Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes. We are house poor because we wanted to be in a good school district. With distance learning what does it matter?

Opposite! We’re in a tiny house in an urban area because we thought it’d be easier to rely on shared resources like parks, libraries, and community centers. Now leaving our house feels stressful and our street is too busy for play. Wish we had a big yard, an office for conference calls, and an extra room for indoor play. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m envious of my friends in the suburbs.

This is us too - loved the community access to shared resources. But now I wish we had outdoor space bigger than a postage stamp. The sidewalks and streets are still too busy for it not to be stressful going even for a short walk. We had been looking for a house in the near suburbs and I regret not buying a house that felt a bit far from things at the time 6 months ago. Ah well.

I love our house in a nice, close in suburb with great schools. I always had a twinge of regret about leaving the city. Although we have excellent libraries, parks, classes, a playroom, finished basement, and a decent fenced backyard space. Now I cannot even imagine having our newly one and three year old in a an apartment, with no office for DH. I really feel for families in the city now, whereas I used to feel so wistful when I would visit them.

Anonymous wrote:Yes. We are house poor because we wanted to be in a good school district. With distance learning what does it matter?

Opposite! We’re in a tiny house in an urban area because we thought it’d be easier to rely on shared resources like parks, libraries, and community centers. Now leaving our house feels stressful and our street is too busy for play. Wish we had a big yard, an office for conference calls, and an extra room for indoor play. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m envious of my friends in the suburbs.

It has me rethinking living in NYC to some degree. I quite like the city and it usually feels worth it to pay the premium to be in a true diverse and bustling metropolis. Well, I haven’t missed it enough to justify the higher cost of living. The other side of this is that I do like my job (equivalent jobs elsewhere exist, but it would be worse than a coin flip shot of the conditions being the same or better than what I have now), and it is safe as can be in the current economy.

On balance, I don’t think the plan changes very much since we intend to leave the city in 2-4 years. Our lease expires in September. We’ll go further out and into a larger space (plus save money) if it seems wfh will be a reality for longer.

Definitely have no interest in going back to a life where I'm in an office all week, commuting, and only seeing my kids for a couple hours a day during the week. And zero interest in ever having another weekend that is jam packed with activities. This experience is highlighting that I really want a simpler life.

Anonymous wrote:Yes, I have a job that could be at least 80% telework, yet my manager typically will only let us telework one day a week. Will be changing positions if we ever go back to less than 2-3 telework a week. Have gained so much commuting time back.

It confirms our decision to buy an older house with a bit of land in the burbs with a bad school district. It's what we could afford, incredibly peaceful right now, and we have been working on our vegetable garden with those 2 hours we get back everyday.

I feel the same way about work. I'm interviewing for a job in a smaller city where i could afford a home with only a 20 minute commute (or less, but then we'd be increasing my spouse's commute by the same amount mine would decrease). If i don't get it, I seriously think i will talk to my boss about long term teleworking 3 days a week and buy a house with a yard somewhere i actually want to live instead of being stuck in an apartment to minimize commute. If we can make it work full time for months, and have to minimize in person meetings for a long time after we return, I think we are due for a cultural change around telework.

Yes. While I am very glad we moved to a house (out of city apartment into suburbs) I am very sorry we put youngest child in daycare at 1.5 and wish we’d kept her with a nanny. The thought of sending both kids back to daycare and aftercare is worrying me to death.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, I wish I lived closer to my parents.

+1. Realistically there's not much I can do about this given the job situation, but before I was ok with the flight access to them. Now the distance feels much harder.

+2. I have always wanted to move closer to my parents on the west coast. DH doesn't want to. I was okay with visiting once or twice a year but I have always been worried about a scenario like this where travel becomes restricted.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, I wish I lived closer to my parents.

+1. Realistically there's not much I can do about this given the job situation, but before I was ok with the flight access to them. Now the distance feels much harder.

+1 We had made a deal that I would live here because I could spend 6+weeks over the year visiting my family and friends (also one of the reasons I continue working in schools) I'm not sure when I will feel comfortable visiting again.

Yes, I wish we had more usable yard/outdoor space. I’m also thinking of moving to better school district. Its going to be incredibly hard to get these kids back up to speed and I don’t know if our current district can handle it. I love our house though. Never considered moving before COVID. We considered this our forever home. Now I’m seriously house hunting.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. It’s made me more sure we’re living the life we should.

This is us too.
Our weekends pre-quarantine has been what it's like now. We consciously decided to not join the rat race a long time ago
We have 2 teens and are having the best time with our family dinners and sitting in our pajamas all day.
Older kid is scheduled to go to college in the Fall. Things have turned out as best as they could be for her... and we didn't run ourselves ragged.
Younger kid is just is just delightful. Wish his school was doing better to keep him engaged but he's managing.

There’s a big difference between joining the rat race vs. being lazy and spending all day every day inside (probably on screens).

Anonymous wrote:Yes, I wish I lived closer to my parents.

+1. Realistically there's not much I can do about this given the job situation, but before I was ok with the flight access to them. Now the distance feels much harder.

Yes, definitely in terms of career and savings a bit of what is the point when the economy can crash anyways. Generally glad to be dual income in public school.

Anonymous wrote:No. It’s made me more sure we’re living the life we should.

+ 1

Every choice has paid off both in pre-COVID and now.

Upon COVID-induced reflection, I remain SO happy I did not marry and have kids.