I graduated from college with a tremendous amount of debt.
I had lots of student loans to pay off as well as a car payment, car insurance and health insurance.
While I managed to get a job, I wasn’t making much money. I could only afford a very small, rundown apartment in a rather sketchy neighborhood. I was terrified all the time and yet the door didn’t lock properly. While I couldn’t keep the door shut, the windows refused to open. Half of the light fixtures and power outlets didn’t work. If I ran the microwave at the same time as the toaster or coffee maker, I tripped the breaker. There was hardly any water pressure, the toilet ran all the time and I only had enough hot water for a twelve-minute shower. My biggest complaint was with the heating and cooling system. The air conditioner created such a musty smell that it gave me a terrible headache. It didn’t put out enough air to accomplish anything and cost so much to operate that I never used it. I tried running box fans but kept tripping the breaker. The best I could do to cool the apartment down was to prop the front door open and hope for a breeze. I then dealt with an influx of exhaust fumes and bugs. In the winter, the weather in my local area makes heating a necessity. No matter how I adjusted the thermostat, the apartment was never warm enough and the heater ran non stop. I needed to bundle up in layers of sweaters and sleep under a heated blanket to keep warm. I finally realized that I was spending so much money on my monthly utility bills, I could afford a better apartment if I provided more energy efficient appliances.