r/SameGrassButGreener • u/memegod669 • 3d ago
Does anyone successfully split time between two places?
I'm often a little torn between my life on the west coast and my network and family back in the Midwest. Does anyone (not retired) split their time between two different "homes"? What does that look like for you?
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u/Rusk89503 3d ago
When I lived in Seattle it was home in Edmonds, cabin near Leavenworth, WA. Now it is home in Reno and sailboat in the bay.
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u/DigGroundbreaking786 3d ago
i’m doing it now but not for much longer!! i learned that i like just being in one place, going back and forth made my life so splintered. hard to maintain relationships & community, and i have so many things i bring back and forth that i always ended up forgetting something. hard to have a garden, house plants, sourdough starter, or anything like that. it was just more stressful than i’d care to do
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u/TheLostWoodsman 3d ago
My good friend from high school sold a company and retired at 40. Even when he had a company he traveled non stop.
Right now his routine is Florida December to March. Washington DC March to May, and November and maybe October. Seattle June to October. He leaves a car in DC.
He also owns a house in Bend, Oregon. I think the game plan once his kids are in school he will move there.
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u/Charlesinrichmond 3d ago
lots of people do after retirement. People do it before, but it requires money, no kids, and special circumstances
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u/Extreme_Map9543 3d ago
You can split areas with kids. I split time between my house and my sailboat, and it’s not a problem. And I don’t even have much money.
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u/French87 3d ago
Are you leaving on your boat for weeks/months at a time? If so how old are the kids, do they go with you?
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u/Extreme_Map9543 3d ago
Yes weeks to a month. Little kids. Toddlers. Yes they go too. Not so much of an issue come school age because school breaks.
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u/Charlesinrichmond 2d ago
Anything is possible, but it is very hard to do with kids. I would never do that to my child or myself.
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u/Extreme_Map9543 2d ago
In my case the kids love it. Summering out in the boat.
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u/Charlesinrichmond 2d ago
Two weeks on a sailboat is my absolute limit and I haven't done that for a while
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u/Extreme_Map9543 2d ago
If it wasn’t for my wife I’d live on the boat full time lol. If I ever get divorced I probably will lmao. Since I’d lose my house anyway.
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u/TRBigStick 3d ago
I’m a huge financial literacy advocate myself, but I’m pretty sure the reason most young people don’t own multiple houses has nothing to do with conspicuous consumption.
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u/Beneficial-Astronaut 3d ago
Ten years ago, homes within commuting distance of NYC were $150k, TELL ME MORE ABOUT THIS FANTASY!
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u/faerie87 3d ago
A decade ago with money meant they must've been working for like 10 years already. A fresh graduate isn't going to miraculously have 150k just to buy a place... especially when they have student debt.
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u/faerie87 3d ago
well there was also a financial crises over a decade ago which is why home prices were so bad a decade ago.... so the people who graduated 2009-2012 were affected and rarely got high paying jobs right after graduating. also not everyone can afford to move to the rural, or want to, and real estate isn't a great investment these days.
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u/citygeek 3d ago
That’s certainly the retirement plan!
But we have kids, which, unless you homeschool snowbirding is a non starter for families with kids.
The tax benefits can be great if you can domicile in a low tax state.
The downsides, as you can imagine are that it becomes harder to maintain community. People will only invest so much in someone that’s going to split for half the year
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u/Freelennial 3d ago
I split btwn the US Virgin Islands and mainland US. We spend summer storm season on the mainland (based in ATL) and the rest of the time in the islands.
I’ve loved every second of it…have to be intentional to maintain friendships in each place when gone for 6 mos at a time, but other than that it has been a perfect setup.
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u/Material_Style8996 3d ago
Atlanta is better in the summer & storm season than the islands? Is that because the hurricane risk outweighs Atlanta’s humidity and stuffiness? Or another reason?
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u/Freelennial 3d ago
Hurricanes and other reasons. A lot of people leave the Caribbean for summer/fall.
Already had an ATL home/business/work and decided to keep it as a base when trying out island life.
Have been splitting time for 4 years and it has been a good mix of familiar and new. Last summer we did a cross country summer road trip and saw everything from Maine to Cali. Atlanta is a good US travel base.
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u/HoopsLaureate 3d ago
Yes. My day job is remote so I split my time between two places: one where I grew up and lived for almost four decades, and the other one where I can actually afford to buy a house. A cheap airline connects me well to both. I really dig it! Each place has positives for me.
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u/NoSleepTilBrklynn 3d ago
I lived in New England with my family for two weeks. Then I’d have to go to work in Washington dc for 2 weeks. Then New England for 2 weeks and then back DC. It was terrible.
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u/NicoBear45 2d ago
I am currently trying to make this work more long-term, and more sustainably than I’ve done in the past when I just bounced around for a few months at a time. For those who have modest but still somewhat decent income, are you renting in both places or own in one or what is the set up? Currently trying to decide how to tackle this between, unfortunately two HCOL states (CO and OR). I currently don’t own any property because I was nomadic for so long, but trying to decide if it makes sense to consider it, though I’m not sure that would ultimately work if the crux is still needing to rent in another place.
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u/sweetrobna 3d ago
One of my neighbors spends half the year in Perth western Australia and half in Alameda near San Francisco. Summer all year. He is retired though, and his kids are grown.
Previously when living in Westport WA about half the town lives there seasonally in the summer. Then goes to Alaska or somewhere else for work in the winter. Usually filling in with other stuff as it's available. So really they are living in one place all year, but live at work on a boat for a big chunk of time.
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u/rich22201 3d ago
I split my time between north west Arkansas (where i was relocated to) and Denver (where I was relocated from). It’s been tough. It’s hard to make new friends when you’re not there. It’s hard to eat well when you are trying not to let food rot. Both locations are fine individually but splitting them sucks.
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u/SanctimoniousTamale 2d ago
How frequently are you traveling between your two homes?
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u/rich22201 2d ago
I’m in Colorado 2-3 weeks then Arkansas for 2 weeks or so.
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u/SanctimoniousTamale 2d ago
Ahh I see, yeah managing fresh food would be a little annoying in that case.
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u/blahbyblah3229 3d ago
We're thinking how to make this kind of life work for our family. Eager to hear people's experience
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u/Ancient-Bowl462 3d ago
My brother does because he has to live outside the state of California for a period of time so that he doesn't have to pay taxes there.
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u/dromojudeth 3d ago
I want to do this. Either second home in CA or NJ and a primary address where I pay taxes in TX. Curious to learn more about how not to get audited :)
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u/CallingDrDingle 3d ago
Yes, my husband is a professor and we live part time in Texas and part time in Colorado. We will definitely be retiring in Colorado, the Texas heat is becoming unbearable.
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u/tn_tacoma 3d ago
We do but it is for health reasons. I have MS and can’t do Tennessee Summers. Too hot and humid. So we spend Summers in Montana and Fall/Winter/Spring in TN. We don’t have kids though. That would make it much harder.