Finding a place to live

[katylynnlee]

As I've posted before, I've recently been accepted to college in Ontario. I'm very excited, but the reality of actually moving is starting to settle in. I need to find a place in a few months, as well as a new job. It's terrifying. I still live at home, so it's a big adjustment. I have a friend I can possibly live with in the city, but she is very slow at replying to me, and she told me she would look for places.

I think it might be an option to stay with my SO until I get on my feet, but I would hate to impose on his family. I really want everything to be settled before my semester starts, so I was planning on moving around the end of July or the beginning of August. It keeps getting closer and closer. I know a lot of you have moved/are moving to be with your SO, so I ask, how do you go about it? I don't even know what I should bring when I move, I want to bring everything, hahah. Help!

[13000km]

I'm not sure what to say about staying with your SO's family until you get on your feet, because I stayed with my boyfriend's mom and stepdad (boyfriend lives somewhere else) because she very warmly welcomed me to stay until I find a job. It ended up taking me 10 months to find a job, but it finally happened and I'm finally moving out. It sometimes felt like I was imposing on them, but we all have different schedules and hardly ran into each other anyway, and she constantly repeated how happy she was that her son was coming over way more often than he ever did.

I have no idea how I did it, because I am a packrat and have to keep everything, but I threw about half my stuff out. The other half I kept in boxes in my room. I packed a one and a half suitcases full of clothes, the other half was filled with essential/sentimental items, and going-away gifts from my friends and family. And i have survived so far, with the 2 suitcases of stuff, and buying other stuff I absolutely needed, like cold weather clothes. I have come to learn that when there isn't the extra money to spend, I can live with a lot less than I thought.

This is a long comment without much advice, I hope it's helpful anyhow. And good luck with closing the distance. (:

[lucybelle]

Living with your SO's family is only something that you guys can decide on. I've lived on my own for a long time and I know I would sort of hate living with anyone's parents again. If I knew it was only for a month or so, I'd maybe be okay with it. Maybe you can make a trip over for a weekend and look for apartments in the area.

As far as moving- I did 3 huge purges before I moved. I first went through and gave away over 1/2 of my clothes. Then I gave away all my furniture, appliances, etc. Then I went through my clothes again and took out another half. I actually got rid of all my winter clothes since I moved further south. My rule was if I hadn't worn it in the past month, I wasn't going to.

The thing is, people live with so much extra shit. You just don't need it. Let it go! If you forget anything, you can buy it when you get there.

[DemonxOisin]

Lucybelle has an excellent point. When I started packing for my 2 months in BC last summer, I started off with a huuuuge suitcase, but by the time I finished making it small, it was just a tiny one. You really do only need the stuff you use on a regular basis.

As for housing, what kind of set up are you looking for? Just a room, or an actual apartment or something?

[katylynnlee]

His parents have offered before, and a girl I am planning on living with also offered a room in her house until we find a place. It's really hard to establish any sort of residence of my own up there yet, because the apartment listings are usually for the next month and they want them filled asap. Like now, all the apartments are available for May. But I won't need one until about the end of July/August.

As for stuff, I am a real homebody and I cherish everything in my room. That might be a hard task to do, but I often do purges of my clothing/stuff in my closet. I might leave the bigger objects, like my dressers and desk at home. It really depends on where I move and what kind of housing situation it is. I was hoping to get my own apartment, but price wise, Toronto city is extremely overpriced for my budget. Even a bedroom in a house is pushing $900.00 in some places near school. I'm hoping to find a nice place, maybe even a little farther away from my school, but near transit. As long as it has appliances (like a stove/fridge, etc) and it is in a safe neighbourhood, I'm not overly fussy. I am just finding it so hard to know where to look, and Kijiji can get frustrating sometimes, because a lot of the apartments are set up for viewings. I don't really have the finances right now to go to Toronto again. I went last week and getting the time off at work was torture.

Thank you all for the advice though! I really appreciate it. I'm starting to get all stressed out over it. :P This helps.