We've been wavering back and forth whether to move now to get into the school district we want (right next door to our town) or in a few years when we will be able to afford to actually buy a home in that school district. We've been looking at homes for almost FIVE YEARS now, and I think we are finally ready to stop the search and stay in our (very comfortable, reasonably priced) rental until we can afford the kind of home we want in the town we want.

The school district in our current town is great, but the one next door is top-notch. We're willing to live in a smaller, older house, but houses in that town are rarely for sale. We've basically looked at everything within our price range and other possibilities (2 family homes as owner-occupied investment properties, rentals, other towns nearby with better school districts than ours, etc) and we keep coming to the decision to stay put for a few more years until these double daycare payments stop and we can afford a larger mortgage.

Unfortunately, that means that Wagon Jr. will be in public school, and that means that when we move in the future, he will have to start at a new school and make new friends. Many kids from the town next door go to his current daycare/preschool (that town does not have free public preschool) so if we were to move in the next year or two, the transition wouldn't be AS tough. I was hoping to avoid uprooting him while he was in elementary school..

But then I realized that so many families move while their kids are in elementary school. Probably because it was the same deal: childcare costs go down as your kids spend more time at school, so you can finally afford a house in a good school district. Also, parents' income probably increases to a point where they can afford to move to a better place. I moved right before 3rd grade... my family moved to a better town and into our dream house (we built in a new development). Wagon Sr. moved during 3rd grade as well... also to a better town and from a city apartment into a house.

Did you move during your childhood? If so, what grade? And please comment if you can remember a negative impact. I remember it being very traumatic because I was extremely shy. My only friend for a while was the friend the teacher assigned to me to show me around. Wagon Sr. doesn't even remember moving!

I enabled multiple votes for those who moved more than once!