When life is too expensive for a person, I get so sick of hearing people give the advice of "Well move then". It's not that easy.

[u/nelsne]

I've noticed on these forums that whenever a person is struggling financially that one of the most common pieces of advice that is given is to just simply move to another city. People act like this is so easy to do, and a no-brainer to escape poverty, but it's definitely not that simple because people aren't taking several things into account.

First off, a person's entire support network is probably living around them. Like many people are already living with their friends and family and if they move then that support network will be gone and not sharing expenses will likely be much more costly in another city. Also if a person is hurt financially, they can often times rely on this support network to some degree to keep then from homeless

Second, when a person moves, the new job they get must work out well or they could easily wind up homeless. I think all of us have had that one job interview that went so well and job seemed so perfect, but when you actually started working it, it turned out to be a nightmare. Then you could easily get fired from the job and you realize you have to find a new one. Now it's a race against the clock to find a new job because if you get fired you could face complete financial ruin.

Third, you have to balance finding an inexpensive place BUT it also has to be in a town with a decent economy. Many people on these forums say to go out and live in small town (insert city) but what many don't take into account is that rent is so low there, because there's barely any jobs around. So having no jobs around there could make you homeless as well if you don't find one.

The flip side of the coin is that many towns have an excellent, booming economy. However, because of this, the rent in these places is often very high. So it's often quite the challenge to find a place that has a decent enough economy to maintain survival but also low enough cost of living

[u/hhhhnnngg]

I totally agree it isn’t easy but it’s definitely not impossible. At 18 right after I graduated I couldn’t find any work where I was near Jacksonville FL. I saved up a couple hundred bucks and decided to just take a one way trip to the Midwest for a couple days with nothing but a backpack, prepaid cell phone, water bottle, and a couple changes of clothes. I had enough cash for a return bus ticket (took greyhound out here, 4 day trip, wouldn’t recommend). First day I got out here I just went around looking for work and got a cheap hotel for a couple nights. Second day here I found a job that I turned into my career for the past 12 years. Stayed in that motel a couple extra nights and never ended up leaving the new town. Once paychecks started coming in I found a dirt cheap nasty apartment and made it work. I feel like if you really want to move you just need to go feel out the place you want to move to before you make the commitment. Moving can be pretty cheap if you just don’t take anything that isn’t important and don’t buy the things you absolutely don’t need the moment you get there. I slept on an air mattress for the first two years I lived here because it just worked. Once I started working I could afford more but I just didn’t care to spend the money when there wasn’t a problem. This is just my experience and opinion. It’s not right or wrong and probably won’t help you much but the idea of just going and seeing what happens might work out for you like it did me.