Living in an apartment

So, I have lived in the United States for 5 years now and my husband and I do not own a house. Surprised? Perhaps you are not but a lot of people ask us why we do not own a house yet. Well, we have not bought a house because we love living in apartments! What? Are you crazy? Isn't it why people like to live in the West, where owning a house is much easier than owning a house in Bangladesh? Well, yes maybe but...

People ask us why we pay so much money for a place that is and will never be ours. I say, everyone's taste and philosophy are different. I know living in an apartment gives you less freedom - your property management decides everything for you - from the kind of floor you will have, the size of your closets to the color of your bathroom tiles - in short, just about everything. But I am happy with it as long as the things that they have chosen match my taste.

I like living in an apartment because when something goes wrong in the house, I can just call up the management and place a work order - usually, the problem is taken care of in 24 hours. A broken faucet or a plugged drain is replaced/fixed on the same day and they don't charge me a dime.

I don't have to plow snow in winter or mow lawn in summer. Phew! That saves a lot of time and energy.

I have absolutely nothing against people who own houses - I think there is nothing like owning a home. You have the freedom to build and decorate it the way you want. You can decide what trees and plants you want in your front and back yards. You are saved from the stress of tolerating an annoying neighbor, who makes the hallway dirty with candy wrappers and his muddy shoes and then you have to call up the management to send someone to clean the hallway...

But everyone of us is different and not everyone of us is hardworking enough to maintain a house. Wink, wink! We moved to the east coast 2 weeks ago. Our new apartment is smaller than the one where we lived in Minneapolis. (Welcome to America's east coast, where for the same rent you get a smaller place to live!) I had to throw away almost 10 bags of kitchen utensils, clothes and this and that before leaving Minnesota. We threw away or sold some of our furnishings because they would not fit into our new apartment in Delaware. I learned one thing while doing the above and that is, we buy things that we do not need. I have made a resolution - from now on, I will seriously think before buying anything. In the past, I bought a lot of things that I almost never used. What a waste of money! What a sheer waste of money! I do not call it smart living. But this new home is a lot less cluttered and I am thinking of keeping it that away.

Instead of filling my apartment with things that I literally do not need, I am thinking of spending money on building a better eating habit. We started it almost 2 years ago but I am now thinking of doing it more regularly that is, buying organic and locally-produced food for me and my family.

I like to live in an apartment because I can enjoy a stress-free living - it is also teaching me to live with fewer things. Besides, it is easier to keep an apartment clean and tidy. I feel that once we buy a house we will be stuck in a place for at least 5 years. I don't want that. The world is big and we want to explore new cities and states...

But who knows, maybe 5 or 10 years from now or when I grow old, I might want to live in a house of my own.