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Do you ever fantasize about picking up and moving to a lower cost of living area?
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Anonymous
| Yes. Every single day. We've been here since 2001 and honestly, I'm over the rat race. There was a period of time in 2006 where we moved away to Raleigh, NC for 8 months and I absolutely LOVED it there. Fantastic COL, wonderful neighborhood (Cary area) with well-rounded/educated neighbors. Fantastic public schools. Overall it was a win-win. Then DH got transferred back to DC and I cried the entire drive back into town (all 4 hours) and wished that we had done more to find employment in NC. I still long to (oneday) move back, although, now we are locked into this stupid upside down house and I don't think we'll ever be able to leave. It breaks my heart everyday. |
Anonymous
| OP, we should be friends. We're another 2-mom family who will be here for the long haul more than likely (I'm the PP with the specialized job). If you ever want to get together and sigh over $250,000 bungalows in college towns in the NE that we'll never have, let me know. |
Anonymous
we actually are going to move...hopefully by the end of the year. Just have to make sure my husband has a job lined up. That is the one thing I am most concerned about, really - his career field has the best prospects here. Where we plan to move, the jobs will be different and he won't be doing the type of work he enjoys. And he'll likely take a pay cut 
BUT, the cost of living will be less and our families (well, parents at least) will be closer. If our families were here? I would never leave. |
Anonymous
North Carolina about a year ago. |
Anonymous
| We moved to the Hartford area about 2 years ago. I love it. Its not as diverse as I would like, but its growing and changing. There are lots of educated, interesting and caring people and if they are NOT the color or ethnicity that would give this areas more interest, that's ok. We go back to DC a lot as my family is there (and we have family up here, too.) We actually do a lot more here b/c it is more easy and affordable to go to the theater, concert, sports game. Plus there's a beach only an hour away. NYC is a short 2 hr train ride, so we've done that twice for the day this year. (and never did from DC). So while our day to day experience is more white bread, there is a breadth of experience in general we didn't have in DC b/c of hassle and expense. |
Anonymous
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We are really lucky - my parents live about 90 minutes from us in a really rural area. It's beautiful, and we take a Friday off or spend a holiday weekend like now about every 4-5 weeks. It's great to get away and relax, but I wouldn't want to live here all the time.
For now, in my 30s and likely in my 40s while we are building careers, I love having the job opps, resources, and high quality daycare, preschool, and schools of the DC area. |
Anonymous
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Always Always Always.
My sister is in St. Paul, MN. Her house is so much cheaper, her commute is so much shorter, and her stress level is so much lower. Who cares about the cold! |
Anonymous
Please: Where did you move to? |
Anonymous
North Carolina (see 08:37 answer above). |
Anonymous
| This area is great, as there are many activities to do that doesn't cost a thing (Smithsonians, Zoo, parks) but the downside is the freakin' cost of houses! it is outrageous but as previous posters pointed out you pay to live here. I guess it always evens out somewhere if we went to a lower COL area we would have to pay for schools as they may not be as good as our public ones. And then the activities are not free there too. Well, if it weren't for housing being so expensive (I can't stomach living in Olney yet_) this area would be perfect (oh and if we had extended family close by too that would make it perfect). |
Anonymous
| Not everywhere with a lower cost of living is in exchange for crummy schools. Now, where we are planning to move, to get into the better school districts, you pay slightly more than the average housing cost in the metro area. BUT, you still can buy into a really good school district for less than $400K for a decent sized, updated SFH with a nice yard that isn't 20 miles or more from the city. |
Anonymous
Where is this? |
Anonymous
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I think about this constantly, but what is mostly holding us back is that we are in our 40s and have lived here a long time. We have a social network and are comfortable here, and I worry about uprooting in middle age. Hmm, maybe I will post a separate query about moving in one's 40s...
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Anonymous
| Every. Single. Day. |
Anonymous
| We did it and, while we lived the lower cost of living and the $250,000 beautiful bungalow, we found it lacking in culture -- music, art, dance etc. Yes, there was a vibrant, smart, liberal (important to us) community, but not enough culture. May not be important to some, but it was to us. So now we live here. And hate the expense of it. But it seems more our pace. There are trade-offs everywhere.... |