On Not Moving to the City
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I’ve been off the grid for a few days while Tim and I have worked on deciding what to do with the next year of our lives. As you can imagine, it’s been a daunting few days and lots of decisions have been made.
When I left you last, we were looking at apartments in the city of Chicago, and I was really excited about it. We did look at apartments in Chicago, and I was really excited about it. Tim was really excited about it, too. We found a really great place that would be perfect for us – perfect size, perfect location, awesome balcony, laundry in the apartment, right near the highway and not too far from the train, good price. I mean, it really was everything we could ask for. We were stoked.
And then, we got home, and we talked about it, and we decided not to move.
This sounds about like how we tend to do things, especially things regarding a big move: We get really excited, look at places, decide we could totally do it, and then decide not to. It’s sort of becoming our schtick.
You know why we’ve decided not to buy a house right now. So, why did we decide not to make this move to another apartment in the city? It seems like a no-brainer, right? The city is fun, everything is within walking distance, I could take the train to work, we hate the apartment we’re in, we have friends in the city. Hmm… why aren’t we moving again?
Oh yea, because it would cost us a lot of unnecessary money to move into the city right now, since we’d have to break our lease (Do you know how much that costs?! A lot!) and, at the ripe old age of almost 30 and being gift-laden post-wedding, none of our friends are willing to help move us for pizza and beer anymore, so we’d have to hire movers. Not to mention that we probably wouldn’t even be able to really enjoy it until we got some time off, since we’d be moving in September – one month after the start of school. We’d be trying to find a dog walker, negotiate our commutes (as we’d both still be working in the suburbs), and we’d be so strapped for cash the first few months that we probably wouldn’t even be able to leave the apartment again until December.
Therefore, being the responsible adults we are, we made the decision to stay put until June. We’re going to continue to save money, not pay our crappy apartment complex any more than they get in rent (I know paying them to break the lease would be less than nine more months of rent, but it’s the principle of the thing. They don’t get extra!), and make it a point to be more active and social this school year.
If you asked me right now what we’re going to do in June, I’d say we’re going to move to the city or, at least, closer to the city. Honestly, I’d be fine in a townhome within walking distance of the train station. I don’t know if I really want to live in the city for the daily hustle and bustle, or if I want to live there, essentially, for the weekends. If it’s the latter, I’d be just as happy with easy access to a train for Friday/Saturday/Sunday fun. I guess that’s something I have to figure out for myself. As far as Tim goes, he still things living in an apartment in the suburbs is “boring and pointless” (his words, not mine), but I think he’d be just as happy either buying something or moving to the city. I guess only time will tell.
Here’s what I love about this situation, though: Tim and I had an idea, we followed through on researching and actively seeking out ways to make this idea into reality, then we discussed our options together and chose the best one for us. We didn’t just let the idea sit on the back burner and reference it dreamily when times got tough. We didn’t make an irresponsible decision just because it seemed fun at the time. And we made the decision together, after hearing each point of view and discussing all the pros and cons.
If that’s not an equitable partnership, I don’t know what is.