To want an easier life? (Really, really trivial).

[TantricShift]

First off I am grateful for all I have but I seem to have a habit of making life difficult for myself. We moved house just before giving birth to DD2 and stupidly bought a rambling old house that later turned out to have an unsolvable damp issue and to be really impractical for a family (I was hormonal when I bought it!!). However, it is in an incredibly nice place and I love the area. I know that is not the reason to stay but we cannot find anything more suitable in the local area. I have found a newer, well insulated and altogether more practical house on an estate that is just 2 mins walk from school (which beats our current 30 min walk). Although I am very uninspired by the local area I am wondering if I should just get on with it for the sake of an easier life.

The reason I am saying this is that I have a long history of taking the harder option every time but I am just getting too old and too tired to cope with it. Has anyone else gone for the easier option (despite being the less attractive one) and been really glad?

Like I said this is trivial but any useful insight are welcome.

Life is too short to spend being miserable. Move.

Yes.
I moved to Glasgow and just loved the old fashioned tenement flats. The day I walked into our new home I said "Oh what lovely high ceilings."

I had plenty of time to reflect on my foolishness over the following winter of drafts, impossible heating costs and TWO (count 'em) hurricanes.
High fucking ceilings

We moved into an uninspiring 1960's system built maisonette. On an estate of similar.
It has normal height ceilings, small rooms, insulation and proper central heating. I am happy and toasty warm.

Thank you WerkSupp, I am getting the feeling that life is too short. And dashoflime I hear you. My house is beautiful to look at but a bloody nightmare to live in. Sash windows, slate floors, facing the sea all sounds lovely but the reality it's draughts, freezing floors and driving rain. Don't get me wrong I walk out of my house on a beautiful day and I am so grateful to live there but the winter is coming and I just can't face more cold. We are also set back off the road, up a footpath and across a neighbours garden so it makes transporting shopping and kids a nightmare. Also, the problems inherent in the structure of the house mean that we would have to do major works if we wanted to change anything internally and I just couldn't face that. Our house is like a very beautiful holiday home, nice to visit but better to get home to some insulation and underfloor heating.

Feel no guilt about moving!

Can't you just build a prefab inner-shell for the house? No structural alterations needed. Or else just put a couple of Wendy houses at the bottom of the garden. I wouldn't move, but I am known as overly and impractically Romantic anyway.

Know the feeling.
I live in a rambling old place which needs constant maintaining despite having about £300k spent on it 5 years ago.
Personally I'd rather sit here as it fell down around my ears than move into some godawful box on a commuter estate!

Love it, NEVER leaving!

I have a house built in 1987. Not much character to it but a) warm, b) 30 seconds walk from school, c) almost zero maintenance.

I can't describe how much I love living here!

We moved from a 1930s semi to a brand new home. I really love it. Windows that fit and no draughty high ceilings.

I would move too, life is too short.

Definitely move m'love.

Get a new build. They're fab.

Oh it's head v heart isn't it op.

Our house is 1930s and we had open fires put in and old school huge radiators. We have blankets for watching tele and use very thick socks.

I love the romantic me.

Stay and renovate over time

It's a tough one but I would probably say move.

Similarly, husband and I used to 'travel' for our holidays, always booking independantly and rarely taking the easy route. In September with DS now 8, we finally went on a package holiday, all inclusive to Ibiza. It was bliss!

Sometimes if you make life easier in some ways, you have time to enjoy other aspects of your life if that makes sense.

I am tending toward easier life. I've lived in my fair share of cold draughty houses and I can't stand damp. We have completely insulated and put new windows, radiators and heating system in our 3 bed semi and it's soooo good. I'd love a new build!
My sister on the other hand will take the romantic impractical option every time

Go for the easy option, I can't stand the cold to the point I would rather have the heating on and starve.

Being a practical Virgo my first thought is: what's it going to be like when I get old. Don't all groan, it happens to most of us. It creeps up quicker than you think. The other thought is: how will it sell. Your not painting a very attractive picture with the damp. Did you have a survey?

I grew up on a housing estate and it was fab as all my friends were in walking distance. We used to play out all day, every day and there was a great swinger social scene for the parents.

I think do-er uppers are great if you have a lot of time and money on your hands but a lot of effort if you don't.

Would an Aga and Joules slippers not solve things?? :)

Depends what else you want to do. I took a "career break" for a couple of months to work on renovating beautiful gorgeous romantic Georgian townhouse. Three years later, still not finished and kids come along. Ruined my career as it was at the time and was - as it turned out - a huge nail in the coffin of my relationship with DP. It's a question of your priorities.

I would say, with children and a school run to think of, go for the convenient, easy option and move. You will so much appreciate the proximity to the school when you have to get there every day, in all weathers!

Also, being warm and comfortable trumps period elegance any day when you have a family, not to mention not having to spend any spare time and energy on renovation and improvements. Your free time can be spent relaxing or doing things together.

It's a hassle having to move again - and expensive - but, once you've done it, I don't think you'd look back.

Purplepixiedust I totally hear you on holidays! I was beginning to wonder what was wrong with me because I didn't like to be abroad.

That was because "being abroad" always meant wandering lost around dusty coach stations, trying to understand time tables in "forrin" and making stilted conversation in a different language with people who were lovely but also virtual strangers.

I particularly remember the utter fear when a massive Russian bloke (friend of a friend) cheerfully swung my backpack onto his shoulders saying "Don't worry- its not sexist- I would help anyone!" and trying to explain that sexism was the least of my concerns. I was terrified I would lose him in the crowd along with my money, passport, tent etc..

The first day of my first package holiday: A rep picked me up from the airport and directed me (in English!) to an air conditioned car which then drove me to a hotel by the beach.
I thought "Bloody hell- this is what holidays are meant to be like then. No wonder other people enjoy them!"

I am planning my next one now- Two weeks all inclusive at one of those family resorts with a water park and a spa. Bliss!

PS OP, I don't think this is trivial at all. Where and how you live can either reduce stress massively by taking pressure off you or can add to it for years. Big, damp, expensive houses can drain you of money and energy which not only negatively impacts everyday life but can also cause long-term stress on relationships and finances. I think your impulse to leave is sound.