Welcome to my move to Maine diary. Here I will guide you through my trials and tribulations of
looking for a house, a job, and all the funny things that happen in between
The Home Search
Well, I am still in the beginning stages of my home search. I have narrowed the field to the South Berwick, Maine area. My friend Allison knows someone who lives in South Berwick, whom I hope to meet soon, so at least I'll know one person.
At this point everyone knows that I plan to move to Maine. Well, everyone except for Cheri. She recently had a baby that was born with Prader Willie Syndrome. Cheri's been pretty busy. We try to keep in touch, but it's not easy. I have to tell her soon, however, seeing that I plan to move this spring. It's already November, so I have to get cooking.
The first thing I have done so far in my plan to move to Maine is I put myself on a very strict budget. If anyone has ever tried to live within a budget, you know how difficult this can be. I find myself going into stores with an urge to buy something and I have to force myself not to. I just keep thinking "house, house, house" and this seems to help.
Don't get me wrong, it's not like I'm a shop-a-holic or anything. But when you limit your spending money, sometimes you find yourself wanting to buy things you don't need simply just to buy something. But I have to just remember that I am going to buy myself a house which will make up for all the lipsticks and eye shadows that I didn't buy.
I've been saving money for 3 months now. And I've noticed, when you tell people that you are buying a home and can't spend money, they always seem to try to get you to buy something. For example, you get invites to go out for dinner, or you are asked to buy candy from a friend's child, or something. There is always something to spend your money on. I've been pretty good though. I've managed to save $100 more than my planned savings. This makes me feel good. Especially knowing that Christmas is coming.
That brings me to another topic. My family knows that I am buying a house - so far my sister has asked me about Christmas gifts, and my cousin just got engaged and asked me to be a bridesmaid. Usually these topics of discussion wouldn't cause me stress, but when I am looking to buy a house in only 5 months from now -- the stress happens to build up
It's not that I don't want to be in my cousins wedding and it's not that I don't want to buy my family Christmas gifts, but I just can't afford it. If I am to stay on schedule, I can't spend an extra dime. I mean it -- not even a dime, or a nickel, or a penny. I need all the money I make. Plus, I need to buy new rear tires and need to do that before it starts to snow. Seeing that it is already the 2nd week in November, I have to buy them soon. UGH. Too much to do, so little time.
2/11/04 - I have started looking at houses. So far I have been in 3 of them. The first one was a small cape style home in Kittery. It was basically a shit box. It was in such need of repairs and updating, it was crazy. The second house I looked at was a new mobile home. I didn't like how all the interior walls had a visible seem that connected the walls. The last one I looked at was also in the need of a lot of work. I walked through this one twice. The first walk through we noticed that the basement was in need of repairs and the house needed leveling. The second time around we noticed water damage in the ceiling, the plaster on most of the walls had separated from the interior wall, etc. It was in real bad shape.I'm going back to look at another house on Saturday. This one is in a nice neighborhood but is priced slightly above my maximum limit. So we will see what happens.
Needless to say, I'm getting a little discouraged.
Selling My Stuff
Since I made this decision to move to Maine and to buy a house, I decided that I needed to quickly save a lot of money. One way to do that was to sell some of my stuff. I decided to sell my kitchen table - this cheap wooden table that was given to me by an exboyfriend. Since he was no longer in my life, I didn't see the need to take his table with me; my microwave cart - another really cheap item; a drafting table/desk; a braided rug (which never sold); a Casio keyboard - also given to me by an exboyfriend (a different one than who gave me the kitchen table); and my Aria Pro-II ZZ custom guitar.
I sold everything on the list except for the braided rug. I'll probably just bring that to Maine. What hurt the most was selling my guitar.
I started playing guitar at the age of 14. I loved it. At the time I listed to, and try to play, Def Leppard, Metallica, Judas Priest, etc. I was ok. I never got very good. Then when the music changed with the times, I found it very difficult to keep up and soon after graduating from college, I gave up playing the guitar.
I miss my Aria. When I decided to sell it, I opened the case just to check it out to make sure it was still in good condition. As soon as the case was opened, I could smell the familiar scent of "my guitar." The scent is sort of like the "new car smell" - but only for a guitar.
My guitar was great. It was a lightening bolt shape - hence the description of ZZ custom, it was white with what was supposed to look like blood oozing down the front - only to me it always just looked like dripping red paint. The hardware was gold, the pick-ups were black, and it also had a gold wammy bar. It was beautiful! Now, however it is gone. I sold it to a guy that works at WGBH for $100.
Opinions
I've gotten so many mixed opions on this move. Some people are very happy for me like my friends Cheri and Sandie. Others are very negative, like my dad. And some are supportive, but sometimes disagreeable, like my mom, sister, Jeremy, and some other family members.
If you ask me, I think it's a good thing - or I wouldn't be doing it. Maine is a beautiful state with lots of outdoor activities. Not to mention that the houses are cheaper. Although I have been finding that the houses in my price range are just as shitty as they are in Mass. But I'm sure I'll find something.