🏡 Moving Update: When “Cheaper” Isn’t Cheaper (And “Closer” Costs More)

 

We’re in the home stretch of the apartment hunt, and wow—this turned into way more of a math problem than I expected.

We narrowed it down to two places:

• Option A: smaller, closer to work, in-unit laundry, great transit access… and a surprising stack of add-on fees.

• Option B: bigger, quieter, shared laundry, longer drive… and far fewer monthly add-ons.

The fee trap

Option A looked perfect until I added up all the recurring extras:

• monthly parking for two cars (two different rates + permits),

• a required “connectivity” fee,

• extra building utilities (charged separately),

• and the highest pet rent of the two.

Individually, each charge didn’t look awful. Together? They seriously bumped the “true” monthly cost.

Option B had far fewer add-ons (no parking fee, lower or no pet costs depending on status), but the catch was the commute, and paying per load to use the laundry room.

Commute vs. laundry vs. life

Here’s where it got interesting. Even though Option A had more hidden fees, Option B’s longer drive (including a realistic loop between jobs) started eating the savings once we priced out fuel/charging and time—even with carpooling. And the shared laundry added about $90/month, plus the “waiting around for dryers” tax on our sanity.

The real takeaway

• Option A (closer) = more hidden costs, but less commuting and in-unit laundry.

• Option B (farther) = cleaner pricing and more space, but a bigger commute and paid/shared laundry.

When we put everything on one page—rent + all fees + commute energy + laundry—we discovered the two options landed surprisingly close in total monthly cost. The tiebreaker wasn’t dollars; it was daily life. Do we want to spend that extra hour (or more) driving and another chunk of time babysitting laundry? Or do we accept the annoying add-ons in exchange for getting our evenings back?

What we chose

We went with the closer place, even though it had more hidden fees. Convenience won: shorter commute, in-unit laundry, fewer moving parts to manage. It’s smaller, yes, and I wish the pricing were more straightforward, but saving time every day (and not feeding quarters into machines) felt like the saner choice.

Lessons learned (so we don’t forget next time)

1. Add up everything: rent, parking (all cars), required “services,” pet rent, utilities, laundry, and commute costs.

2. Time has a price: long commutes and shared laundry are sneaky life-drainers.

3. Ask for the full fee sheet before you fall in love with the photos.

4. “Cheaper” can be hidden in the commute, and “expensive” can be hidden in the fees. Both need a spreadsheet.

Next up: packing a five-room life into a much smaller footprint. Wish us luck—and a lot of sturdy boxes.