City mouse or country mouse?

[jp1]

I've always been a city mouse. Currently we live with a light rail stop outside our door, Safeway, a mom n pop butcher and a veggie market all across the street, dry cleaner, bank, branch of world class library, restaurants all within a couple blocks. Yes our housing costs are way more but the simplicity of having everything so close is awesome. I don't necessarily need a yard. Maybe once we retire but for now that just sounds like more work to care for. My simplist lifestyle was the 250 sq foot apartment I lived in in NYC for 12 years. I was a 15 minute walk from work and the apartment was so small that I could clean the whole thing in no time.

That said, we don't own our apartment and although decently paid we don't work in tech or make tech level wages/bonuses so retiring here won't be an option. I'm with Gardenian on the idea of a college town. Many of the same benefits at a fraction of the housing cost.

[ctg492]

I have lived Out There, it was good at the time of life I was in. I have lived in the heart of the Small Town, I have lived in a Big City(hated). I am a small town USA girl 5,000 to 20,000 is good enough for me. One hour from big city is perfect if I want to go there. Township residence, yet close enough to bike to smaller city actually this is my main requirement. Townships have less restriction and goodness I hate too many rules! I like knowing neighbors are close enough if I need them, yet far enough that I can breath.

I have moved way to many times. I could live just about anyway If I had too. But since I have choices I choose the above

[printslicker]

Hi, living in the city, I guess is quite difficulty everything is indeed expensive. My other relatives lives in the province and they don't spend too much unlike us here living in the city.

[catherine]

When we bought our first house I pegged myself as a "country mouse" because it was out in the boonies, dirt road, across the street from a horse farm, population in the low triple digits. At first I thought I was in heaven, but it became hell when I had to drive miles and miles for ANYTHING. If I forgot milk, 16 miles RT. If I had to bring my kids to soccer practice after a long day at work (60 RT), 28mi RT. To drive DH to the train station where he embarked on a daily 1.5 hour commute each way: 36 mi RT. When we moved to the Princeton area, I remember being ELATED at the cultural amenities available (And I'm talking regular small town amenities, not city amenities!)

I've always thought I would love to live in Manhattan, but that desire is gone now. I like big small town living, I think. The places I'm happiest in are towns with walkable main streets, with people that value community--places with front porches and book clubs and arts councils and lots of local business. Burlington VT is one of them, and so is Ocean Grove, NJ. Princeton is also one--and while way too expensive to live in, my short drive there makes it kind of the best of both worlds.

My own town was born of post-War suburban sprawl that took over the farmland, and no thought was put into a real "main street"--so what I really dislike about my town is its lack of a true center. You need a car to drive anywhere, and that "anywhere" is typically streets lined with strip malls.

And I write this while sitting here on vacation in Southern Vermont. We rented an unbelievably beautiful spot--it's a "hidden valley" of a house that is far from the nearest neighbor and overlooks a pond as well as Bromley Mountain, and it is so, so peaceful and beautiful I dread leaving.

So, I don't know if I'm country mouse or city mouse.

[SteveinMN]

I think you could do a little better than $100 a day if you purchase one way cruises one direction, 90 day trip, when they have to get the boat back to home port. Then take a break until the next one starts, in some very cheap place to live. Could work. However the con is, getting rid of stuff you are attached to, and/or storing some or all of it which adds to the total cost of living. I personally would get sick of being on the boat all year...would rather just travel and live in several countries for 6 months or more at a time, that are pleasant and cheap places to live.

For all the talk about architecture on this thread, while there are some more interesting cruise ships, almost all of the ones we've been on tend toward a standard established by middle-upper echelon hotels. Fortunately the scenery at each stop changes and we'd be able to counteract the bland with some of the finest architecture in the world.

In the long run, it might be something we'd do for maybe a year or so before we made a full decision to do it. We'd still want to be healthy enough to actually visit the ports of call; accessible accommodations are not as prevalent in some places as they are in the U.S. We did take a positioning cruise once and was worried about just what we would do with several days at sea. We downloaded ebooks and took some other activities with us; didn't need 'em. But cruising for several months in a row might just be a different animal. I think it would be fun to try!

[Packratona!]

From reading the replies to the post, it seems to me that the consensus is not rural or country, but rather, a town or city small or large are the preferred locations. Very instructive; how many here expected to see a lot of people vote for country/rural? I think in a forum dedicated to simple living, many would have expected way more persons who advocate a rural lifestyle. Didn't happen! For many very valid reasons, I think.

[Alan]

I think in a forum dedicated to simple living, many would have expected way more persons who advocate a rural lifestyle.

I'm one of them. I prefer suburbs over city and country over suburbs.
As I approach final retirement, I often find myself humming Paul McCartney's "Heart of the Country". I'd prefer to live so far out that I could run around naked all day without fear of scaring the neighbor kids, emasculating their fathers or attracting their mothers. At least one of those is possible in the suburbs.

[JaneV2.0]

Isn't a rural lifestyle anything but simple? It seems to me much more complicated--from getting supplies to attending to medical needs--let alone maintaining acreage. I guess it's all in how you define "simple."

[CathyA]

Isn't a rural lifestyle anything but simple? It seems to me much more complicated--from getting supplies to attending to medical needs--let alone maintaining acreage. I guess it's all in how you define "simple."

That's absolutely true, Jane. We've lived out in the woods/country for about 35 years now. I think DH could live in town, but I would die. But it IS anything but simple. It's very hard, actually.

When my chickens were alive and I was on a chicken forum, I was talking to a fellow chicken guy who moved out to the country and was working to re-model his very old kitchen, and take care of various animals. He asked "This is simple living? I think simple living is living in a condo and eating out."
hahaha

[Packratona!]

That's absolutely true, Jane. We've lived out in the woods/country for about 35 years now. I think DH could live in town, but I would die. But it IS anything but simple. It's very hard, actually.

When my chickens were alive and I was on a chicken forum, I was talking to a fellow chicken guy who moved out to the country and was working to re-model his very old kitchen, and take care of various animals. He asked "This is simple living? I think simple living is living in a condo and eating out."
hahaha

EXACTLY! I suspect that there are a number of persons on this forum who have never actually lived a rural life style. They have a romantic idea of it, but if they ever actually had to learn to survive in a very rural environment, they would have a tough time doing it without a significant stash of money and a paradigm shift, which is not easy. The issue is, they would not have the skills required, so would have to have some money to offset their limitations/handicaps. Those who can and do survive and thrive on a very low income in a rural environment, develop those skills over time. A lot of the skills are passed down from parents to children. Not something you can develop quickly. Also it takes money to invest in tools that are needed for survival in that environment. Of course, there is a continuum from very rural to major city. Which is why I am curious to hear what forum members have to say about it. I am hearing some fantasizing, and quite a few that say they prefer NOT country, but so far no one that is actually living a very rural lifestyle and that prefers it.