When I first started renting this old studio apartment, I was single and hadn’t been in a relationship for over six years.
I wasn’t considering the possible future where I would be thinking about building a life with a new significant other. With my previous relationship being so difficult, I was happy being single for the foreseeable future. If things had been different and there was someone in my life when I was looking for apartments, I wouldn’t have chosen this tiny space. I easily would have kept looking until finding a bigger apartment with at least a bedroom with a closed door if I ever wanted to invite a family member or friend to stay on the couch in the living room. Now that I have a girlfriend, there’s barely enough space for both of us in this studio. But the space isn’t as much of a problem as the poor indoor climate control. Instead of a small split-style HVAC system or a ductless mini split, I have an ancient window air conditioner that barely works. Even when the window air conditioner is keeping the apartment comfortably cool, it almost always has a strange mildew odor when it runs. Since I am not allowed to replace the window a/c with a different machine, I turned to the internet to figure out ways to remove the frustrating odor. I was relieved to learn that there’s a special aerosol spray that you can buy to clean air conditioner coils to remove mold and other microbial content. Usually odors are caused by bacterial or fungal growth and a cleaning should fix the problem. Thankfully I only needed to use the a/c cleaning spray twice to get the desired effect.