Moving from Big City USA to Small Town, MS

[Bob Buford]

Thought I'd throw in an update: We decided against Mississippi and moved to San Antonio, TX. After two years, we could not be any happier. The weather, scenery, size of city and attractions fit very well with our family. As with any area, there are downsides depending on your background, up-bringing and preferences. We were trying to make the small town work for us but it just did not fit.

[John Ryder]

wow, san antonio compared to oxford, yeah alot to do in SA, especially when boredom starts to set, good luck to you and yours young sir

[Bob Buford]

Yep. Thankfully had a job offer after turning down the one in Oxford. Glad we were able to go where we wanted instead of forced to. Not easy to find in the recession.

[GrandviewGloria]

Originally Posted by hurricom

I'm considering a potential "dream" job in Cleveland, MS, but I am definitely someone who does not like rural living, and I thrive on lots of culture and diversity, probably because I was born and raised in New Orleans. Since I know I won't want to live in Cleveland, MS, I'm thinking of commuting from either Memphis or Oxford (both are apparently 90 minutes away from Cleveland). Can anyone provide any advice about either/both? I realize Oxford is a great deal smaller, but it seems to have a thriving arts scene, and I like Baton Rouge (which I've heard is very similar to Oxford). Also, I have a bit of a tornado phobia, so please let me know if I need to factor this into my decision.

Thanks in advance,

Chris

The cost to drive from Cleveland to Oxford is about ten Dollars. Each Way. And that's just gas. At only forty cents a mile, the 98 miles total travel cost will be $39.20. Each way. But lets say it's only thirty Dollars, and you can make the round trip for $60.00. When I multiplied 48 work weeks by 5 days, and that total by $60.00, I got $14,400.00.

And it's closer to two hours than ninety minutes (except for the irresponsible people one hopes will quickly end their lives colliding with trees, rather than by killing innocent motorists with their speeding).

Most of your free time will be consumed by commuting. Unless you're in a Lexus or Rolls, the vibration and noise will eventually have subtly deleterious effects on your health and looks. One side of your face will eventually sag more from the collagen damage from those hours of ultraviolet coming through the glass. And Mississippi just got named the Most Dangerous State for Driving. Many reasons for that, and you're likely to eventually collide with one of those "reasons", if you drive enough.

If, however, you were to live in Cleveland, you could use the extra three hours or more you'd have spent commuting, to work out at Anytime Fitness. Or maybe the U will let you pay for access to its 5000sq ft gym, & Natatorium. The Country Club may have its own gym (assuming you're CC material), and, it being Mississippi, there's probably a huge Baptist church with its own fitness center. Actually, you'd have time for an hour of lifting, and hour of cardio, and an hour of...wink, wink, know-wat-I-mean?...intimate funtime with someone you picked up at the gym. That's a way more balanced and satisfying life than one largely spent going over bumps and into potholes.

And as for that fourteen thou you'd save.... The hottest people in town generally are Personal Trainers. Their time, if someone else is getting a cut, is, in small towns, about $60.00 or less an hour. My Decorator had the hottest-looking trainer in Jackson training him for $20.00 (cash), and then lined up a world-famous bodybuilding star for the same rate. But let's assume you don't have the Sephardic genius for negotiation, and are paying $60.00 (or $40, if you buy a 'package'), like normal people. You could see a trainer every day, with the money you saved by living in Cleveland: probably the most expensive one in town.

But let's say you only see the trainer once a week. With the rest of the money, you buy Armani blazers, to make your body look hotter, and a nicer car... and nicer things for the house.... If you have a hot body, great clothes, and a good car, your Trainers (who generally are horny and available, if you're hot and 'rich') will sleep with you, as will many, many local hotties in other walks of life.

And there's probably money left over for flying to far better places than Oxford or Memphis, for 'Culture' and 'Excitement'. There's money to stay in fine hotels...dine at fine restaurants... Far better to spend a quality weekend every two months in someplace fabulous (and have the time and money to do so), than be frustrated in some third-rate place like Oxford or Memphis, sitting on some barstool every weekend, lusting after bodies too good for your body (which will be a wreck, if you spend 20 hours a week commuting).

Cleveland may be less provincial than you're thinking it is, anyway. The Delta still has some amazing people, and Cleveland supposedly has more of a 'scene' than is readily apparent. Once you break into the local party circuit, I think you'll realize that the Delta is one of the more sophisticated places on the planet. People there inherit Childe Hassam paintings...are descended from the First Families of Sephardica ... had Grandmothers who married French Counts ...live in houses built by mercantile heiresses who kept Spanish noblemen as Gigolos... had grandfathers who won the Pulitzer Prize... keep apartments in NYC... send the kids to Sewanee and Sarah Lawrence... fly over to Paris for training at Le Cordon Bleu... and on and on... You never know what's hidden out there in the cotton fields. Start buying paintings and sculptures from the professors at the U, and you'll start getting invites... The Art Departments and galleries of Mississippi's university towns are social hubs. Collectors get A-listed, and end up knowing the best people in town (The top merchants, the industrialists, the Surgeons and Plaintiff Attorneys....).

As for Oxford, expect conformity, cigarettes, and Carpetbaggers from Jackson (the obnoxious pseudo-WASP nouveaux-riche 'dynasties' from Jackson are seemingly all gung-ho Ole Miss). Memphis is simply a hellhole. But if you were spending four hours a day commuting, you'd have little time to 'discover' much about either place. And you'd be broke. And you'd be ugly and out of shape. And you'd have to eat junk food, rather than cooking from scratch, which would make you fat and ugly. And being broke and tired and ugly would mean that nobody would give you the time of day. And you wouldn't have time for them, anyway, because you'd always be on the road.

_______

Here's an example: different place/same principle

I knew a young woman who got a fantastic job in the Antelope Valley area, inland from LA. We had just flipped a development (just in time, before the gangs killed property values) there, and so I knew there were a couple of good enclaves left, despite the plummeting demographics. Anyway, this girl wanted to live in LA and commute to Antelope Valley. We're talking about long commuting time, dangerous drivers, horrendous heat, traffic jams, frustration, expensive LA housing costs... But she wanted to live in LA for the social/cultural opportunities.

One of my investment partners convinced her, however, to buy a McMansion in one of the Valley's remaining good enclaves (payments far lower than renting anywhere safe & fashionable in LA). "With the money you'd waste commuting, you can stay at a great hotel every month, kid!" And so she did. She had time to arrive at work early, leave work late, work out daily, cook healthy from scratch, move up quickly at work.... put in a few hours on weekends.... And she had time to make day trips on weekends, to Malibu, Santa Barbara... She stayed at the Malibu Beach Inn, got pampered at The Peninsula, The Mondrian, Beverly Hills Hotel, Hotel Bel Air... Weekends were the only time she had for playing, anyway.

And I don't have to tell you that her hotel staying opportunities quickly became limited, because as a pretty girl with a toned body and a nice car (which one can afford, when one's commute is 2 miles, rather than 50), and as the owner of a new McMansion (even in Antelope Valley, that says a lot).... she was a catch...a keeper. Before long, she, was staying with boyfriends on weekends. It's way better to be able to say "I'm at the Chateau Marmont.", than to drag your conquest back to some wretched, funny-smelling, bungalow in Santa Monica that's costing you five thou a month (which will be a mess, because commuting will sap your time and energy). She ended up marrying very well, and is happily ensconced on Long Island's Gold Coast. A few high-quality interludes will get you a lot farther...