Up All Night- The Growing Prysocks

A recent conversation:

David: "Hey honey, guess what?"

Steph: "What?"

David: "I was looking at our budget and finances and you know what I found out?"

Steph: "What's that?"

David: "We can't afford to live here."

Steph: "Oh really, great...."

This conversation or some variation has been ongoing since a couple months after we arrived.

The cost of living here is ridiculous. To give you a sample of the number, Dave Ramsey recommends that your housing cost take up 25-35% of take home pay, if I'm not mistaken. Our rent is 62% of my paycheck. Out here, 62% of my paycheck gets us a 1 bedroom, 1.5 bath with a small loft area. Our apartment is safe and well-kept. The only way were able to even remotely afford a place like ours is because it's farther from the city. In Texas, 62% of my location-adjusted salary can easily get us a rented 2 or 3 bedroom house. Naturally, we won't be using that much of my paycheck. 35% of my paycheck can easily get us a decent 2 bedroom duplex or apartment in the DFW area.

And of course the gas is more expensive (and I use more of it sitting in traffic), groceries are more expensive, and various other things are more expensive. We've adjusted by dropping our cable (obviously a luxury) and we have yet to run our A/C unit for at least 5 or 6 months. Yes that's right, we had no heat during the Virginia snowpocalypse (or snowmageddon) and we have been spending the past few weeks constantly sweating. All because of our refusal to risk using electricity and spending any more money than necessary. And yet still we're having trouble keeping up.

Our situation is not completely dire, we can get by just fine and stay around another year or two. We're still able to save some and tithe and we're not living paycheck to paycheck. The problem is that our situation conflicts with a desire we both have to start a family. Our tight budget is manageable for two people who can handle a steady diet of Ramen and other broke foods. We cannot, however, expect to responsibly support a baby in this situation. In addition, once we are able to start a family (which will hopefully be soon) we would like to be closer to friends and family. So that's the primary reason for our move.

Now, these are not the reasons that we're moving:

1. My job- I love my job here. The people in my office are all amazing and I really enjoy working with them. The actual job is difficult in DC and it will be the same or more difficult in Dallas. The team that I work with is great and arguably the best in the office. I have experienced no drama or conflict or serious problems here. This office has given me a great start and I have learned a lot and received an abundance of experience. I would also like to note that I hold no ill feelings towards Youth Villages (my employer) for the discrepancy in salary vs. cost of living. I'm not the first one to notice this issue, it just seems to be that the cost of living in DC is a bit too much for a non-profit, even one as big and successful as YV, to keep up. I truly love working for Youth Villages and it is a blessing to have this job. Especially since it was named by The Non-Profit Times as one of the top 50 nonprofits to work for in 2010.

2. The city- We love DC, as well as the area of Virginia in which we live. It is beautiful and fun and exciting. Granted, we haven't had a lot of extra money to do all the exploring we've wanted to, but we've really enjoyed the things that we have done. We love the weather out here and the noticeable difference in seasons.

3. Personal issues- The time we've spent out here has been an amazing growing experience for us as a couple. Being separated from the familiar and without the stress and distraction of school has allowed room for our marriage to flourish by God's grace. Going on this adventure has led us to love and depend on each more than ever. Our time here has been short, but it has been an amazing gift that has allowed for us learn and grow and experience life.

We are looking forward to moving back closer to home and reconnecting with friends and family. While we enjoy the alone time we've had as a couple, we are also exciting about actually having social lives again.

What we have to look forward to from here is both exciting and difficult. Our current lease is quite restrictive and it's going to mean that we have to continue paying our ridiculous rent to the end of the lease in the beginning of September. To avoid paying double rent we'll be staying with family until we find a place in September. We were hoping we wouldn't have to deal with this overlap, but this is just when the opportunity happened to present itself so we're going with it. The next couple of months will be difficult since we'll be moving and living in transition until we can settle back in.

Please keep us in your prayers. God has blessed us richly to bring us this far and provide for us, but we still have more to face as we go through this transition.