Hellobee Boards

Since you addressed this question to those of us living away from family, I'm assuming you mean that we're moving back to be close to family? That's how I'm going to answer it, cuz that's the move that Hubs and I consider. A lot.

In reality, I think our life would be a little easier. Where we grew up, in Central PA, the cost of living is much less than where we are now (just outside of Philly). If we kept the same salaries, we'd be much better off, financially. We do ok now, but there are definitely months that we struggle. We'd be more financially stable if we moved back home.

As it stands now, we are 1.5 hours from our families. Which is not far, but it's far enough that it prevents them (especially Hubs's) from visiting regularly. And it's just far enough that it'll be tough to plan a last-minute date night or something like that. Moving back home would make babysitting and stuff like that much easier. However, I think it would create some stress in our marriage because Hubs's family has no boundaries and would be over all the time, unannounced, which is unacceptable to me.

That being said, I am not ready to make the move quite yet. I like where we live. Most importantly, I like my job. I love my coworkers - they are some of my best friends. I would not find another group of people like this anywhere else. I also love taking the train to work. I know it sounds silly, but I dread the day when I have to give up my "me time" on the train and drive to and from a job. I would miss working in and living so close to the city.

All in all, I think that, at this moment in time, moving home is not the right thing for us, for our careers, or for our marriage. Maybe in a few years, when we're ready to have baby #2, it's something to consider. But right now I just think it would create more tension than it would ease.

@Crumbs: you've thought a lot about this topic, obviously. Any particular reason?

DH has talked about moving somewhere for years! He's lived in Chicago for his whole life and just wants a taste of living somewhere else for a few short years, maybe 2. On the other hand, I moved around a lot as a kid and have lived in many states, so I have no desire to leave Chicago.

Plus, I have my own business and I CAN NOT imagine starting my business over again somewhere else! It took me 4 years to feel like I'm relatively secure, and the idea of starting over kills me. Not to mention, I don't think I can ever work for someone else again.

So I told DH that if he wants to move, then he has to make enough money so I don't have to work, HAHA!!

Although I would love to be back home and closer to family...where we are now has become home and I almost cant imagine NOT being here. I do hate being so far away, but my family is here now too. We do not have full cuistody of my bonus daughter, and being that far away from her would kill my husband and I would be a wreck...I just could not do it!

We ARE making a major move in the next 6-8 months. Our life will change A LOT. I am trying not to have a panic attack over the logistics, but there's A LOT that has to happen/work out/blend!

We own our home in south FL. We would rent it out. So we'd have to find renters that we can trust to live in this house that we spent a lot of time and money remodeling!

We are seriously considering building our dream home where we are moving to - Charleston, SC. It takes 6 months to build. Basically, you give 5% of the total price down to start the building price, which is A LOT of cash. Then you close once it's done, and finalize all of your mortgage stuff. I am probably going to just try to find another job once we move in and are up there, and also enjoy Harper for a few months. But I still have to have my job for the final mortgage stuff, and things have been rocky lately, so I'll be nervous the whole 6 months that I would lose my job, we wouldn't qualify for the huge mortgage once we get to the end of building, and we'd be out the 5% cash!

It's just a lot of major things that have to work out! But if it all does, if we can make it happen and go ahead with things, we will be so much happier in SC than in FL.

DH used to be stationed in Charleston when he was in the USCG, and he told me on our first date that Charleston is where he would raise his family. I had no idea at the time that I would be that family! I remember just staring at him and barely listening and thinking how hot he was:)

For us, this is a way of life. We both grew up in aid worker families, and between the two of us we have almost 100 moves in our childhoods.
the year and a half we've been married, we moved from the US to abroad, moved once abroad, then moved back to the US.

We're currently in the process of moving again, will move once more next Summer, and then next Fall we'll be moving to a new location overseas. (By the way, my definition of "move" has become moving all your belongings along with you, since I've often "moved" to internships, school, etc while leaving most of my stuff at home. I don't count those as "moves.")

It's an interesting life. I love that it keeps us from collecting "stuff" - all of our clothes and shoes fit into one suitcase, and everything else we own (mostly books) fits into a 4x4x8 crate.

Our moves are very labor intensive, since they are frequently international and we never have movers. It involves packing EVERYTHING we own with sometimes very short notice and getting on a plane to a sometimes totally different language and culture.

It's very hard to say if we'll be better or worse off after our next move, since we do it so often, but I'm leaning towards saying we'll be better. Why? Because each new move gives us a whole new world of opportunities, a new language to learn, a new culture to adapt to, a new home to make our own, new friends to make... it makes for a very full life, a very colorful one.

Downsides? We have very few close friends, because they always end up being long distance and it's hard to keep the tight friendships from loosening into "facebook" style ones.
It's also hard to put down roots, get involved in anything to deeply, because we know we won't be around for long.

But I think it's all worth it in the end. We're a very close family, and we love living our crazy life together.

@Mrs. Jacks: Our hope is that we have the same experience you guys did! Btw, you're FOR SURE moving in October? Yay! That's great news!

@Mrs. Jacks: So exciting, I can't belive it's official!

We'll find out next week what our status is... Potentially, we could be relocated in time to drink hot cocoa in your pool house while watching the snow fly!

@Mrs. Jacks: Sigh the stone fireplace? Can I sit on the window seat? Seriously, your house is so gorgeous. I can't wait to see it in person!

If we find out good news next week, we'll likely make the move in December, since DH has the whole month off for paternity leave, anyway. Fingers crossed! I'm really nervous but super excited, and I'm starting to get anxious to just start this new chapter already!

@Honeybee: You can sit anywhere you want.

I am really hoping for Mr. Honeybee that this comes to pass. You guys would be SOOOO happy here. But if it's meant to be, something great is going to come along!

If we moved back to be close to family we would be way more poor! Sad but true! I'm actually not sure how we would make ends meet. We would have to get a better second car because we'd be driving a lot more. But, we would also have free babysitting and things would be "easy" in a lot of respects. Even though it's hard to be away, at this point I think it is an overall better choice for now.

We moved away from our families 3 years ago for an awesome job opportunity for my husband. His job is a nerds dream come true

Moving back would mean a higher overall cost of living, 2-3 times longer commutes, I would have to work full time (I work 1/2 time now). However, we would be near our families, so we would have people to babysit.

We would also be back to "go to fixer uppers of everything" status, where both of us are constantly on call for all of our families issues. We don't miss that at all!

Overall, the lower house prices, lower cost of living, shorter commutes, and less family obligations mean we have more available money, and more time as a family. Not to mention my job is much lower stress here, and DH has a dream job for an awesome company here.

It would take a lot to convince us to move home.