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Sunday, October 21, 2007

Since I just moved into my very first very own apartment in Northwest D.C., I thought it fitting that the current issue of the Bible – errr, of Glamour – features “99 Home Ideas.” Now, please bear in mind that my home is actually a glorified dorm room, lacking a kitchen (it’s called a “bachelor studio,” thankyouverymuch) & any semblance of furniture, save a lonely dresser. Still, I thought I’d see how my new abode measures up to the rest of the country.

In “Your home: What’s normal, what’s not,” Glamour reports a few around-the-house statistics. Let’s see how I compare.

  • 36% of women say their biggest decorating splurge was their bed
    I’m sleeping on a ratty, circa 1970 twin mattress that’s been plopped in the corner of the room, prison-style. My comforter was purchased in the children’s aisle at Target, although my mother insists it’s “Asian-inspired.”


  • $456 – Average cost of rent, in dollars, for a single young woman
    Single? Check. Young? Check. Paying $456 a month? Hardly. This glorified dorm room is costing me a whopping $935 a month, which is almost triple what I paid to live in a two-story, five-bedroom townhouse in good old Kent, Ohio.

  • 85% of women say they clean their home once a week or more
    I’ve only been here for a week, so it’s difficult to tell whether I’ll fall into this category of Bree Hodge Wannabes, but let’s be honest – it’s exceptionally unlikely. Unless, of course, swiping a couple Clorox pads across the bathroom floor qualifies as “cleaning.” Somehow, I doubt it does.

  • 31% of women say most of their furnishings are hand-me-downs
    Finally, a category I can align myself with! Both my aforementioned mattress & my tiny white dresser are from my childhood bedroom. My rickety desk, however, is from CVS, & I’m pretty sure I assembled in incorrectly. Or maybe desks from CVS are intended to be rickety. Maybe both, but definitely the latter. Either way, it'd probably be better off being a hand-me-down -- at least they have character.


  • 35% of women younger than 45 own their own home
    Based on the last four statistics, I think it’s safe to say that there’s no way in hell I’m coming anywhere close to this one.

4 comments:

  1. lol. My rent is $465/month. For the entire second floor of an old house. This is the difference between living in a major metro area and living in a county that has 150,000 total. ;) But it's a nice city, and close to both Indy and Chicago so I don't mind.

    As for cleaning every week? Well... I think "I should clean my apartment" every weekend. But I don't quite get around to it that much.

    As for hand-me-downs, sadly, none of my furniture from home made the move with me. I bought a few chairs off craigslist, but other than that I bought what I have new. (But I bought my comforter from the teen section of Wal-mart.)

    And as for buying a house? Whoa. I'm not planning to be in any one place long enough for that to pay off for at least a decade. :p

    I should go buy Glamour. Now I want to read that story. Wonder if it's online. Hmm.

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  2. Haha faaantastic.
    Of course a single girl is going to live in a glorified bachelor pad! What would a bachelorette pad be? Full of pink? That would be Pepto-Bismaltastic! haha

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  3. Who the heck did they interview for that story??? Who pays under $500 for rent??? I live in Corn Town, USA, and mine is $525, a bargain for my one-bedroom with actual kitchen that's not falling apart. Granted, my doors are made of balsa wood, but it would never be confused with a dorm room. I'm sayin' Glamour has a type-o.

    I only fit one of their "results," too: The hand-me-down one. The best one: my couch. It's from my nani. I have a photo of me and my cousins on it when I was about 6 or 7. Fabulousness.

    ReplyDelete

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