When I finished with my bachelor's degree in psychology, I worked in a cooperative credit union for about 6 months while I tried to find out what I really desired to finish with the rest of my life (I have not figured it out yet, honestly), then I chose to go to grad school and get a job in Cincinnati. I relocated to the city over Independence Day weekend in 2014. Ever since, I lived in 2 different communities within the city limitations. One was two miles beyond downtown in a fashionable house constructing a short walk from an amazing park, and the other was 7 miles from downtown in a highly desirable community in a home where I could hear my upstairs neighbor sneeze (to name a few, less innocent things * shudder *). I moved to a suburban location right outside the city limitations, in a home complex right on the bike path where I might ride into town to get a beer or an ice cream cone.
In fall of 2017, my husband and I purchased our very first home in my small hometown-- a 50 minute drive to 3 significant cities (pick which direction you're in the mood to drive: north, south, or west), however absolutely a backwoods. The high school I went to was literally surrounded on all sides by cornfields. We live "in town" now, however that isn't saying much. There are also cornfields in the area.
THE PROS
I like our house. I like our yard. Among my buddies lives a block away, and there is an incredible homemade tough cider place that's lacked the basement of a household home, and there are a couple of fantastic regional stores and restaurants. There are a great deal of positives about where we live now. There were also a lot of tradeoffs included with picking to move out of the city.
I'm going to start with the pros list, the terrific things about where we live and why we picked to move here. When I lived in the city in a really popular area, every time I strolled my dog I would look up the details on any house I would see with a for sale indication out front. That's a huge savings from a mortgage in the city, and is considerably lower than our rent in the city or suburbs.
Another pro is that we live closer to family. We live in the same town as my parents, and are a brief drive from my in-laws and grandparents. This will actually be helpful when we start growing our household, and it has actually currently conserved us cash; our fathers and my grandfather are really convenient and can fix or construct almost anything we would need or want for the home. Our tub blocked recently and my papa had the ability to come over and repair it the same day. I already have other Do It Yourself plans for constructing a deck and making some repairs to some things in the basement. We have much more outside space than we might have gotten in the city on our budget, consisting of a large, fenced-in yard. I matured in this town and it's a place where you feel like everybody knows everybody else, which can definitely make it feel very safe.
Creekin'
I grew up going "creekin,'" catching amphibians, riding 4 wheelers, and having the day off school for the very first day of searching season. It was a really terrific youth.
THE CONS
There is definitely a cost to vacating here, too. For beginners, it seems like everyone knows everyone else! And often I just wish to go to the grocery store in my sweats for red wine and cookie dough and not face among my former instructors or friends' parents, ya know ?? Bear with me as I go through these cons; I'm not trying to complain (much), but the reality is that there is a lot to consider when thinking about moving from a city you like to a lower expense of living location in order to save cash.
Possibly among the most apparent failures of living in a small, rural, low cost of living area is that it's far from things. A number of my good friends reside in or closer to the city, and it needs more planning and driving in order to see them. It's also further from entertainment; there is a little choice of excellent dining establishments nearby. When I was in the city I could stroll to numerous places and drive to an essentially limitless list of dining establishments and bars. Cincinnati is an extremely foodie-friendly city with an incredible brewery scene. I've stated this before and I'll state it forever: food is life. Places in my town likewise close earlier. Now, I'm very little of a party animal any longer, but if I desire to be out later than 11 p.m. there is actually only one choice here. And it's great, but often I wish to be out at a bar where I'm not visiting any of my former instructors, pals' moms and dads, or anybody I went to high school with. When it concerns getting house safely, Uber and Lyft aren't a thing here. You need to find a great old made designated motorist, or walk. (Once, my friend who lives a block away and I got a bit toasted at the regional white wine shop and walked two miles to get to the difficult cider location. Thankfully we found a buddy from high school there with his parents, who provided us a flight back. Pros and cons of understanding people everywhere you go.) When I lived in the city, an Uber would be offered view publisher site to choose me up within minutes whenever of day, and it was a low-cost flight anywhere, usually under $10.
If I were to get a various task in my field, I would have to drive to one of the significant cities, at least about 40 minutes each way. When I lived in the city, there were SO MANY choices for mental health tasks, as well as other resources consisting of several grocery choices, yoga studios, animal stores, and so on. And not to sound too minor here, however the grocery shop in my town does not offer the excellent brand of goat cheese that I like, and I have to drive 30 minutes to the closest Kroger that does.
The individuals here, while I like them, are overwhelmingly of one political persuasion. I enjoyed residing in a city filled with diversity and with a range of social and political views. Let's just say that the dominating political views in my town are not necessarily opinions that I generally agree with. One thing this town isn't doing not have in though: churches. There is a church on every corner, on your method into town no matter which route you take, and quite much a stone's toss from any location you may occur to be standing in town. And they practically all hold similar views, missions, worths, and so on. The one church that differs in terms of social worths is the Quake church and there is really a good Quake population here (the local college is Quake). I have actually grown out of the church I grew up in, and finding another nearby that aligns with my own worths and beliefs has proven other to be an obstacle. We went to a fantastic church in the city that I loved, and finding something that compares is important to me however it's something I'm still looking for.
So, while I love my house and there are a great deal of things I love about my town, I do miss residing in the city. I do not see myself living in this town forever, and today returning to the city remains in the medium-term plan. For now, small town and low cost of living life is managing us the capability to pay off our trainee financial obligation more rapidly in order to get there. Let me understand if you have actually made a comparable move or have ever thought of it.