indigomama Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 If we would like to have some acreage in the future, we will need to be somewhat out of town. DH does not want to be more than 10 minutes max from town. I don't think 20ish is unreasonable. Dh does need to be in town 6 days out of 7. I do not have any strict times I need to be in town. If you live outside of town, what have you found to be your limit? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joker Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 I've been more comfortable being farther away like you, but dh is also the one who does the most driving. So, it's always been his decision how far is too far because he's the one that has to deal with it the most. We lived 45 minutes at one time and we really liked where we lived but it wore dh down having to drive it everyday and the time he lost being home because he was driving. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gingersmom Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 When I lived in Connecticut it took us 15 minutes to the foodstore (mostly down a 2 lane road) and depending on traffic 20-30 minutes to downtown. A quick run to pick up chinese food took an hour. Uggh. It was awful. It might have been because I was younger but I don't think so. I have taken my kids back to see where I lived and I still moaned and complained driving down the two lane road. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orthodox6 Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 I would be happy and comfortable to be thirty minutes from a town. That is not much driving, unless one lives with mountains, bad weather winters, and/or two-lane only roads. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dandelion Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 We live outside of town on 5 acres. When we bought our house 13 years ago, it was about a 20 minute drive into town. Over the years, the city has grown, so we're now about 15 minutes away from the closest store. I used to work in town 5 days a week, and had to make the commute every morning (it was about a 25-30 minute commute, depending on traffic). DH still commutes and it's around a 30 minute commute for him. It's fine as far as we're concerned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2squared Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 Well...when your kids are older you will be driving for activities. We live on acreage about 1 mile out of town. It's perfect. I can run kids in and out without interrupting our daily flow. I can leave kids at home b/c I'm only gone for a few minutes. Just this morning I ran two kids to my neighbor's (1/2 mile away) for haircuts and left the older two at home with their schoolwork. In an hour I'll be running my 8yo to his PE class at the elementary school. Now that my oldest is in 5th grade, most of her activities are at the middle/high school 10 min away. That's 10 miles one way, and it's too far to be easy. 20 min/20 miles would be a burden for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xixstar Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 Well we are 15 minutes from the closest small town, 20 from a bigger town/little city, 25 from small city, 35 from a large city, 45-75 minutes from dh work. And I'm okay with those times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KungFuPanda Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 I HATE to spend time in the car. I hope we never move out to the country again. Right now, a tank of gas lasts me about three weeks and I go somewhere almost every day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaffodilDreams Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 When I lived with my grandparents, we were 20-25 minutes from town - and that town was a small one. We were 45 minutes from a much larger town. I LOVED it and long to have a set up like that for my own little family. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrothead Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 Define "town". When we move we will be 5 minutes from gas and a convenience store (two separate buildings). We will be 9 minutes from dh's employer's office. We will be 15 minutes (due to traffic) from Walmart and the supermarket. We will still be 1.75 hours from civilization. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callie Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 20 minutes from the nearest small town (Save A Lot, library, some locally owned small business) 45 minutes from medium (Walmart, Kroger, Aldi etc) 90 minutes large city (Sams Club, a mall, etc) I live in a rural farming community. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callie Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 I would be happy and comfortable to be thirty minutes from a town. That is not much driving, unless one lives with mountains, bad weather winters, and/or two-lane only roads. This describes my conditions. Something to consider op is that a shopping trip will turn into an 5++ hour event. A trip to Aldi and Walmart means I drive 1 1/2 hours. Then the time to shop as I try to combine all my errands because of gas prices, weather conditions and just plain how long it takes to get anywhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 We live about 15 minutes from the centre of town. However, at different times, Husband and I have both commuted to the city, which is 30 minutes away. It's fine. When we lived in Hong Kong, Husband's commute was one hour - that was long. Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
