Mrs. Bee’s recent post about city living really got me thinking about the reasons why I love suburbia. As fun as city life is, I really can’t imagine living anywhere but the suburbs! Looks like I’m not alone either, as studies have found that the percentage of people who long to live in the suburbs is higher than ever. I have many reasons for loving the suburbs, but underlying all of these reasons is the big one – it reduces my stress levels in a significant way, and relieves me of some of the worries I’d have if we were living elsewhere. This in turn makes me a more patient, and more present parent.
There are so many variations between suburbs that I can’t possibly cover them all, but these are the reasons why I personally love suburban life:
“C’mon mama, let’s go look at the golden sky!”
1) More Space – I think we can all agree that this is the first thing that pops into many of our minds when we think about suburban living. We get more space for our money, and I love that our kids have the space and freedom to run around at home without worry that we might disrupt our neighbors. When we’re cooped up at home, our kids are less likely to get cabin fever because there is the space for them to roam free and burn off some of that youthful energy.
He can preoccupy himself for hours with the space we have
2) The Convenience – This is another huge one because time (and sanity) is precious. My friends who live in downtown Los Angeles always complain about the crazy traffic, ridiculous paid parking, and tiny grocery markets packed to the brim with people. Our suburb has 3 Targets within a 10 minute drive in every direction, 2 Costcos, and supermarkets around every corner. It never takes me long to run a few errands because I’m in and out in a jif without having to deal with overcrowded plazas, tiny roads, and endless traffic lights. Our schools are also down the street from us too. I can walk my kids to elementary school, they can take the bus to middle school, and ride their bikes to high school. Everything is just so convenient.
3) The Cost of Living – Although we do live in a high cost of living area, in general, living in the suburbs is still cheaper than living in the city, and you get more for your money.
4) The Safety – This is important to bring up because the stakes feel so much higher now that we have children. It is a relief to know that the crime rates in our suburb is one of the lowest in the nation, and that while we can’t control everything in life, we can at least have some peace of mind when it comes to where we live.
Walking the dogs around our quiet suburban ‘hood
5) Good Schools – This is going to vary depending on which suburb you live in, but for us, our schools are top notch. We don’t have to worry about waitlists or have to test to get in. There is really not much stress when it comes to signing our kids up for school because you are practically guaranteed a spot in the school you’re zoned with. If you prefer another school, you can enter the lottery, and I’ve heard from moms of older kids that it’s easy to get into the schools of your choice if you desire. Property taxes generated from suburban homes generally go towards funding school districts, which in turn benefit our schools and our children.
Flying kites at dusk
6) Easy on the Eyes – I love the sprawling suburban plazas, the well paved roads, and tree-lined streets. On my drive home from work, I am able to appreciate the silhouettes of the distant mountains, and the setting of the sun in its beautiful shades of reds, oranges, and yellows.
7) Closer to Nature – Drive 10 minutes and we can go on some wonderful hikes that take us up into the hills, through forests, and near creeks. Drive 20 minutes and we find ourselves at the beach. We are also an hour from San Diego, an hour from Los Angeles, two hours from Santa Barbara, and four hours from Vegas. Our suburb affords us what I consider “the best of both worlds,” so we get a little of city, a little of nature, and everything in between.
Whether it’s water or mountains, they’re never too far away.
8) Peace and Quiet – As an introvert, I get overwhelmed by the hustle and bustle of city life. The city is nice to visit, but at the end of the day, we always feel that pull back to our quiet abode in the suburbs. I love being able to choose between staying busy or keeping things low-key.
A book, a candle, and plenty of space = my happy place
9) Plenty of Recreational Activities – Disneyland, children’s museums, aquariums, zoos, indoor play gyms, tons of playgrounds within minutes from us, splash pads, movie theaters…. we have it all at our fingertips. There is no shortage of activities for our kids to do here in the suburbs.
We regularly go to the playground after dinner!
10) Entertaining at Home – We love having a home where we can host and entertain. We have a line item in our budget just for “hospitality” because hosting friends is a huge value of ours. The great thing about having indoor space is that we have a place to hangout regardless of weather or other things outside our control. Our home is our haven, our retreat, our safe place. It is a place where memories are built, and laughter shared. Our home still promotes bonding because our rooms aren’t very big, but the living space is (so it’s nice to have our own private spaces, but a shared space too). I love being able to cook in the kitchen while watching our kids play, or having large groups of people over while we BBQ in the backyard.
Hanging with friends in the comfort of home
Raising our kids in the suburbs is our ideal. We find so much to do every weekend, but it also gives them a chance to be “bored” too. As they get older it feels good to leave them for periods of unsupervised, free play where they can use their imaginations to occupy their time. We don’t have a huge backyard, but live walking distance to the park where we encounter neighborhood kids all the time. We are friendly with our neighbors, exchanging gifts at Christmas and chit chatting in our front yards while our kids ride their tricycles around our cul-de-sac. Suburban life is exactly how I imagined it would be when it came to raising a family. I only wish we had enough plot space to grow our own garden. Alas, you can’t have everything!
Are you Team City or Team Suburb?
kiwi / 511 posts
I had commented in the city post that I was a suburb kind of girl, and many of the reasons I had were the same as yours. I can add one other as your hospitality budget item reminded me, I have room for guests. Currently my parents are up for a visit, they have their own room to stay in, and I leave them at the house with the kids on days like this when I go to work. The kids have some great times with their grandparents and things are close and familiar for them and I get great pics at work of the kids not missing us a bit.
