Moving Blues

With the price of gasoline rising beyond belief, I have once again begun contemplating the sale of my small, cozy urban home and moving closer to my office in the north suburbs. The daily commute by car is around 20 miles each way and the trip takes one half hour to forty-five minutes depending on traffic and road conditions. Seeing that I have to make the round trip to work at least 6 times per week, from Tuesday to Sunday, you can only imagine how much money I am having to shell out for fuel.

Now I realize that some people spend much more than I do and travel much further distances daily than I might do in three days, and some of those people aren’t worried about gas prices. Well, all I can say is “Bully for you!” I don’t enjoy paying high gas prices and even though in the spring and summer I can bicycle back and forth with little effort, I am still hard pressed to find any merit in being gouged at the gas pump, no matter how much temporary relief I get from other modes of transport. Thanks to the auto industry and the tire manufacturers, Detroit has a crappy mass transit system, and I cannot even make connections to anywhere near my home, even though I am only a short distance from a major intersection. Buses here are no help to me at all.

Moving, even into a moderate sized apartment, has some definite advantages. First of all, even if there were no net monthly savings, I would be within one mile or less of my office and would save hours of travel time per week. Secondly, most apartments or condominiums I am considering are larger than my home is right now. I have only 800 square feet of living space and a small yard. Thirdly, apartment living would alleviate any extra work involved in repairing, maintaining, and updating a home. I’m at the point where none of those chores attract my interest any longer. I’d rather spend more time reading and studying something new than replacing a toilet or mowing a lawn.

There will be two things that I will miss about my home. I do have a nice little garden and I still enjoy sitting under the lilacs that I planted when I moved in and I love the altheas that bloom in late summer. I like the ‘cottage’ feeling of my home; small, efficient, and not more than I need. I am far from being a Spartan or minimalist, but I still shun owning too much stuff or cluttering my home with too much bric-a-brac. My home is also very cat-friendly and the location is perfect for my indoor-outdoor feline masters. There is little traffic and lots of places for them to explore in relative safety. Moving them would upset their routine. They would adjust with time.

Most of all, and probably the one factor that would prevent me from moving no matter what the cost in fuel, are the various critters and varmints that frequent my home on a daily and nightly basis, seeking shelter, food, and a little scratch on the neck. To be honest, I think it important that I be there for the wildlife and neighborhood strays that seek a meal. They entertain me with their personalities and habits. I would miss that very much. I don’t know of anyone else in my neighborhood who feels as I do or would make the effort to help animals in need.

There is also the trouble to fix up and sell the house and I don’t think, considering the current real estate slump, that I’d receive my asking price for it. I would be happy to get out what I put into it at this point. I didn’t buy the home for investment or resale in the first place, but to live in and stay in until whenever. I’m not profit driven in this matter, but I also don’t want to lose money on the deal. The house is paid off, so I’m lucky there.

What to do. What to do.