View Full Version : How many homes?
It seems like I've moved around less than many, if not most of you, so I thought it might make for an interesting thread. I've only lived in four homes in my life. I lived in an apartment with my parents until age 5, then in the house they bought until age 26. When I married DH, I moved into the apartment he shared with a roommate and was there for 6 months. Then we bought this house and we've been here for 36 years. This is the only house we've ever owned, and we only live 1.5 miles away from the parallel side streets where we grew up.
early morning
5-3-21, 6:43pm
7 houses? Let's see: we lived in four houses in my at-home years. The first my parents built by hand. We moved when the state told us there would be an interstate connector going through our place. It did, but LOTS later. My parents then bought a large brick farmhouse beside a church. Church wanted it for a parsonage and for the property - my father put a huge (to him, anyway) price on it and they bought it anyway. The next farm we had for six years. I graduated high school and parents wanted something smaller and moved to a tiny town. I lived there for a few months, then rented a house on an airport, with a friend. When DH and I got married, we bought a fixer-upper in the country. When our eldest was ready to start school, we looked for a better school district, so we moved to our current place, where we've been for 30 odd years. So ok, that is 7 houses... I hope to never move again, lol.
All the places I’ve lived:
1. The apartment my family lived in when I was born - 9 months
2. The house I grew up in. 18 years plus two summers during college
3. Two dorm rooms, 1 on campus apartment and an off campus house with friends - 1 school year apiece
4. Two summers doing internships before and after senior year of college - 3 months apiece
5. An apartment in NJ -9 months
6. An apartment in Greenwich village NYC - 10 months
7. -an apartment in Hell’s Kitchen NYC - 12 years
8. - an apartment in NJ with SO - 2 years
9. - an apartment in NJ - 2.5 years
10. - an apartment in San Francisco - 14 months
11. - an apartment in San Francisco - 10 years
12. - the house we bought just outside San Francisco - 8 months and counting.
edited to correct autocorrect's office campus house to the more accurate off campus house
Good heavens, I will try to remember them all. In first two decades, five dwellings, I think, not counting the university years; the remaining years included 14 different dwellings which includes apartments, rented homes, our farms, and separate owned houses if I have recalled them all. Life is an adventure!
I am content to remain in my lovely little house for some time to come.
Age 0-3: A little Cape Cod that the State purchased from my parents to make way for the "new" I-95 in CT.
Age 3-21-ish: Another Cape Cod, same town and that's where I grew up. Went to college and lived in dorms from 18-21.
Age 21-23: An apartment in Irvington, NY with a roommate
Age 23.5-24: With my mother in her condo in Trumbull CT while preparing for my wedding.
Age 24-26: A Victorian apartment in Ridgewood, NJ, DH's and my first place together
Age 26-28: A high-rise in White Plains, NY, followed by a short stint living with my MIL waiting for our house to close.
Age 28-33: Our first home in Stormville, NY
Age 33-67: Our family home in NJ
Age 67-present: Our VT "wee hoose mang the heather." (Actually there's no heather).
So, I don't count those temporary, transitional places, so I think it adds up to 8 apartments/homes
I don't think I could give an exact answer since my parents moved from one employer supplied farm house after another every year or so when I was young, plus my dad was in the service when I was born. Here's my best effort:
1. Apartment in Amarillo TX where I was born.
2. Apartment in San Francisco after dad was transferred.
3, 4, 5 and 6. Small ramshackle farm houses between the ages of 3 and 14.
7. My parent's first real home of their own where I lived from 14 till 18. My mother still lives there.
8. Barracks in San Antonio TX - 1973
9. Barracks in Peru IN - 1973 to 1975
10. Barracks in Anchorage AK - 1975 to 1976
11. Apartment in Anchorage AK after my wife and I were married. 1976 to 1978
12. Apartment in Cincinnati OH after leaving the service. 1978 to 1979
13. Our first home, a townhouse purchased in 1979
14. Our second home, a 50's ranch purchased in 1983
15. Our third home, a new 2 story purchased in 1992
16. Our fourth (and current) home, a modern ranch, built and purchased in 1995.
There may have been an additional apartment when I was a baby and perhaps another ramshackle farmhouse or two as a child, but for now I'll stick with the 16 listed.
iris lilies
5-3-21, 7:53pm
9, not counting college dorms.
