Living in town vs. living in the country

We lived in a big city until my daughter was born. We moved into the country and it was the best decision we ever made. I can't picture going back to a city after living here for 9 years now. Way more problems in the city, especially with kids IMO. It's a personal decision but I'd rather have quality of life over convenience.

I grew up in the country and enjoyed all the things you speak of. After dating my soon to be wife for a year, we moved into a duplex in Findlay. I hated all the things that you listed as positives, although we had no kids or plans for any at the time. After about 6 months I told my wife we were going house shopping. I wanted country, she wanted the small town that we ended up buying in. Had we found something in the country in our price range and what we wanted, we would have bought it. What sold me on my house was it was a fixer upper, but has 2 really nice 2 car garages and a new 1 car garage on it. So tons of storage and a big yard, small town (pop. 204) was a compromise. My quickest access to shopping or gas is 10 minutes, and that's perfect for me. We have a solid school and a relatively laid back lifestyle that is perfect enough for us

I have done both and reflecting back, "city life" sucked.

Its a small price to pay to have to drive a little longer for "supplies" or having a slower internet connection. All the positive points you have mentioned about country living will be sorely missed with each passing month that goes by once the novelty wears off. As far as a stroller goes, spending a little more for a jogging stroller with the bigger wheels will be much more useful and appreciated especially if you spend the money on a "city" type with the smaller wheels. My daughter started out with the small wheel one and finally, I got her the large wheel style and she never used the first one since (as evidenced by the dust gathering on it in my garage...):smiley_depressive:

I am personally to paranoid to ever live in another city again. The times we live in today make city living way to scary if the shit hits the fan wither economic, political or just some waco junkie... The cost of living in the country is far out-weighed by the benefits of raising my children in a rural setting and the life experiences they had.

Mark my words. An outdoors man like you could regret the move...

And yes;

I grew up in a little country development outside of Genoa, OH. I think it was around 3 miles one way, I remember riding it to town to buy pop and candy. Genoa is small town but has a grocery store, bank, car lot type of thing. I kinda bounced around a bit after school but still basic country living. After joining the AF I landed in Anchorage, AK…big city living and just kinda got by. Moved to Mountain Home, ID for a little while. MH is another small town with enough things to get by, just like Genoa was. At this point I realized how much I hated the city living.

When I got out of the AF we moved back to Anchorage with the dream of having our own piece on a mountain side some day. That was a pipe dream because once you get trapped in that city crap, it is very hard to get out of. Sure you have sidewalks to use, but so does everyone else. So having people in your front yard walking by all the time was very annoying to me. Dogs barking because people are walking by with sleeping kids about drove my wife up the damn wall. Listening to other peoples music gets old to. Or the neighbors fighting again…the other neighbor always mowing when you have company or burning when the breeze is your way…listening to loud vehicles all hours of the night. All things that some people are used to. All things that bugged the shit out of me though! If I wake up @0700 and want o mow my lawn or power wash, I do it. I didn't do it when I lived in town.

Once I realized that I would never be happy, we started looking at options. The best option for us was to sell everything and move across the country some place. We found this house in SW Ohio in the middle of no mans land (considering city living). At first it was really hard on my wife as she knew nothing but city life. She now HATES going into any town and couldn't sleep when we visited AK this last summer.

That money you think you'll save by living in town is bullshit, you will spend it on food and other crap that is always at your fingertips. I'd suggest you keep looking and find what you want. If you settle on something you don't really want, you'll just be setting yourself back. Good luck! I really enjoy my kids being able to basically run free without worry. When one starts screaming, I know they got stung by a bee or feel down. When they get quiet, I know they snuck down to the creek. No worries of the things we had to think about while living in town. Every block has that creepy dude you just can't trust…Every block has that kid on drugs…Every block has that teenage kid that needs their ass whooped…some blocks are great and the neighbors have an open door policy. This is how it is at my folks house in Elmore.