GOLD / wonderful pomegranate / 28905 posts
3, 8 & 10 are definitely the biggies for DH & I!!!
I grew up in NYC and although we lived in Queens I never had a backyard. That was one thing I always remember, I wanted a big backyard with a tree house, play structure, et al for my kids. I want them to be free to run around in their own backyard. I don’t want the hassle of getting the kids ready to go to the playground that’s 5 blocks away. Although we have that too!
And I have to disagree that people in suburbs are not friendly neighbors because you just stay in your own house. My daughter plays with our neighbors almost daily; it’s why we bought where we did! I think if you don’t want to be neighbor friendly it doesn’t matter if your neighbor is 20 ft away or shares a wall with you!
hostess / wonderful watermelon / 39513 posts
I love the suburbs!
GOLD / eggplant / 11517 posts
Love this! That city post gave me City Envy, but thanks for the reminders of all the great parts about suburban living!
wonderful pomelo / 30692 posts
Love the suburbs!
honeydew / 7504 posts
This is why I miss living where we did outside of Philly. We technically lived in the ‘burbs, but we were a quick 30-minute train ride from all that the city had to offer. I worked in the city so I got to take advantage of “city life” pretty much whenever, but could also retreat to my quiet suburbs. It was kind of the best of both worlds. If I had to choose, I’d choose suburbs, but I really wish we lived closer to a “real” city again!
coconut / 8279 posts
I technically live in the ‘burbs but you cross the street and you’re in the city, so I would consider myself a city dweller.
I work in real estate and get so tempted looking at what we could afford to buy in the ‘burbs further out but I don’t know if I could do it. I love everything the city has to offer. I remember dreaming about living in the city when I was growing up and don’t know if I would be happy living a true suburban lifestyle!
grapefruit / 4988 posts
I wish our suburbs were like this! #2 and #9 are main reasons that we do not live in the suburbs right now. The suburbs around here are pretty boring and make for long painful commutes. Your town sounds wonderful.
GOLD / wonderful coconut / 33402 posts
We are in the city. My DH has issues with the burbs, he says they remind him too much of the small small small town he grew up in. He is nuts but right now I am happy with living in the city. My only hang up is how much more we pay for day care.
grapefruit / 4671 posts
This is such a sweet post! I especially love the first picture.
grape / 89 posts
One of the bloggers needs to do a country living post! Do we have a country blogger? We currently just moved from the country to the suburbs and I’m counting down the days until we can be back in the land of open fields, wild life, and quiet!
blogger / pomelo / 5400 posts
@deannab1: check out mrs twine’s posts!
blogger / eggplant / 11551 posts
@Mrs.Maven: Yes! We have a guest room, and it’s nice to be able to house people when they’re in town for a visit, or if we need to go overnight somewhere we can have the in-laws babysit and just stay overnight.
@regberadaisy: I wish we had a bigger backyard with all those things because that’s what I grew up with too, but right now our neighborhood park is walking distance, and we pay a monthly HOA fee to gain access to that nicely maintained park and pool area without having to do any of the maintenance work, so I’ve learned to love this alternative!
@DillonLion: I had city envy too after that post! Block parties, everything within walking distance, diversity, etc. all sounds so appealing too, but I still wouldn’t trade this for that!
@catlady: I don’t think I could live anywhere that required a long commute. We are lucky we live and work in the same city!
@Smurfette: I think there are so many different types of ‘burbs, and ditto for cities. I could never live in cities like LA or SF, but NYC and Boston sound really appealing to me. I’m sure the same goes for suburbs – some really great ones, and some painfully boring ones!
@plantains: Thank you!
@deannab1: I think someone is going to work on a country living post! Stay tuned…
blogger / apricot / 349 posts
Great post! I agree. I love living in the suburbs although Mrs. Bee’s post did give me City Envy. Thanks for the reminder of all the wonderful aspects of suburban living!
grapefruit / 4187 posts
Two things I hated most about having a child in nyc were worrying about making too much noise ALL the time and having no choice but to leave the house every day in order to do anything. Sure there were tons of parks and museums nearby, but I would have loved to hang out in PJ’s for longer in the morning or just have the choice to play in the backyard instead of going somewhere. Our weekend mornings were super stressful because it was a race to dressed, packed up and outside before LO started to really lose it. Now we just go in the basement play room or backyard!
blogger / kiwi / 588 posts
There are definitely different kinds of ‘burbs. I grew up in the Chicago ‘burbs and now live in the San Diego ‘burbs and they are very different from each other!
cantaloupe / 6131 posts
I think you bring up a great point about personality. I’m an introvert and the years I spent living in the city were exhausting because someone was always in my space. I thought I didn’t like public transportation because I’m from SoCal and used to driving but I realize now it’s that after a long day at work, I mentally could t handle being squished with other commuters in my face for 30-45 minutes every night. We just bought a house in the burbs 20-ish minutes away from the downtown area that I work in and it’s sooooo quiet and convenient to highways and shopping and we are a block over from a really nice park. It really does make me so happy! Home is my retreat and recharge place and now with a baby I need that haven so much more!
pomelo / 5621 posts
I like the suburbs. I love the feeling of community that we have in our little area.
blogger / apricot / 335 posts
LOL on this post! You know how I feel about the burbs
I don’t know what will take me out of the city but #2 is a HUGE contender since I have to go to the market so often! Freaking Targets and Costco here are a nightmare and I dread going because of the insane parking lots. I can avoid the traffic, luckily, but as Baby starts having to travel more I worry about car accidents. SIGHHHH….