indigomama Posted February 28, 2013 Author Share Posted February 28, 2013 Define "town". When we move we will be 5 minutes from gas and a convenience store (two separate buildings). We will be 9 minutes from dh's employer's office. We will be 15 minutes (due to traffic) from Walmart and the supermarket. We will still be 1.75 hours from civilization. I've posted before, but we made a big for me move, to the middle of nowhere:) So, the town I speak of is, still tiny to me, however it is where we currently live and where DH works and where the biggest shopping, Walmart, is for 1 1/2 to 2 hours in ANY direction! If we moved to the house I like,the nearest small town, tiny grocery, gas station will be 5 minutes. DH''s work, our church, which is one in the same is a solid 20 minutes. (which is our current location) No traffic, no hills/mountains, major interstate, easy commute. I think part of DH's concern is he doesn't think people will want to come out for dinner and such. Also, if I should need his help, he can't just run down the street to help. Right now we are in an awful rental but it's two minutes to his work. My concerns are 1.) financial- the closer to town, the way higher land prices and 2) I am an extreme introvert. I would love to come home from visiting/friends/church/errands and see no one! No houses, no neighbors, just my little house and the great wide open :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotSoObvious Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 We are 20-25 min from town. It's ok. We have a gorgeous view and it is so quiet, so that is the trade off. Some things to think about: Babysitters- we haven't had one since we moved here almost two years ago. It's so far for someone to drive, then it takes us so long to get anywhere and adds to the hours ($) we are gone. Food- we can't get anything delivered and there is no last minute trip to town for a lemon or a needed ingredient. We are in town about 5/7 days a week. It's a lot of gas and wear on our car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hwin Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 20 minutes to buy a gallon of milk would be a bit much for me, 20 minutes from the nearest Target is absolutely fine and dandy, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
indigomama Posted February 28, 2013 Author Share Posted February 28, 2013 20 minutes to buy a gallon of milk would be a bit much for me, 20 minutes from the nearest Target is absolutely fine and dandy, though. Well, we are already in the largest town there is around these parts and we are still 1 1/2 hours from Target :laugh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
indigomama Posted February 28, 2013 Author Share Posted February 28, 2013 So for people 20 minutes or so from town, do friends still come visit? Or does the drive deter them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 It takes me at least 15 minutes to get anywhere in my medium-sized city, so I need to think in terms of mileage, not how many minutes. So, how many *miles* outside of town are you thinking? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whereneverever Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 Something to consider- how far are you comfortable being from fire services, ambulances, and the police? If someone is breaking in or you have a wild animal in your yard causing a problem, how comfortable handling it alone are you? What if someone is injured? Just some thoughts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2squared Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 This describes my conditions. Something to consider op is that a shopping trip will turn into an 5++ hour event. A trip to Aldi and Walmart means I drive 1 1/2 hours. Then the time to shop as I try to combine all my errands because of gas prices, weather conditions and just plain how long it takes to get anywhere. This is my life. We live about 1 mile out of our town of 1400 but an hour + from Walmart or Target and 2 hours from larger shopping. A trip to Walmart or Target takes all day between the drive, the shopping, and the kids. I make the big hour long trip about once/month, and my errand list is full when I go. We always have to eat one meal out (due to the time), and I come home with crabby kids. In the winter I never know when I will be able to make the trip. Weather is a problem. We couldn't get out Christmas shopping any of the weekends after Thanksgiving, so I ended up ordering things online. Not the best, but it's what we had. All that to say....dh works in our tiny town. I love that he is minutes away when I need something and he can help drive the kids when I'm overbooked. He just applied for a job an hour away, and none of us are looking forward to the lifestyle change. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
indigomama Posted February 28, 2013 Author Share Posted February 28, 2013 It takes me at least 15 minutes to get anywhere in my medium-sized city, so I need to think in terms of mileage, not how many minutes. So, how many *miles* outside of town are you thinking? Well, we don't have anything definite, but the property I like is 22 miles from DH's work. 20 miles to largest grocery store/walmart. Same distance to hospital/ police. I am not familiar enough with the area to know if there is a fire department etc closer. There are neighbors within minutes and a town of 1000 5 miles away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catz Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 I live in a major city. I like it! I love camping, hiking, canoeing, and the outdoors. But I'd rather drive to that on the weekends and be near kid's activities, grocery stores, shopping, good coffee (LOL), etc. We are also walking distance to parks (big and small) and trail systems from our house too. Just another perspective. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
somo_chickenlady Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 At our last house we lived on 5 acres in a very rural area, 5 miles outside of a tiny (i.e. 80 people, no stores or gas station, etc) and it was 35 min drive to closest real town (also where DH worked), with a grocery store that was so nasty we would only shop there if we absolutely had to. We had two Walmarts, each about 40-45 minutes away in opposite directions. The grocery store we prefered to shop at was an hour away. We thought we would love it. Turns out we couldn't have been more wrong. We prefer living in the city and the conveniences that come with it. Keep in mind...the closer you live to town, the higher the property value, typically. Perhaps if we had property that was more convenient to town we would have enjoyed it more, but we couldn't afford those properties. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 We live in a rural township, but I'm only 8 minutes from a medium sized grocery store and 8 minutes from the school where I work. It's 15 minutes to Walmart and a small mall (Sears, Penneys, etc) and a bunch of restaurants. It's an hour and a half to a big city or in 2 hours I can be in two other big cities. Where we are is quiet, with acreage, and absolutely perfect. It took me just as long to get to the grocery store and longer to get to Wally World when I lived in a city. The distance was shorter, but the traffic/lights slowed things way down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
