The perks of rural living
Life in the country is cheaper and has fewer distractions
Volunteer Sarah Riddell, 12, of Staunton, holds a basket of wool at the English Farm on Wednesday, April 20, 2011, in Staunton, Va. Is life better in the countryside?
Pat Jarrett / AP
This past weekend, my family traveled to visit several members of our extended families. The are we traveled to was decidedly rural. Statistically, it’s a below-average income county in a below-average income state.
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I know a lot of people near where we live who couldn’t imagine living in such an area. They complain about the educational level of the people there. They complain about the lack of services available. They complain about the lack of entertainment and “culture.”
Yet, every time I visit this area (or areas like it), a large part of me wishes I lived there. Such areas provide a lot of economic and social opportunity if you’re adequately prepared.
Here are some reasons why.
The cost of living is stunningly low. While we were visiting, we purchased two lovely decorated cakes from a local cake decorator. We assumed that prices would compare to those in our area, so we had our wallets out. The total bill? $15. We were so amazed that we left $5 extra as a tip. Take that, Ace of Cakes.
The prices at the grocery store were lower. The prices for buying food at local farmers’ markets was lower. The cost of buying land was lower. The cost of a 2,000 square foot house was much lower. The property taxes and insurance was much lower, too. Water bills were lower. Almost everything is less expensive than where we currently live – and we don’t live in an expensive part of the country. We live near Des Moines, where the cost of living is below average for major metropolitan areas.
The ability to focus is much higher. There are simply less distractions. It’s no owner that novelists and book writers often retreat to rural areas to write. There aren’t cars going by constantly. You don’t hear the constant beeps and noises of urban or suburban traffic. You don’t have the regular interruptions that come even with living on the edge between a town and the country. You can just buckle down and focus on what you need to accomplish.
The lack of distractions makes it easier to focus on the task at hand and focus on your goals as well.
Day-to-day life lacks urgency. So much of my day-to-day life feels urgent but, frankly, not really important. I have to get my children to a soccer practice. I have to run to the store to pick up two items. I have to answer the doorbell only to find it’s some door-to-door person looking for something unimportant.
It’s a wonderful ideal to toss those things aside, but so often, these “conveniences” of a urban or suburban busy life interfere. In a more rural area, you don’t have people ringing your doorbell or loitering in the apartment hallway. You don’t have a store a mile away, so you plan more carefully for your groceries and just use what you have. You don’t jump back and forth between activities constantly. Instead, you have the time to explore other things in your life.
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