1. Baby in Alberta
2. Toddler in Virginia
3. Rental home #1 as preschooler in Massachusetts
4. Rental home #2 as elementary school student
5. Parents purchased home
6. Rented room as grad student
[Back to #5 for a summer]
7. Motel apartment in Florida while job hunting
8. Regular apartment #1 in Florida
9. Regular apartment #2 in Florida
[Back to #5]
10. Back to Florida living in a rented guest house - got married while here
11. Apartment #1 in Massachusetts
12. Bigger apartment after baby born
13. Smaller apartment after divorce
14. Bought home
At one point I moved 11 times in 5 years.
I would be willing to move again but I do not think it is feasible as long as my son lives with me. Even small changes tend to overwhelm him.
I recently discovered that trying to remember all the places I have lived is a good way to fall asleep. Like counting sheep but requires more effort. Too many to list but guessing around 20-25.
1. Parents' home - 18 years
2. College dorm/apt. rental, Michigan 4 years
3. Apt. (2) rentals Detroit 3 years
4. San Francisco apt. rentals (2) four years
5. San Francisco, house purchase 8 years
6. Upstate NY house rental one year
7. House rental East Bay house rental 2 years
8. House purchase East Bay house purchase 2 years
9. Multi-units purchase Oakland 16 years
10. East coast coastal NC house purchase 17 years
I'm old and am tired of moving...here to stay (I hope)
iris lilies
5-3-21, 9:19pm
I recently discovered that trying to remember all the places I have lived is a good way to fall asleep. Like counting sheep but requires more effort. Too many to list but guessing around 20-25.
whoah! That’s a lot unless you were a military brat.
I keep a list of addresses of places I’ve lived. I don’t have the address of the place I lived when I was a wee infant I have almost everything else on the list.
It’s like I keep a list of dogs we’ve had since 1993. And cats. No reason to keep this really.
It's interesting reading about all the places everyone has lived and the moves they've made in their lives as circumstances change. I have no memory of the first apartment my family lived in when I was born. The house I grew up in, of course, I remember well and fondly. Although I've looked at it on zillow recently and it's slightly updated but not significantly and looks incredibly small and lower average by today's standards. As a kid growing up I assumed that the stability of it was the norm and i've carried the desire to recreate that feeling with me to adulthood. When I had been dating SO for the better part of a year we started to discuss moving in together and I agonized over it because I'd been in my tiny Times Square apartment for over a decade and felt 'settled' in it. Him moving in would've been a disaster. It was too small for both of us and his commute to exit 8A in NJ would've been a daily nightmare. For several years I had that same settled feeling in our second San Francisco apartment. It was nice. It was a known quantity. Moving seemed like a gamble. What if we hated being outside the city. Or the neighbors or HOA were jerks. Or whatever. So far it's all still good. At this point I hope we stay there at least until retirement ten-ish years from now. If we decide not to stay there once we retire I hope that we just have one more move left in our lives.
I keep a list of addresses of places I’ve lived. I don’t have the address of the place I lived when I was a wee infant I have almost everything else on the list.
It’s like I keep a list of dogs we’ve had since 1993. And cats. No reason to keep this really.
It's interesting the lists people keep. After my mother died I learned that she had maintained a list in an ancient steno pad of every christmas and birthday gift anyone in our family got/gave for the entire 50 years that she and my dad were married. While it was interesting to see what I gave my sister for christmas when I was seven I can't imagine doing that myself.
