By Denise Turney
Moving to a big city can be intimidating, especially if you’ve never lived away from home and you grew up in a small town. The pace of big city life is faster.
On the other hand, small towns generally don’t attract as many big name entertainers, sporting events, corporations that pay competitive wages, retail stores and more. Small towns also generally aren’t on the cutting edge of fashion, finances and technology the way that larger towns are. It’s easy to get bored living in a small town.
Big city living brings big changes
However, it’s not all glitter and gold when you move to a big city. Traffic is congested on a daily basis. People living in the city may not be as patient as the people who lived in your neighborhood back home. If you already have furniture, that’s good. That one thing can save you hundreds of dollars, more if you bought your furniture from a store where you cut a special deal with the store’s owner.
Rent an apartment in a big city and don’t be surprised to pay $900 or more a month. This could be culture shock, especially if you come from a town where the average rent is $600 or less a month. For example, MSN Money reports that, “Living in a studio downtown with electricity, gas for the apartment, Internet, cable and a train card, I was already at $2,500 every month.”
Groceries and clothes are also higher in big cities. Move to a big city that has limited parking, and you should expect to spend $100 or more a month for private parking. That means you’ll pay to park your car in an apartment or private garage when you’re at home. It also means that you’ll have to pay to park when you go to work unless your employer covers those costs for you.
What you probably won’t have to deal with is boredom, especially if you make friends easily and have an outgoing personality. That doesn’t mean you’re chatty or talk all the time. It means you’re someone who enjoys communicating with other people. In a big city, you can take your love for communicating with people to check out live plays, go to major sporting competitions and use your natural talents to perform before live audiences at city parks and other public venues.
Talk to people who are already living in the city you’re contemplating moving to. Ask them about the ups and downs of living in the city. Be sure to ask about local taxes, street parking and rents and mortgages. You can learn about crime rates online or by reading through newspapers in the city you’re thinking about moving to.
Do your homework before you start packing, even if you’re feeling desperate for a change like Raymond Clarke is in Love Pour Over Me.
Thank you for reading my blog. To learn what happens to Raymond, Brenda and the other characters in my new book, Love Pour Over Me, hop over to Amazon.com, B&N.com, Ebookit.com, or any other online or offline bookseller and get your copy of Love Pour Over Me today. And again I say – Thank You! Consider Love.