indigomama Posted February 28, 2013 Author Share Posted February 28, 2013 I live in a major city. I like it! I love camping, hiking, canoeing, and the outdoors. But I'd rather drive to that on the weekends and be near kid's activities, grocery stores, shopping, good coffee (LOL), etc. We are also walking distance to parks (big and small) and trail systems from our house too. Just another perspective. Thank you. We did just move from a major city, unfortunately it's out of the question right now. Our choices are town 25,000, which is what we are innow, or country. The country however can vary widely. DH is wanting to be very close, I would prefer a little more space. I was just curious if 20 minutes outside of the town, where the majority of our connections are is too far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TammyinTN Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 When we lived at Fort Irwin, CA the closest town was 45 minutes away. We went every weekend to restock and take the children out....it wasn't that bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
datgh Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 We are 25 minutes from shopping and activities. It is 10 minutes to far for me. it wasn't bad when the kids where younger but now that they are teens I spend a lot of time in the car and sitting around waiting because it is to far to go home. I try to run errands when i am in town to save on gas but it means an afternoon guitar lesson turns into a 3 1/2 hour safari. Some days I need to make two trips which means almost two hours wasted in the car. Friends will come to the house but it usually means we are hosting something big like a BBQ. People won't come out for just an hour. When it comes to the kids getting together with friends, I usually meet the parents half way. Over the 20 years we have been in the house we have seen an increase in traffic. We have also had houses spring up around us which means we have lost the privacy my husband craved when he moved here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 Well, we don't have anything definite, but the property I like is 22 miles from DH's work. 20 miles to largest grocery store/walmart. Same distance to hospital/ police. I am not familiar enough with the area to know if there is a fire department etc closer. There are neighbors within minutes and a town of 1000 5 miles away. Twenty-two miles from work...not so bad. Mr. Ellie drove that far daily when we lived in San Jose, Calif. Twenty miles from the largest grocery store/walmart...ok, that's getting out of my radar. But then I'm a city girl. I've never lived further than a mile or two from a grocery store. :-) OTOH, it might be worth it, all things considered, if you love your home and your acreage. :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
indigomama Posted February 28, 2013 Author Share Posted February 28, 2013 We are 25 minutes from shopping and activities. It is 10 minutes to far for me. it wasn't bad when the kids where younger but now that they are teens I spend a lot of time in the car and sitting around waiting because it is to far to go home. I try to run errands when i am in town to save on gas but it means an afternoon guitar lesson turns into a 3 1/2 hour safari. Some days I need to make two trips which means almost two hours wasted in the car. Friends will come to the house but it usually means we are hosting something big like a BBQ. People won't come out for just an hour. When it comes to the kids getting together with friends, I usually meet the parents half way. Over the 20 years we have been in the house we have seen an increase in traffic. We have also had houses spring up around us which means we have lost the privacy my husband craved when he moved here. This was really helpful, thank you! Gives me great things to think about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dm379 Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 We live about 25 minutes from any city. In fact, you can get to 3 of them in 25 - 30 minutes. It takes me 30 minutes to get to work and dh 45 in the opposite direction so really our location is ideal. He doesn't mind the drive but I do. But I do love our 7 acres with no neighbors for about a mile. I've really worked on getting all our errands done at once. It helps that there's a small gas station about 5 minutes from here that stocks bread, milk and dr. pepper for when I run out of my three main necessities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrothead Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 Well, we don't have anything definite, but the property I like is 22 miles from DH's work. 20 miles to largest grocery store/walmart. Same distance to hospital/ police. I am not familiar enough with the area to know if there is a fire department etc closer. There are neighbors within minutes and a town of 1000 5 miles away. Chances are you'll have a VFD in the small town 5 miles away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 We live about 5 minutes from a town with a post office/bank/pizza parlor/fire and police, 15 minutes from a town with a grocery store and library, 20-30 for the towns that we need to go to most often (the ones that have bigger grocery stores, WalMart, bigger libraries, craft stores, Home Depots). We love living in the country and having some land, but honestly, it grates after a while, the drive to anywhere. DH commutes 45 minutes each way, every day, and it's not an unpleasant drive, but we all wish he had that extra hour and a half at home. The drive for me to