Matt and I moving to Austin at the end of this month. Crazy! While we're busy completely purging and organizing our house before we pack everything, we're also trying to find a rental house in Austin.
I thought it would be helpful to create a simple matrix to compare all the options. I made a basic table in Microsoft Word and wrote the criteria we'll be comparing across the top. Then each rental house will get entered down the left column.
This kind of chart is helpful during wedding planning, too. For example, if you need to compare different venues, you can write different criteria across the top (cost, catering options, etc.). That way, you can factor everything into your decision.
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Today on Feeding the Soil: A letter to my 10 month-old.
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REMINDER: The next Purposeful Conception Course: Preparing Your Mind, Body, and Life for Pregnancy starts this weekend on January 15. Register today! We'd love to have you join us!
I thought it would be helpful to create a simple matrix to compare all the options. I made a basic table in Microsoft Word and wrote the criteria we'll be comparing across the top. Then each rental house will get entered down the left column.
This kind of chart is helpful during wedding planning, too. For example, if you need to compare different venues, you can write different criteria across the top (cost, catering options, etc.). That way, you can factor everything into your decision.
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Today on Feeding the Soil: A letter to my 10 month-old.
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REMINDER: The next Purposeful Conception Course: Preparing Your Mind, Body, and Life for Pregnancy starts this weekend on January 15. Register today! We'd love to have you join us!
4 comments:
Love this! I often use matrices to make major decisions so I love the idea. I also give each criteria a relative weight from 0 to 1 (just so that all of the criteria values add up to one). My partner and I are looking for a rental house in Knoxville (we already live here, so it's a bit easier), so for us, closeness to the university (we are both grad students and teach) is a 0.5, cost is 0.3, and location is a 0.2. Then we give each option a number from 0 to 10, weigh the options, and voila! we pick the option with the largest overall score. I like our method because it allows us to figure out our most important criteria (closeness to work for those 8am classes we inevitably get) and what we are willing to compromise on
I used Google docs to make a list of apartments to look at when we were moving (most of that can be filled out ahead of time)so I was able to include formulas like cost per square foot and total price after pet fees (which you might want to add along with pet deposit, seeing as you have Hoss).
Something you might add is walkability of the neighborhood and time/distance to closest grocery store. I'd check the sex registry too.
Google Docs also has a great wedding planning tool. It has a budget estimator/budget tracker, guest list tracker, and comparison spreadsheets for each vendor you need to hire (and you can just delete the sheets you don't need or add whatever you do need). It is a bit overwhelming at first but, once I configured it to be right for me, it's been excellent! Highly recommend it!!
I'm so in love with MS Word and Excel right now! I never was a big MS Word and Excel fan. In school I was always using MS Word. Now, that I'm getting married both programs have helped me out so much! I love Excel now! I've made my wedding budget using that program. I love your MS Word idea. Normally, I find myself having a hard time wanting to stay organized. The idea of comparing options is great! I love how organized you are! I used to be organized. You're ideas are just wonderful! Maybe, I will feel a little bit more stress free if I try and get down to business with organization!
-Jodi :)
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