Was hoping you folks would share your thoughts as to how you feel about where you are living, and what considerations would affect your moving elsewhere.
The reason I ask - my wife and I are in our mid/late 40s. Our kids range from HS soph to college fresh. We live in a 5 bedroom house in a Chicago burb - a community we don’t really care for. And with the kids going to school, the house will be feeling bigger and emptier.
So, in the next few years we have the luxury of considering relocating. In a little over 2 years, all of our kids will be out of HS, so we could move out of the school district without disrupting them at all. We could relocate within the Chicago area.
OTOH - neither of us have ever lived outside of Illinois. My job would allow me pretty considerable flexibility to relocate if I wished. A couple of options that appeal to us are either the Boston or Seattle areas.
We aren’t incredibly close with a ton of friends and family - but face it - what friends and family we do have are in this area. And the comfort associated with habit and familiarity is tough to give up. OTOH, we could easily move somewhere else for 5-15 years or so, and then decide on where we want to move when I
retire. Come back to Chicago if we wish.
My oldest goes to school in state, and my 2 youngest are talking about staying in the midwest - which might be reason to put off a long distance relocation at least until they are well into college. Then wherever they relocate to might influence where we decide to move to.
Any thoughts? What kind of factors do/would you consider?
I guess I should say that my current job is very secure and supports a comfortable living. And our current house is paid for and (IMO) overpriced, so we should be able to afford housing in many if not all areas. Chicago may not be the priciest area to live, but it ain’t exactly cheap either, so cost-of-living shouldn’t be a determinative factor in itself.
I’m only 27 (only y’hear!) own no property and could hopefully pick up a job elsewhere in Northern Ireland if push came to shove somehow. But I have a year old baby that I don’t want to miss seeing grow up, so as long as she and her Mum live here in Belfast I’ll be staying close too.
Otherwise, I did briefly think of going to live with my parents (in the 8th worst town in the UK) to live cheaply with them and pay off my debts quicker.
I suggest New England. Not just because I live there (coastal Connecticut) but because it is a real microcosm of the new and old worlds. Everything is a couple hour drive from anywhere. Ma, Ct, Vt, Nh, Me, are all Beautiful.
As for your OP, my wife and I are Native Nutmeggers (originally from CT) - me moved to AZ to try it out, and did a fair share of exploring the Western US, it is beautiful, and the culture is wonderful we were drawn back to where our roots lay. We love New England. Colonial houses, maple syrup, sailing, yachting, salt air, salty dogs with great stories, steep history, fishing/hiking mecca’s…It is what we are. We love the environment, it’s not as rainy as Seattle, we have the very best Seasons on the planet, and we are never hard pressed to find an intelligent conversation and a good meal when we go out.
Not in the slightest. I’ve only lived here since September, and I moved here for a job which only lasted through December. I had hoped it would last through May, but it didn’t.
I lived in one house until I was almost 17, and have flitted from location to location, often changing states every couple of years since then. (I’m 32, single, and pretty darn lonely.)
My parents are at the point in their lives where they are seriously thinking about where they want to move after they retire. (Their present home is OK, but has always been regarded as a place to live until they retire. With some vague idea of moving to the mountains at that point. They met in Colorado, where each had moved independently post-college. Married, and Dad got the job that moved them to the location they lived when I was born. )
Razorette and I have built a brand new home (three years ago) on three acres that were part of the farm she grew up on. I’m in graduate school preparing to join the faculty of the local junior college (I’m already on the schedule to teach two classes next fall) and my wife is in her tenth year at the same junior college. We are in our mid-50s, our elderly parents all live in the same town, and we’ve bought some rental properties as part of our retirement plan. I’d say we’re pretty much set.
Like Dinsdale, I’m a Chicago native. I lived in Boulder briefly, but I gotta tell ya…if you’re used to having a world-class city at your disposal, it’s hard to move to a less citified area. Yes, there are quaint, beautiful, interesting places, but the closer we get to moving to New Mexico, the more I realize that I won’t be happy living more than an hour away from “dis beautiful city”.
Plus, we both have aging parents. The time will come when their independence will be gone and we’ll have to step up to the plate. We have no interest in relocating until after they’re gone. Also, my son loves the city and I won’t be in a position to travel at will when I want to see him.
So…my guess is we will stay here (and maybe do a timeshare or squat with relatives during a portion of the winter months).
If you like the city there’s another great thing about living in New England, always with-in an hour or so of Boston or New York! Atleast where we live in CT, we are exactly 100 miles from both. We have no children yet, so I suppose we could move again, but I doubt it.
Ahem! You forgot someone, didn’t you? Just because it’s little, you shouldn’t overlook MY state - Rhode Island which is part of New England. :mad: Meanwhile, you can freeze your ass off in ME and VT - maybe New Hampshire too, but I’ve never lived there.
Anyway, I am tied to my location for another 10 years at least because I feel strongly about not making my son change school districts and we do live in a wonderful town. Once he graduates from high school we might consider living somewhere else because our town has great schools because it has high taxes. My husband is an LICSW in RI and MA so anywhere in those two states would be fine for his practice.
