
The best $5,929.10 I ever spent: moving back to the Midwest - smn1234
https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/3/26/18255131/moving-midwest-cedar-rapids
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bshipp
It's too bad they messed up the title on this submission, because this is a
fun article to read. I was in a similar financial position, living in a
million-plus city with rent that was over $1400/mo and two kids, with a third
on the way. I saw a posting in a small 30,000 pop city that had just undergone
an economic decline and rolled the dice. I was able to purchase a brand new
3,000 sq ft house on a 1/2 acre lot with a mortgage that was only $750 a
month, and because the position was so remote I had a lot of negotiating
leverage to cover my potential exposure to job loss (as I'd almost certainly
have to move to find similar employment). They ended up paying for all my
moving fees, giving me additional vacation, and a few other perks.

By the time it was all said and done, the increase in salary and reduction in
living expenses basically doubled my salary. And now my commute is 12 minutes,
every day of the year. With the exception of shopping, we don't miss the big
city amenities; to be honest, once we had a couple of kids we rarely had time
to take them to all the museums and galleries and other stuff. Now we do all
that touristy stuff during our vacations, which we can afford because we no
longer live in the big city.

I highly recommend this path to anyone who is not firmly attached to city
dwelling, especially when they have kids. The financial freedom is totally
worth it.

