My Parents Doubled My Rent So My Unemployed Sister Could Move In, So I Moved Out and Took Everything

The apartment hunt was brutal.

I spent lunch breaks refreshing listings, fingers sticky with stress, eyes scanning for numbers I could afford. Every evening after work, I sat on my sofa with my laptop and a notebook, writing down addresses, calculating commute times, comparing rent to my paycheck like I could force the universe to be reasonable.

The continue reading …