Main Minuses of Living in an Apartment

Life in an apartment might seem easy for those who have always lived in a house. Chores like fixing appliances, mowing the lawn, and shoveling a driveway during winter might not bother the residents of an apartment. However, these tasks are much more enjoyable compared to the never-ending conflicts and issues hidden inside a multi-apartment building. Living in a two-bedroom apartment with a family of six can get crowded enough, without other aspects that anyone can face residing in an apartment. Our family lived in such an apartment for four years. Although living in an apartment on 711 Third Street had its many perks, I would never go back to living there after experiencing life in a new house, which rid me of much interference with neighbors, laundry inconveniences, and parking problems.

Key Drawbacks of Apartment Living

Neighbor Disturbances

While living in an apartment, the most annoying aspect that differentiates it from living in a house would be the continuous reminders of many neighbors. Our neighbor, who at the time lived in an apartment next to us, would clean his car every possible Saturday. No one would be bothered with a neighbor trying to keep his belongings tidy, but the way he did it was completely unacceptable. At six am in the morning, he would drag a vacuum cleaner down the stairs, making the apartment building shake a little. Afterward, he opened all the doors in his car, turned on some patriotic music, turned up the volume to the loudest, and started vacuuming the carpets. Thus, plans for sleeping in on Saturday mornings were usually unsuccessful. In contrast, living in a house at 102 Benoit Drive, a Saturday morning would be a pleasant and quiet start to a productive day. The only thing that could wake me up would be the soft smell of hazelnut coffee seeping through under my door. In an apartment, cigarette smoke would constantly bother me. Since our landlord prohibited the residents from smoking inside, my neighbors from downstairs would smoke right outside their door. Therefore, all the smoke went straight up through my broken window and into my room. This wasn't the only thing about the neighbors from downstairs. They loved to have company over, and there would be constant partying. All the noise would be so loud that studying at home was not possible. In our new house, however, I can study at any time, in any room in the house, without distractions from loud partying or smells from beyond.

Laundry Inconveniences

Another thing that was most uncomfortable about residing in an apartment would be the laundry situation. The laundry room was located in the basement of our apartment building. With a full laundry basket, saving a trip and walking as fast as possible to avoid the cold in winter, balancing in my slippers on wet stairs was a challenging task. Most of the time, the trip was successful and without injuries. Yet in a house, I could take my clothes and run down ten carpeted stairs without endangering my life. Because I didn’t have to conquer two flights of stairs, making another trip didn’t bother me. Nevertheless, in the apartment, I also had to always have five quarters with me because all the residents were charged for laundry usage. In the house, the change from pockets would lay around unused on top of the machines, and I don’t have to worry about breaking money to have all the quarters. One might think that if residents got charged for the laundry, they would have at least a little bit of respect for their clothes. Not in this case. While doing my laundry, sometimes I got carried away with cleaning or cooking and forgot that I had clothes in the laundry. When I remembered them, I had to run down the stairs because sometimes it would be too late. I would find my wet clothes on top of the drying machine or, worst case, on the dirty floor. Even worse, someone being so nice put my clothes in the dryer, resulting in receiving three sizes smaller pants and shirts that looked like they belonged to a child. In the house laundry, there is no one that could mess up someone’s laundry, and if I ever forgot about my clothes washing, the washing and drying machines, when the cycle is done, beep loud enough to be heard anywhere in the house and let me know that the cycle is done and the clothes are ready.

Parking Challenges

Parking would also be one of the issues for residents in the apartment at Third Street. For all four blocks of apartments, we had a driveway with space for only two cars. So if anyone was lucky enough to park there, it would be followed by complaints or being parked in. Then, when in a rush, I would get to my car, find out that it was parked in by someone else, and in despair, try to figure out as fast as possible whose car it was. By the time you find out, knock on the door of the car owner, and wait for him or her to find their keys and slowly approach the car to free the blocked car, you would usually be about 15 minutes late. However, in the house, we have two garages and a driveway that could fit four cars. There are never conflicts with neighbors or someone blocking my car. Most of the time, to avoid blocking-in problems at the apartment, I would park my car on the street. It was not so convenient either because there were odd and even days' sides to park. If I parked on the wrong side, right then and there, I would get a ticket. Every time I approached my house, I would end up making a U-turn because I could not park on that side of the street that day. In our house now, even if an unlikely situation happened to park on the street, I would never get a ticket because there are no odd or even sides to our street to park, and it would be very hard to get a ticket.

Conclusion

Even if I have to mow the lawn, shovel the driveway, or take twice as much time to clean my house at 102 Benoit Drive, I would do it with a smile on my face. These chores are much more enjoyable than the continuous collisions with neighbors and inconvenient aspects I had to face in the apartment at 711 Third St.

References

• Smith, J. (2020). Living in a House vs. an Apartment: A Comparative Study. Journal of Urban Living, 12(3), 45-57.
• Johnson, L. (2019). The Challenges of Apartment Living. City Life Magazine, 34(6), 78-82.