Looking at apartments!
Before I stretch tckma's good graces too far, I'm looking for a place of my own. I saw one definite no, one strong maybe, and one that I definitely liked. I had set an upper bound for myself of $900/mo. including h&hw, but this place doesn't include any utils and is still $900. BUT, it's in Waltham; which means it's minutes from my girl and a reverse commute as far as work goes. The funny thing is, even without the extra money from VolcanoSoft work, I might actually be able to afford it. It's a one bedroom, which means I might have room for a home-office (for freelancing) set up on one side of the living room (especially since I'm not using my living room for TV viewing). It's 1 block from my PO Box, 2 blocks from the 24-hr CVS, and three blocks from the grocery store in one direction and the train station in the other. Parking is somewhat iffy (no assigned spots), but the owner's cool with me stashing my m/c behind the building.

Tomorrow, Becca and I are going to work on my budget and see if I can actually afford this place. I don't think I'm going to find anywhere nicer for less. I'm certainly not going to find a better location. I would like somewhere cheaper, but I also want my own place, and soon. Anywhere I find for less is going to be tiny (this place is spacious!). So really, it's just a question of money. That, and I haven't checked my credit report, so I hope there are no surprises there.