Currently weighing what I can and cannot live without in an apartment.

Space? I can definitely sacrifice space. We own a sprawling five bedroom house with a mondo-sized basement an hour’s drive away, and only one Grandma lives in it. She’s is thrilled when we “invade her space” because she loves us so much, so coming and going is never an imposition. Storage is the easy part.

I can live without a dishwasher. It’s was really difficult, and now it’s easier. We’ve both learned to be responsible with keeping up with the dishes. Having to deal with the pile ups that result in mandatory two hour dish washing marathons, the broken cups and plates that slid off and shattered because there wasn’t enough room for them all crowding on top of the stove, and even a few maggot incidents made us more responsible by necessity. We have a system: Rob washes the bigger things that are too heavy for me to manage, and I wash the silverware he detests. We both do plates and cups. All this, and we’ve never had to resort to paper plates and plastic forks. Go us!

I can live without a washer and dryer, although it pains me to say it. Sending laundry out isn’t horribly expensive, and, if one is close by, going to a laundromat won’t be that bad.

We think we can live without a yard. This is kind of a tough one for me. I don’t care for me, I care for the dogs. They’re used to having a yard, and I’m afraid they’ll be sad. The necessary walks will be good for them, though.

I am dreading the hunt, though, but I’m inspired by Katie‘s “about” page. It says simply this:

brooklyn

two girls

one boy

one husband

600 square feet

If she can do it (and manage all the wonderful crafty things she does, too) I can, too. It’ll be worth it to live in a nicer hood. Thank you Katie, for the inspiration!