Hey everyone! Today I bring to you another question post. When I published the post What’s Stopping You From Living Your Dreams, many of you said that you want to do long-term travel or move to a new country.
I see that some of you are in the planning stages to move to a new city, but then there are some of you (like me) who are making a ton of excuses about why you can’t live your dream.
One of the reasons that we stalled our next home purchase and have decided to stay in our current house is because we don’t know where we want to live.
We have been thinking about traveling to new places, but we just are not sure what we should do.
W’s parents are moving out-of-state because his dad received a promotion, and my sister and her boyfriend are leaving for Chicago.
Some of my friends have moved away from St. Louis also, which occasionally makes us wonder why we don’t consider moving somewhere else. Or even just testing a new place out.
I mean, we are young, we have no children, and we are not bound by our jobs.
I love St. Louis.
I do enjoy living in St. Louis, and we of course still have family members and friends left, but moving to a new place or even just traveling around the world before we have children has always excited me.
Plus, I have been sucked into the travel blogging world and I’ve been reading personal finances blogs where some bloggers such as Erin (at Red Debted Stepchild) and Cat (at Budget Blonde) have moved to exciting places.
I of course can’t help but to wonder what else is out there since I have only lived in Chicago and St. Louis.
When we went to Gulf Shores earlier this month and we stayed in a rental home, it made us wonder if we should spend the next few years traveling and seeing the whole world (with spending every few months in a new state or new country, and possibly still keeping our house as our home base).
Luckily, I can work from wherever and all I need is my laptop.
And then, we would maybe move to a new area if we ended up loving it.
Also, if you are a new reader, I would just like to say that occasionally I ponder “what ifs” in my life a lot and think of wacky new ideas. This is one of them. I don’t always follow through but everyone has dreams, right?
Would cost of living be cheaper or more expensive?
St. Louis is definitely very cheap place to live. However, I’ve been reading certain blogs and websites, and we could definitely do cheaper in other areas. I’ve heard of many people living in places in Asia such as Thailand for $1,500 a month. Or we could try the Caribbean (which would probably be more expensive). Or we could possibly live closer to a U.S. beach!
Would you ever move to a completely new place? Why or why not?
Would you move to a new place if it meant cheaper living?
Emily @ evolvingPF says
I moved to a completely new place twice already and we’ll do it likely 1-2 more times if things go well. I think there’s really something to be said for having roots in one location. I envy my parents for still having friends from HS and college living nearby because they’ve stayed put. I want to settle ASAP but it likely won’t be until our early 30s. I think the best situation would be to move away for a while and then decide that where you grew up is best for you! You and W have that opportunity since you are from the same city (I think) – I’m jealous as my husband and I are from opposite coasts so we can’t both live in the cities we grew up in. But if you want to live somewhere else for a while I say try it out! As for cost of living, I think it’s a good consideration for someone location-independent like you, but it’s fairly far down on my list of considerations as there should be some cost-of-living scaling of our incomes.
Monica says
For the past 5 years I’ve been constantly travelling to new places and I’ve loved it. Really, really loved it. Meeting new people and exploring new places and finding your new favourite everything. But next month I’m moving back home. I think I’m tired of all the newness and really looking forward to the old familiarity – now that’s something I never thought I’d hear myself say!
Lena says
I did, across the world 🙂
On a different topic, I stopped getting your updates for some reason but, I think, I fixed it now 🙂
leeann says
I did it! I moved from Vancouver, Canada to San Jose California 13 years ago!
I graduated from school and was applying to jobs. Had a phone interview, was offered a job and packed up everything I owned into a UHaul, and drove it down to California!
Best decision of my life!
Cindy @ GrowingHerWorth says
I moved from the Midwest to Arizona once for a job. Things happened so quickly that I didn’t have a chance to do anything with my house. The job didn’t work out, and I ended up back home again. On the one hand, it was nice to have a “home base” to come back to. On the other hand, having the house forced me to come back; I wouldn’t have been able to find another job that allowed me to keep the house and rent someplace there, and it wasn’t a good time to sell/rent my house. I absolutely loved Arizona, and hope to go back someday, at least to visit. But then, if I hadn’t come back, I wouldn’t be where I am today. So it’s not all bad!
Jon @ MoneySmartGuides says
The only time I’ve moved to a completely new place was for college. I was OK with it then because I knew it was only for 4 years. I like being close to my family in terms of location and don’t think I would move.