I kept the info on all the homes/farms that we owned until I moved into my present home. It was all part of decluttering. I tried to examine all such stuff and wondered what the kids would do with it when I was no longer around. It all came down to reduce the clutter for their sake. I did look it over, shredding it after cherishing our, DH and my, interesting past but recognizing that I live now. Savour the past and let it go.
A list of pets is different as they are like family members.
Teacher Terry
5-3-21, 10:01pm
20 places and none was my parents fault. I grew up in one house. I have owned 10 homes and the other 10 were apartments.
I wish I'd kept some sort of record as I had to do some memory mining. One home while growing up, six in university years which were typical student shared house or apartment. Job hunting and adventure years, four including several months in a mobile home, a converted double garage, and an apartment above a real-estate office. Career years, four. I've lived in five cities or towns in different parts of Colorado, plus a short time in southern Idaho. I've only owned one home where I've lived now for the last fifteen years or so. So 15 homes or at least housing as it goes, and in six different places.
military brat
Yep. For a time, my dad was an Air Force doc so I started kindergarten in San Antonio and spent the next 20 years there. And then on to Austin for the next 30. I'm gonna have to make a list just for the heck of it.
I’ve lived in at least 40 places/homes- there may be a couple more from my very early years that I’m not recalling right now. Most of the crazy moving was during my growing up years- my parents loved to move, always renting, they bought their first house just before I graduated from high school. I went to 2 different schools in first grade and 4 in second grade. Unfortunately for me, I married a man who also liked to move a lot, and we lived in 5 places in 5 years. After we divorced, I settled in and moved far less.
27. No wonder I dislike moving so much.
Apartment in New Britain CT from birth through age 5
Parents first (and only) house from 5-17
College housing
Sublet from a friend who went on co-op after graduation for 6 months
My first apartment on my own- which my spouse moved into later , two years
A second apartment as a just married, 2 years
A condo for 10 years
Current house for 24 years.
My town is pretty close to Boston, so it never occurred to me to go away to college, plus there was that cute boy who lived the next street over, so I commuted to college while living in my parents' house.
I have at least two neighbors (not quite sure about a third) who are living in the houses where they grew up. I'm fairly certain neither served in the military or attended college, so I believe they have lived their entire lives in the same homes.
ToomuchStuff
5-4-21, 8:30am
The house I was born in, until we moved, around age 7.
The house we moved to, until at age 22, I was asked to move into my grandmothers, after she passed and a neighbor tried to break in.
That house, which became mine, until I was asked to move into this one, to care for the cat, and sort/find stuff after my friend/boss died.
So four.
This is fascinating. Born and raised until 19 suburban brick colonial. College- one dorm and one apartment and the rented room while Student Teaching, an apartment with my first job in small city, house in rural area when married- 1973...so 6 different moves. Not bad at 72. I and husband plan to stay here until we cannot.
happystuff
5-4-21, 11:06am
Between 17-20. Not sure as I think I am missing some from my count. States include east coast to west coast with a couple in between.
ApatheticNoMore
5-4-21, 11:48am
A home when I lived with parents
A dorm briefly - HATED IT
4 apartments as an adult, never wanted to live with roommates again, never did
I've had 18 different addresses in my life. I hope to move at least once more.
4 before I graduated HS (2 countries and 2 states), college dorm, and in our forever home, the 5th with hubster. So total is 10! The last 6 are in the same city.
When I first saw this thread I thought it was about people like Iris Lilies who have more than one home at the same time.
15 all told... I used to love to move every couple of years to catch a taste of all the very different neighborhoods in the Portland area.
15 all told... I used to love to move every couple of years to catch a taste of all the very different neighborhoods in the Portland area.
I've been down in San Diego this week, staying in my sister's house just for a change of pace. I brought a sweatshirt I bought at Powell's Books back in the 90's. Two nights in a row the servers where I went to dinner were like "Portland! Such a cool city! Are you from there???"
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