Why do we live where we do? Part II
By Karina | October 3, 2011
I wrote last week about some thinking I’ve done about why we live where we do - and my theory that it’s due to one of three things:
- Family
- Job
- Lifestyle.
I currently live where I do because of family, but the other two ring true for other times in my adult life. And after thinking about it for a while it could be that job and lifestyle are linked together closer than you’d think.
For example: my Job - when I first moved to NYC it was for college, which is sort of a job - but you know it gets muddy right away. I chose NYC to attend college in because of the lifestyle. The next time I moved was to Pittsburgh, again - for my “job” - this time, graduate school.
However in between NYC and Pittsburgh my BFF and I made the decision to stay in NYC for the lifestyle. We both pursued jobs in NYC that would enable us to stay there, and found an inexpensive apartment and a few roommates in town so we could move to our new affordable pad.
After Pittsburgh I moved to NJ. My boyfriend-at-the-time lived there and even though it meant moving out of the home I’d built with my BFF for 9 1//2 years, I had lots of friends in the area. I looked for a job in Pittsburgh before moving to NJ - because I loved the lifestyle so much! But the jobs I was looking for all seemed to be located outside of the city, so I would lose some of the things that made Pittsburgh so great (riding my bike to work, for one). So even though NJ threw me into a lifestyle that was not exactly what I was looking for - long car commute, for one - it also had some things like public transit to visit friends that made up for it. This move was pretty much a job-based one.
So as much as I’d like to boil it down to one of the three choices, it looks like many of these are mixed up together. You might move for 65% job and 25% lifestyle. I think that by examining why you’re moving in these terms, you can decide to renegotiate your choices and make a home that is good on all three fronts!
Have you been able to renegotiate your home to optimize job, family, and lifestyle?
Topics: Home | 2 Comments »
2 Comments
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
My husband and i choose to live in a city that is a bit more expensive than we’d like but that allows us to be car-free. Ditching the car has saved us tons of money which we can spend on our increased rent and other pursuits. With only one moderate income between us, we’re able to live extremely fulfilling lives.
True we are a bit far from my family and his family is a 3 or so hour bus ride away, but that is do-able. Our daily lives are so much more relaxed than when we had to commute in the car
that’s wonderful! it’s really big that you were able to commit to being car free. there are so many advantages but it does require a little more coordination.