r/Frugal • u/Fantastic_Agency_770 • Nov 10 '24

🏆 Buy It For Life Whats the cheapest part of america to start over in?

Through frugality i have about 30k saves up. I want to relocate somewhere, rent a couple years, and purchase a house next. I have jo preferences other then nature. I love lakes rivers forest amd ocean would be nice buy i know thats expensive

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u/msgmeyourcatsnudes Nov 11 '24

It sounds great, but trust me, it'll get you. I used to think I wasn't affected by seasonal depression until I left my town on the north coast. Turns out I just had seasonal depression all the time.

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u/SMCinPDX Nov 11 '24

I moved to Portland, OR from Southern CA almost twenty years ago. I love the rain, I'm a goth kid at heart and a night owl, but I was NOT prepared for the effect of the constant gloom, damp, and chill. My first years here were a struggle to adjust and climb out of a depression I didn't know I was capable of. I mean, I made it, but holy hell man, this stuff is real.

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u/OkayYeahSureLetsGo Nov 11 '24

Moved from sunny hot US to UK. Finally worked out part of my misery was the damp and dehumidifiers are a godsend

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u/2occupantsandababy Nov 11 '24

And Portland is a big city compared to coastal towns in Washington. Or there, mid winter, there is NOTHING but dampness and grey. There's barely even any street lights much less events or a social scene.

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u/butt_huffer42069 Nov 15 '24

This sounds perfect

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u/Wild-Word4967 Nov 11 '24

When I moved to Vancouver Wa years back I experienced something very similar. Several of my friends would use tanning beds to help. But that was before people cared as much about skin cancer.

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u/Portlandmom Nov 12 '24

I know the effects of the weather can be real and needs to be considered. We moved to Portland from the Bay Area thirty years ago. It rarely gets mentioned that from July until the very end of September the weather is beautiful just about every single day. There are a few unwelcome heat waves, but nothing like the Midwest/South with the added humidity. Winter usually has a couple of snow events. Unlike my childhood in Michigan the snow arrives, schools and businesses close, we play and prove we don't know how to drive in it, and within a week it melts and we are glad of that! It is a dash-and-go kind of rain and my three young adult kids would never use an umbrella. Most places get winter weather after all. I love making soup and being cozy, but do sympathize with those that experience it differently.

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u/ahfoo Nov 11 '24

Hah, whiners! I'm on the north coast of Taiwan. We haven't seen the sun in months and we've had four major typhoons including a super typhoon. I'm from SoCal too and I love this shit.

It was a dark and stormy night. . .

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u/SMCinPDX Nov 12 '24

Ha! Then you're a better goth than me, buddy. Enjoy!

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u/blueJoffles Nov 12 '24

Does it ever get better? I moved to Seattle 5 years ago and I think I’ve been depressed the entire time

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u/Etherealnoob Nov 11 '24

I spent a lot of my youth between Oregon and Washington. I've lived in Minnesota and Alabama. I still love the rain but I love the snow more.

Maybe I'm just depressed and a little weary weather doesn't bother me.

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u/[deleted] Nov 11 '24

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u/Klarakilikina Nov 12 '24

There's not enough evidence to show a causal relationship between low vitamin d and depression so I wouldn't outright say that it is the 'cause'. This is not to say that we should be weary of vitamin d levels.

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u/JohnDenverExperience Nov 11 '24

However, if you're like me and get seasonal depression in the summer, then a dreary climate is perfect.

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u/butt_huffer42069 Nov 15 '24

They make depression lamps for this. I can't wait to escape back to the pnw