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There comes in a time in many individuals’ lives when they just no longer crave the hustle and bustle of the city. City life certainly has its benefits, and, I think it can be good for everyone to experience it for at least a brief period of their life. The city offers so much. There is no lack of career opportunities. You can immerse yourself in almost any culture or experience you want. Honestly, I think a lot of people discover who they are in the city. I did. You need to sample everything to know what works for you. Joint that club. Run with that crew. Sample all of those cuisines. Get in the messy and beautiful mangled work of art that is city life. I worry about those who only live in small towns forever – I worry they never give themselves the chance to figure out who they would be, if they got the chance to have a variety of experiences. But, once you’re done with city life, you’re done. When you’ve reaped all of the benefits and you no longer take much joy in those, then you’re just bothered by the cons of city life. Of which there are, of course, many. You’ll start to feel that itch. Here are signs you’re ready to leave the city for the suburbs.
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You hear sirens in your sleep
To live in a city means to always hear a siren or a honking horn or a construction crane or a car alarm somewhere. It could be right outside your window, or it could be a mile away. Or it could be every block, between those two points. But you always hear it. If you’re starting to hear these sounds in your sleep, like they’re haunting you, it could be time to get out of there.
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Your road rage has maxed out
Living in a city means dealing with traffic. If you live in a driving city, it means actual rush hour car traffic. It means covering just six miles in 45 minutes to an hour. It means seeing brake lights for days. If you live in a subway city, it means being crammed into subway cars with smelly strangers, or even having to wait for two or three subway lines to come and go because they were too full. If your rage has reached a frightening place because of this car and foot traffic, it may be time to go.
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You’re always seeking the outdoors
You’ve started to spend every free moment you have seeking out the outdoors. You ask friends who have yards if you can come over. You want to drive outside of the city to go on a hike. You want to go to a park. At the park, you want to sit far away from everyone else. Your body is begging you to spend more time outdoors, which is hard to do when living in an apartment in the city.
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You live to host guests
Nothing makes you happier than having house guests. This can mean having dinner parties just for an evening, or having out-of-town guests stay with you. You hate how limiting your home is for hosting. Maybe you just have a one-bedroom apartment, and overnight guests have to stay on the couch. Or hosting a dinner party means nobody can really even move around your place at their own free will. You want space to host, damnit!
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You’ve seen it all/done it all
The secret underground clubs. The art exhibits. The cool coffee shops. Every single concert venue. The live book readings from famous authors. The concerts in the parks. The swanky rooftop bars. Nothing is new to you anymore. People invite you to these cool city events and they just no longer call your name.
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You are a big homebody now
You mostly stay home now. That’s what you want to do. You’re a homebody. Your idea of a nice evening is enjoying your home. So you’ve been trying to find ways to make your home your oasis. You add mirrors to make the space look bigger. You’re building a nice home bar. But your city apartment is very limiting in terms of being an oasis-worthy space. A suburban home would be much better.
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You want more privacy
You hate how everyone is on top of each other in the city. You can’t even walk around your home in your underwear because your bedroom window is just four feet away from someone’s bathroom window, or the sidewalk. You hate hearing your neighbor’s conversations and TV through the walls. The amount of people per block is driving you nuts. You want to be alone a bit more.
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The smell is getting to you
You know the smell. The city just has a…smell. Urine. Dumpsters. Coors Light maybe. The fumes of the bus. And of traffic in general. The smoke wafting from the fast food restaurants. You used to wake up, smell that, and think, “Hellooo city!!!”. And now, you just want to put an air-tight seal over all of your doors and windows to avoid that smell.
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The eccentrics are no longer charming
The neighbor who always tries to sell you a tarot card reading. The teenagers who sit in a pile at the end of the block playing drums and smoking, er, something until 4am, calling you “Hey lady!” when you walk by. There are all of these characters who you once felt made up the beautiful and eccentric tapestry of city life. And now, they have lost their charm.
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You need storage space
You just feel like you have room for nothing. Your limited cabinets and closet space have been packed to the gills. You can’t even open a closet door without fear of everything coming tumbling out. You don’t want to be a hoarder. And you’re not! You just have the items that you need to live, like a blender and a vacuum cleaner and winter coats, but you don’t have the space to store them.
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The price-per-square-foot angers you
When you think about what you pay for just the area where your dining table sits, your blood boils. And when you hear that your friend’s mortgage in the suburbs for a four-bedroom, three-bath house with a yard and pool is less than what you’re paying in rent for your studio apartment…then you really struggle to sleep at night.
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You keep visiting your friends in the ‘burbs
You break away from the city as much as you can. You want to visit your friends who already live in the suburbs, all of the time. You visit them so much now, that it’s no longer a question of if you’re coming up on Friday evening, but just what time you’ll be arriving. You basically have a second home in your friends’ suburban guest room.
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You watch suburban real estate shows
You spend all of your screen time watching real estate shows that take place in suburban areas. You love to get lost in the footage of the big rooms. The en-suite bathrooms. The yards. The large driveways. The pools. The massive living rooms. The home offices. You like to pretend you’re there, and not in your apartment.
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You check listings every night
You’re on the sites every night looking at listings. You’ll lose track of time. You’ll spend hours on there, even calculating what the total cost of home insurance and HOA and taxes would be for certain homes. You even look up jobs in the neighborhood…just in case.
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Something always disturbs your slumber
You never just get to sleep until you’re naturally done sleeping. A freaking car alarm, or crying baby on the other side of the wall, or drunk people yelling outside, or car bumping its base, or siren, or fender bender, or garbage truck wakes you up. You just want some quiiiieeeetttt!!!