My wife and I both have Career Service jobs with the State, and we are about to buy our house, so we’re staying. We have no kids, I have no relatives in the US, and my wife’s parents are 3 1/2 hours away. I’m sure that if we moved somewhere else, we couldn’t replicate our current situation, which has come about by a combination of sheer luck, and knowing some very nice people. We like it here. The city is just big enough to have one of nearly everything we need, and what we can’t get here, we can order on the internet. We could conceivably pick up and move, but we’d have to start from scratch again, and having got to where we are in life now from scratch, I don’t think we’re too interested in doing it again.
Grew up in the city, and worked in it for the past 20+ years. Phil - you’re a Polack from off North - around Milwaukee? I’m from just N and W of there around Belmont/Central.
I’m afraid I don’t share the love for Chicago I often hear about. I mean its a fine city as far as big cities go - probably better than some/most. Might be different if we hadn’t always enjoyed what it had to offer, but we might be ready for something smaller - or at least different. Our interests seem to be tending strongly towards home and nature instead of nightlife/museums/worldclass culture.
So Chicago itself doesn’t hold us - but my wife and I have 3 sisters and their families in the general area and 1 down near St. Louis. To we aren’t incredibly close, we do see each other more often than major holidays. My ps are dead, and she is estranged from her dad and not that close to her mom.
We don’t have a huge circle of friends, but I have been in one golf league for over 15 years and have a strong circle of golfing partners. (It isn’t as easy as you might suspect to find a core group who enjoy your hobby as you prefer to.)
We drove through NE 2 summers back on a drive through Philly, NY, and Boston up to Acadia. I could pretty easily get a transfer of my present job to Philly, NY, or Boston. My wife really fell in love with the area W of Boston - around Concord. And we both really loved what we saw of Conn - tho I’m not sure I’d want the commute down into Manhattan.
One thing we like about the NE and NW are the solidly liberal politics. Right now we live in what I consider an extremely conservative/Christian district.
There is a possibility that within the next few years - certainly before I retire - that I might be able to swing a promotion/transfer that would allow me far greater flexibility - potentially to any state in the union (although some offices are more competitive than others).
It’s wierd how easy it is to talk about pulling up roots and moving across country. But when I get to the point where it is closer to actually being possible, I guess I realize I am a bit scared, or unadventurous.
Yep Polack from off North - most of that side of the family still live there.
I agree that it is very easy to think about moving, but as we age, we start to think that our role in the area we live has either gained or lost momentum. At this point in my life, where my wife and I are looking into having kids, we are gaining momentum in our little cultural area. I’m going to more town meetings, and town council meetings, I’m liking being a member of planning and zoning, and I enjoy helping neighbors with projects… I think I am breaking out of my old shell, and becoming more of an extrovert as I age. We are wanting to raise a family, and we are not getting any younger, but had we had children any younger than we are now, we may not have had the ability to grow with each other, and within out communities as we are now. But my wife’s biological clock is ticking out of her chest…so lil-phlosphrs are hopefully coming soon.
New England is a solidly liberal place, and we love that about it. The areas west of Boston, Concord, Weston, Waltham, Acton, are very nice. Not too far from the Cape so a weekend in Hyanis is doable, well situated in their own right to join community events and have a voice…
But changing that thinking to actually make the move - very difficult indeed.
I am tied, chained, staked to this town. My husband, his family is from here. We physically built our own house, don’t want to give up my dream house. Have small children involved in school. I know where I am going to be buried. Hell, I know the guy who’s going to embalm me, if I die before he does. We’re going to see him tonight at a fundraiser, my daughter is sleeping over at their house tonight. So, yeah, I know my future, or at least quite a bit of it. It’s ok, I have a great life. And he’s a pretty nice guy.
Well we just moved here last year but we’re stuck here for at least six years and maybe longer considering our aging parents are here too. We also like being a little over an hour out of the SF Bay Area. The job is a non-factor as I could live anywhere Fedex and UPS delivers. I’ll have two in HS this fall and the youngest will be in his last year of middle school this fall. So I can’t see leaving this area until at least he graduates from high school. All of our sibs also live between the Bay Area and the Central Valley.
I’m not very tied to my present location. I’ve moved several times, living in several different states, and I don’t mind doing it. Where am I now is a great place for me as far as my career is concerned, and it’s near enough to interesting landmarks that my relatives and friends come to visit, but I’d move without remorse if I could do essentially the same job in a drier, more temperate climate. I’ve had all the cold, icy winters and humid, sticky summers that I ever want to have, though I’ll endure more for the sake of this great job.
In a perfect world I’d live closer to all my relatives. They all live thousands of miles apart from each other, though, so that’s never going to happen.
Now I know that if I lost my current job I’d relocate in a heartbeat. My sister went to school in Las Cruces, and I fell head over heels in love with New Mexico. My husband has no objection, so I hope we’ll eventually move.
Meanwhile, you can freeze your ass off in ME and VT - maybe New Hampshire too, but I’ve never lived there.
You are forgiven, Phlosphr.