Why I Moved From The City To A Town Of 600

Picture this: you wake up in a five-story house surrounded by acres of forest, pass a clothes line of fresh laundry flapping in the wind on your way out the door, head to the community garden to give the flowerbeds a quick drink of water before the sun comes up, and after work — stop for an afternoon swim at the local river for a dip before sitting down to a home-cooked dinner of pheasant.

That's a day in the life of a recent Money Diary from a 25-year-old program manager living in upstate New York. For those who live in the suburbs or a small town, this lifestyle may sound familiar. But for those of us suffering from city fatigue, who'd love to ditch these sweaty subway cars, her diary definitely ignited a bit of wanderlust. If it doesn't convince you to drop your life and move upstate, like, tomorrow, at the very least, you'll want to get an Airbnb for the weekend someplace with a chicken coop.

In pursuit of a change of pace and a chance to live among the population she studies, this OP decided to move onto greener pastures. Ahead, we interviewed her about why she left her life in a big California city for a town across the country with a population of 598, and, most importantly, how she feels about it now.