BEst of luck in whatever you two decide, congrats on the ankle strap. It just isn't the life for me, maybe I'm to paranoid. No way will we ever move back. I'd happily live in trailer and sell everything to keep it that way.

HAHAHA! In the time to took my slow ass to respond, you guys covered all the same things I said.

Yep Giles nailed it. Cops are next door breaking up a fight once a month. we live on a corner and I can't wait to get the fuck out of here. Would love country but with a small town close by. Guy I work with lives outside of gibsonberg and that's nice.

GoetsTalon said:

Yep Giles nailed it. Cops are next door breaking up a fight once a month. we live on a corner and I can't wait to get the fuck out of here. Would love country but with a small town close by. Guy I work with lives outside of gibsonberg and that's nice.

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It is nice out that way. We looked around Gibsontucky when we were looking. We just couldn't go from mountains in our backyard to flat land, lol.

So, if you're anything like the rest of us, and I assume you are, stay in the country and raise the kids there. City life sucks.

I've lived both places. Basicly city live sucks. Get a bad neighbor and you are stuck with them.
Moved to the country in 1978 but still had good neighbors on both sides. Moved again 1985 and built a new house and same thing with neighbors on all 4 sides.
Then in 1991 bought a farm and built a new house right in the middle of the farm. House is 700 feet off the road, son lives next door but 700 ft away, daughter lives to the west of me 500 ft but total trees between us.
Basicly I don't like neighbors and don't bother anyone and don't expect no one to bother me. Can't even see my house from the road due to grown up 20 ft cedar tree.
Couldn't get any further than 700 ft from the road due to a 50 cliff drop off.
Here to stay, I put in a 50 yds pistol-rifle range and shoot when I want but very seldom after dark. Walk 300 yds out back and hunt deer and turkeys in my food plots.

Country living is here to stay.

I have both. I am in the edge of the country but can be at the mall in 5 minutes. I could not live in the city again.

If the place is that nice...why is it for sale?

I grew up in the country and then ended up in great lakes, IL. Sandiego and Norfolk. I did love having everything right there. Restaurants, grocery stores, movies, whatever. I had a decent sized yard in Norfolk and I shot my bow and had a jon boat in the drive so I wasn't deprived of my outdoor stuff. The thing that bothered me was watching the news in the mornings and seeing violent robberies and murders 2 or 3 miles down the road and knowing I had to leave my wife and son alone while I was working or deployed. Now I've been out two years and we found a nice place on 5 acres in the country for a steal and I have to say I wouldn't trade any of this to get all of those conveniences back.

With kids consider this. What if you get a bunch of horrible trouble making kids right next door or a few houses down. Your kids will either have to be out there with them when the weathers nice whether you like it or not or you will have to keep them cooped up inside. That's a big factor for me. I grew up in a neighborhood with a dozen or so kids and we were all outside together. Some of the kids were good, some were bullies and some probably grew up to be convicted felons. If you live in the country you get a little say in who your kids spend time with.

Neighbors is another huge thing to consider with or without kids. One bad neighbor can screw your peace and quiet up real fast.

giles said:

If the place is that nice...why is it for sale?

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Lots of nice places go up for sale all the time for various reasons.

Your hometown is nice but I don't think you would be happy living within the city limits, but only u guys know. I grew up a country boy and have never known a sidewalk so I can't help. You move from current and back home and you just increased your commute and fuel is more volatile than food so the risk is higher. The way I see it, I put the staples in the freezer/fridge/canning jars and use the grocery 1x week for the other things. You can always find a park, noise, neighbors. It's damn nice to hunt out back, sight in guns and bows out back and piss out back whenever you want! Does the Mrs. work in town?

I am thinking you are set on the school system. Things sure have changed in our conference but I am surprised to hear that you put the alma mater over others well within reach. We are currently dealing with Ty being a Charger or Roughrider. We are good with either, but kindergarten times suck! Do they not think ppl have a day job?!?