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With me, moving from a city consisting of well over 1M people to a smaller town of about 8,000 is a MAJOR difference. Of course where my home is its about 8 miles from the city limits area and all of the regular fast food chains are right in the town area. Also have a wallymart several miles (about 8-9 miles) from my house. But along the highway though there is nothing but a few houses here and there, and at night, you hardly have any traffic at all.
Of course I was never much a city person anyway because I hate noise. So I am glad to make this adjustment to a much smaller time. You also have to get used to the fact that most stores aren't open 24/7 either, as they close in the evenings as well.
On my property of 2 acres I have two pear trees and they are blooming nicely. Gotts love free fruit!
Let me correct my first post, its a town of 2,500...and actually the house I looked at is 15 miles outside in a farming community. Chickens and corn and peaches. In fact, the house and land, just under 2 acres total is surrounded by Peach trees, heavy with fruit. smelled incredible!!!
I grew up in a small town of about 1200 that was surrounded by Apple, Peach, and Cherry orchards. Have to agree, there is nothing that smells better when they are ripe and ready to pick. Except maybe that short time in the Spring when they are all blossomed out. Mix of apple, peach, and cherry blossoms on a sweet spring breeze is like a bit of Heaven on Earth to me.
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I heard the closest Wallyworld is about 10 miles in the other direction in a town of about 15,000 so guess I'm not as far out in the boonies as I feared...
I would bet that the town with 15000 would have a daily paper and daily rural delivery in your area. The next town (pop. 9000) over from mine (same one I was grew up in, sometimes you really can go home again ) is about 10 miles away and they have rural delivery routes all over the local area
As far as newspapers - delivery depends on how far off a main road you live. I can get a paper "delivered" - to a news box next to my mail box, on the closest paved road, not quite 2 miles from my house. The morning paper shows about about 3 pm. Nice walk in the summer; not so nice in the winter.
Fortunately I can get major newspapers either on my Kindle or my computer. I do miss having a paper in my hands, though.
As far as newspapers - delivery depends on how far off a main road you live. I can get a paper "delivered" - to a news box next to my mail box, on the closest paved road, not quite 2 miles from my house. The morning paper shows about about 3 pm. Nice walk in the summer; not so nice in the winter.
Fortunately I can get major newspapers either on my Kindle or my computer. I do miss having a paper in my hands, though.
I agree PNW, I read several papers online, but just have to have the paper in my hand!!! And most online papers don't have the funnies, and that's my first page to read!!! start the day out laughing.
This house is ON a state highway, not too heavily travelled, so the paper should not be a problem, and if there's no delivery, I can pick one up on the way to work.
I have decided I'm going to have to wait a little longer to fulfill my dream of living near the beach, since most towns in my dream don't have the economies to support me. I can take a small cut in pay, but housing and insurance are higher than some large cities. Not that I make Big Bucks, I'm confortable. I knew I'd rather be in a smaller city, I've lived in Chicago, Atlanta and am currently in Charlotte.
The small town is now calling me, and I am going to a town of about 25,000 this weekend to look at houses. It's 30 minutes away from a city of 125,000, so there's job opportunites and the job market isn't bad there.
On to my questions for those who've moved "down" in city size;
What was the biggest shock to your system when you first moved? I know no paper delivery, no fast food (better for my waistline and health) no 'corner stores" or running to the Grocery store when you forget something.
What do you miss about 'city living" and what do you like about small town living?
What store/restaurant/place/thing do you wish was in your area? Is there something you're glad that it isn't in your area?
Being very, very nearly out of gas at 10 pm and not being able to find ANY gas stations open. It was a very scary ride home (lukily I made it).
Not being able to find a restaurant open after 8 pm is a pain. dh and I have always been late, late eaters (10 pm somtimes 11 pm) and we end up always having to eat at IHOP or Denny's because those are the only places serving that late. I used to think we were just weirdos until my last visit to the "big city" when I picked up one of those newsheets that lists what to do and what to see and I noticed that there were quite a few restaurants that served until at least 10 pm and a few that served later. Most every bar had a bar menu of appetizers, etc. So now I know that we are [relatively] normal.
I also missed not having a good health-food store handy. I have to drive 40 miles to the city to get my health-food supplies.
