Jay
the fool on the hill
As most of you know, I will sometime in the future be divorced from my wife of seven years. I could go on another tangent regarding that, but I will refrain. The upside is that we are still getting along great, and there will be no tug of war for possessions. We moved to the Chicago area November of 2004 because she landed a job which paid significantly higher than what she was doing before; I lucked out and found a job at a dealership and am still holding that job. Dealerships are like frats, once you are "in", you will ALWAYS be able to get a dealership job.
The thing is, I hate Illinois, and I hate where I live specifically, which the Chicago metropolis. You must understand that I grew up in a very quiet area in Madison Wisconsin, so far from city life that a half mile from where I grew up was farms and fields. Living in or near a city stresses me out; just living in Aurora I have a low grade panic attack nearly daily. I am not a city person, give me ten acres to build a small house in the country and I will live the rest of my life happy.
The quality of life here is not to my liking; here it is to earn as much money as you possibly can, and no focus on quality of life. The pace of life is too urgent and the people strike me as superficial and stupid. I hate it immensely.
So what should I do? I would like to, in the next five years, either:
-pay off as much debt as I can, and move back Wisconsin.
-pay off as much debt as I can, wipe the slate clean and move to North Dakota or Idaho.
You read that right. I could live near larger cities and only be a couple days drive from half a dozen state and national parks. And I would be happy, as both states have less than a million residents.
I am sure some of you would advocate to just move as soon as possible, but here is the rub: I am a calculating, prudent person by nature. I do not do things sporadically. Also, a person could say "debt is debt, no matter where I live" and you are correct, it is just that my debt is proportional to my current earnings. If I move to another state in the Midwest, my earning will be on average 30% less as the Chicago area is very expensive to live in. There is also the ugly matter of my house being valued for far less than what we owe.
Or should I just tough it out and live here perpetually?
The thing is, I hate Illinois, and I hate where I live specifically, which the Chicago metropolis. You must understand that I grew up in a very quiet area in Madison Wisconsin, so far from city life that a half mile from where I grew up was farms and fields. Living in or near a city stresses me out; just living in Aurora I have a low grade panic attack nearly daily. I am not a city person, give me ten acres to build a small house in the country and I will live the rest of my life happy.
The quality of life here is not to my liking; here it is to earn as much money as you possibly can, and no focus on quality of life. The pace of life is too urgent and the people strike me as superficial and stupid. I hate it immensely.
So what should I do? I would like to, in the next five years, either:
-pay off as much debt as I can, and move back Wisconsin.
-pay off as much debt as I can, wipe the slate clean and move to North Dakota or Idaho.
You read that right. I could live near larger cities and only be a couple days drive from half a dozen state and national parks. And I would be happy, as both states have less than a million residents.
I am sure some of you would advocate to just move as soon as possible, but here is the rub: I am a calculating, prudent person by nature. I do not do things sporadically. Also, a person could say "debt is debt, no matter where I live" and you are correct, it is just that my debt is proportional to my current earnings. If I move to another state in the Midwest, my earning will be on average 30% less as the Chicago area is very expensive to live in. There is also the ugly matter of my house being valued for far less than what we owe.
Or should I just tough it out and live here perpetually?
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