really cared was my brother-in-law.

Friday, September the 14th changed my life forever.

That morning, my brother-in-law went to school in the morning. Once again, I had no plans other than relaxing and watching tv. It was around 1 p.m. when his truck suddenly pulled up into the driveway. At this time, I was busy watching Walker, Texas Ranger sprawled all over his living room couch. When I saw his truck, I quickly turned off the tv and raced upstairs as fast as I could. I wanted it to look like I had been productive. Instead, he came into the upstairs computer room and demanded I put on some change of clothes and go with him. On the way, he explained that he was tired of seeing me all lounged up in his house using up his resources. He said I was being irresponsible, and that no grown man should be living under another grown man’s house without a job. He dropped me off at a local shopping center and said I had until 8 o’clock to find a job.

He gave me $20 and said, “Don’t you dare come back to my house unless you get a job.” After that, he drove off.

For the first time in my life, I had a rude awakening. In order to live a comfortable lifestyle, you have to work for it first. I ended up applying at Aaron’s for the job, and I was granted an interview the following week. After my sister picked me up, I called my brother-in-law to share the news. He was less than enthused. His exact words were, “If I was in your shoes, I would have a job already and would be starting tomorrow”. I told my sister I could no longer live with him and wished to go back home. Earlier, my sister helped in paying our electric bill, so we were current at least.

This was a huge deal because my parents had never been hard on me at all. Not once did they demand I get a job or help them pay the mortgage. My brother-in-law was the kick-in-the-butt attitude changer I needed. After I interviewed for the Aaron’s job, I constantly called and showed up nearly every day. I kept asking for the gm to get that second interview, and I know I was annoying my soon-to-be-co-worker Holly. In fact, I still joke about it to her to this day.

Anyway, I tried for at least a month. We didn’t have a house phone, so I had to use my aunt’s phone as a contact on any application/resume. One night, my sister relayed a message that Aaron’s called me back and wanted to schedule a second interview for that week. I showed up that Wednesday, and the Regional Manager hired me on the spot. All I needed to do was pass a drug test, and I would start the next day. He told me that it was full-time-my first ever 40-hour/week job. The pay would be $9/hr, and they get paid weekly.

Within a month of having that job, I applied for an apartment at Wellington Ridge mainly b/c they didn’t have outrageous fees to apply. After filling the paperwork, I found out I was approved for the apartment. The only problem was, because my credit was so bad, I would have to pay $600 deposit to put the lights in my name. I didn’t make enough to cover first month’s rent+$600 deposit. Luckily, Wellington Ridge was more than kind and helped me out. They paid half of the deposit, and all I needed to pay was $300 plus the security fee.

I had one major problem though: my dad hated that I got an apartment.

He thought I was being irresponsible and not thinking straight about getting an apartment. He wouldn’t back me up 100%. The only people who did were my sister and my brother-in-law. I went and gave the lady my deposit for the apartment, and she handed me the keys to the apartment. I was sooo ecstatic when I found out this place would be mine. I had officially stepped into adulthood, but all I had for the following week was $5.

After getting the apartment, my brother-in-law helped me move in and would pick me up everyday to take me to work. My aunt would help every now and then as well.

Having the apartment taught me a lot. I realized that in order to keep it, I had to get up and go to work everyday. I also realized that it’s important to have your priorities in order when it comes to finances. I always made sure I had rent covered first, followed by the utilities and then everything else was secondary. I didn’t have a car, so I didn’t have to worry about having a car note or insurance. I had basic cable which turned out to be $30/month. I purchased the most basic cell phone and about 900 minutes. I was never late on my rent, and I was never late on my utilities.

Unfortunately, my dad didn’t want to see the apartment at first. It took months before he finally came around to see my place. Ironically, guess who wanted to use me as a referral to move-in? ;-).

Eventually, he got over it and started coming over more. He taught me how to make chili in my apartment. Plus, he only lived three buildings down from me, so I would go over to their apartment a lot.

In closing, I really miss my old apartment. Here are some pics:

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And that’s it. Hope you guys enjoyed reading this entry 🙂