If you get hungry in the middle of the night we have a little hamburger place open 24/7, except Christmas. A tourist was in there one night (we're near a very large recreation area) and asked how I find my hamburger. Just move the pickles. The only "chain" restaurant is a Subway that doesn't open till 11 AM. Somebody asked what we do for fun on weekends. We leave! A small town is a great place to live. No rush. Want to get away, go someplace nice to eat, head to Wally World? bigger town with all that about 20 miles away. Lived in towns like that all my life (almost!). To me that's the best way to have it. For those of you who prefer the bigger cities, have at it! When you want to relax a little, come on down and visit!
Let me correct my first post, its a town of 2,500...and actually the house I looked at is 15 miles outside in a farming community. Chickens and corn and peaches. In fact, the house and land, just under 2 acres total is surrounded by Peach trees, heavy with fruit. smelled incredible!!! I spent 3+ hours driving around and exploring and am going back next weekend, to do more looking, really like the area, there's a drive in movie theatre 1 mile down the road....can't remember the last time I saw one of those, current movies too. as far as I can tell, the down side will be shopping/errands, it will be time consuming. But I think I'm ready... found all my usual spots, or equlivents which was a concern for me.
I heard the closest Wallyworld is about 10 miles in the other direction in a town of about 15,000 so guess I'm not as far out in the boonies as I feared...
Ask yourself this..what word comes to mind when you think of that place..isolation or solitude ?
I would also suggest you rent for 6 mos-1 year and then decide if it's for you.
Ask yourself this..what word comes to mind when you think of that place..isolation or solitude ?
I would also suggest you rent for 6 mos-1 year and then decide if it's for you.
heaven
after living in Atlanta and dealing with the issues of traffic, general noise, too many people, just the simple fact of having room to breathe, is heaven to me. Unfortunately, the house I looked at fell through, way too much "fix-it-up" type things for my skills or taste. Plus the well wasn't deep enough and needed to be brought up to code. Still looking in the area, but waiting a little while for the economy to settle before I make that leap. My hesitance in renting is the lack of apartments in this particular area that aren't filled with College students. I'm just too old to deal with that drama (and I'm only in my 40's) I have had neighbors that are students and just the attitude of " it's not my building/parking lot, I don't need to respect it or others" gets under my skin. That is the one thing I like about where I'm currently living (with the exception of the leasing managers son - who is finally settling down) my neighbors are around my age, working and don't have drama, no baby-daddy's/baby-mama fights in the parking lot, no friends who think its okay to rev their engines on their motorcycles, or holler across the parking lot to Bud on his balcony, no fast-food trash dumped outside the car when they leave, etc.. and I like that
Let me correct my first post, its a town of 2,500...and actually the house I looked at is 15 miles outside in a farming community. Chickens and corn and peaches. In fact, the house and land, just under 2 acres total is surrounded by Peach trees, heavy with fruit. smelled incredible!!! I spent 3+ hours driving around and exploring and am going back next weekend, to do more looking, really like the area, there's a drive in movie theatre 1 mile down the road....can't remember the last time I saw one of those, current movies too. as far as I can tell, the down side will be shopping/errands, it will be time consuming. But I think I'm ready... found all my usual spots, or equlivents which was a concern for me.
I heard the closest Wallyworld is about 10 miles in the other direction in a town of about 15,000 so guess I'm not as far out in the boonies as I feared...
It will be different than living in a major city, but 2,500 and being close to much larger populations isn't going to be as much of a shock as you might think. My grandmother lived in a town with only 1,000 people in a farming community. That town has a grocery store, movie theater, bowling alley, drug store, 2 bars (every town, no matter how small has at least 2 bars), cable TV and Internet, a couple gas stations, hotel etc. All of the major services you'll find in any city, just less variety.
The people will probably be more of a shock to you than the shops. People in smaller towns are generally more conservative, and live their lives at a bit slower pace than those in the city. They also tend to be more self reliant, when a storm moves in and does damage neighbors just go out and start cleaning it up, they don't wait for the city/county/state to come in and fix everything.
It sounds like you've found a good place to move to, I hope it works out for you.
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) is about 10 miles away and they have rural delivery routes all over the local area