town isn't too annoying once a week, but honestly, I do turn down activities that we could do, just because the drive makes the day too long. An hour round-trip drive on top of getting small children ready and loaded and unloaded (and bags, groceries, etc. loaded and unloaded) really does eat up the day quickly. There is no such thing as a quick trip anywhere. (For instance, there are nice YMCAs about 20 miles away, but that's too far for us to use very often, much less several times a week, so we do suffer a lack of that sort of thing.) It's not worth the gas cost (we're currently talking $4-5 dollars just to get to the grocery store one time) or time cost to go to the grocery store for a couple of things, or even to pop into the library for a couple of things. I do combine errands as much as possible (and I have DH stop on his way home for one or two things sometimes), and it HAS forced me to be more intentional about errands and running around -- "do I really NEED to go out, and can I hit two or three errands if I go out?" But the downside to that is that it is a very long day when we do go out; we pack lunch and schoolwork, but there are often many five-minute errands that necessitate getting everyone buckled and unbuckled multiple times (because my kids aren't quite old enough to stay in the car or to do most errands for me), and we end up very tired by the end of the day. It will be easier when my children are older and don't require quite so much assistance from me, but it will always be a long day. (Gas cost for commuting and weekly trips for me is pretty hefty -- but. If we lived closer to DH's office, we'd have paid much more for a house, so I think that's a wash. Wear and tear on his car is a slightly bigger deal, but I think it still is cheaper than a higher house payment.) Otoh, we have land to run around on (and hopefully to garden on in the future). We have well water, and we have gorgeous views. It's quiet here. We have neighbors, but they're not right on top of us. It is so much nicer than when we lived in a development with neighbors very close (and then I had the temptation to run to the store, or run to the library, or whatever, just because they were all close). So that's why we do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinder Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 We are not in the country and we're still 20 minutes from town. That is, 20 minutes from the shopping areas though there are 3 different grocery stores each about 10 minutes away; one of those is Walmart. Our dentist and ortho are about 20-25 minutes away. Doctors are 20-30 mins (depending on whose). The orthopaedist ds2 is currently seeing is an hour away (1.5 hours with traffic) and it's hard on me. Dh drives an hour to work but he only has to go in once or twice a week. This is about how much we drove when we did live in the country in KY. It was 10 mins to the grocery store but 20 mins to any other shopping. That's about my limit. Years ago when we lived in small town AR it was 30 mins to the shopping areas. I hardly ever went out then. I guess it was good for the budget, though. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-rap Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 Since your husband does most of the driving, I'd let his preference weigh in pretty heavily. For myself, as long as my kids weren't involved in a lot of things in town, I wouldn't mind the 20-minute drive once or twice a week. However, my kids did happen to be involved in a LOT of things -- theater, sports, etc. I was glad we lived in town. That being said, we live in a rural community and LOTS of families live 20 minutes out of town, on farms. The kids learn to drive as early as possible, and it seems to work out for them, even in the winter when roads are bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justamouse Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 I used to live very far (1/2 hour) from town, and now I live IN town. I'll take IN town. I love it. Yes, there are drawbacks, but I'm fully willing to deal with them and have the convenience in exchange. I use almost no gas, Dh's work is 15 minutes away, many days we just walk where we have to go. The time this saves is amazing. I got my DAY back. Also, there are small delightful things about living in town. My neighbor and I see eachother and chat once a week, at least, we pass plants back and forth, the kids have a blast on the street with the other kids, we've become a part of a community. People stop in for tea, the library is down the street, I can jump in the car and buy extra sap buckets and be back in less than 10 minutes....:D :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 This is an argument DH and I are having at the moment. We live 45 min. from his work (25 miles) and almost all of our activities are 15 miles from us (in the direction of work!) I would like to move over to that area, making his commute less and making our trips to activities minimal. He wants to stay where we are as we have acreage and a larger house this way. Dawn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest submarines Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 55 minutes to DH's work is his maximum. How far it is to the nearest "town" I don't really care. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
indigomama Posted February 28, 2013 Author Share Posted February 28, 2013 This is an argument DH and I are having at the moment. We live 45 min. from his work (25 miles) and almost all of our activities are 15 miles from us (in the direction of work!) I would like to move over to that area, making his commute less and making our trips to activities minimal. He wants to stay where we are as we have acreage and a larger house this way. Dawn It's a hard call. I am glad that we are just renting now, so hopefully we can iron out our differences before we have to move. DH thinks there will be a magical affordable house, on secluded property, but within minutes of his work, we'll see :tongue_smilie: Thanks everyone for your sharing your thoughts and experiences! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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