Typical Saturday

I feel like I haven't written very much about our apartment management job. We've been the managers of the apartment complex we live in since last October, so just over a year. It's been a blessing for us, because as managers we get half off of our rent for collecting rent checks, doing bookwork, and making phone calls, and showing the apartments, and signing new contracts. For all other maintenance and yard work we get paid $12 an hour. So lots of months we were able to work off all of our rent, which has been very helpful to us, since we're on a student budget.

Since Aaron will be taking on an internship in January, we are turning over the management job to someone else. And although it's been a blessing for our family, I will not be that sad not to be the managers anymore. I've loved being able to get to know everyone in the complex. I like having keys to the shed out back :) I don't mind collecting rent, or doing book work. And I don't mind dealing with justified problems, like leaky faucets or dishwashers, or posting vacancies, etc. But I will not miss dealing with the stupid problems that some how always seem to arise. Most of our tenants are great, but there are just a few that I could live without. I won't miss trying to be the mediator in ridiculous neighborly disputes. I won't miss so-and-so complaining (again) about whats-their-names being "too loud" at night. I won't miss dealing with some of the attitude problems, or late rent payers. But over all, I think we've had a pretty good experience being managers.

One of the most time consuming things about managing is the yard work. In the fall it's raking leaves, which never seem to fall all at the same time. Winter means shoveling snow and making sure to spread ice melt on the stairs and walk ways. Spring brings the billions and billions of stupid petal pods that fall off the trees and blow around everywhere. And in Summer it's mowing, watering the lawn, and weeding the flower beds. We don't mind the yard work, because it gives us an opportunity to spend time outside as a family. But it is time consuming. So a typical Saturday for the last year has involved our family being outside working on the yard.  

We raked leaves last Saturday, and then a big wind storm came and undid all our hard work. And this coming week it's threatening to snow, so we decided we'd better get out again and give the leaves a final effort for the season and clean up as many as we could before the snow freezes them to the ground. Aaron used the leaf blower to do the parking lot, and Adelia and I raked the lawns. We gave each of the boys a broom so they could "help" too. They had a blast and thought they were so big. Even while we worked the wind was blowing so hard and making more leaves fall from the trees. So when we finished, it didn't really look like we'd done much, but we scooped up at least 10 garbage cans full of leaves, so that's that many less that will freeze to the ground. And the parking lot still looks pretty clear of leaves. It was a good days effort.