On the heels of musing over how to keep warm without breaking the bank in London last week, this week I bring you – should I move out of London?

And I am all ears in the comment section.

So I have definitely been a little frustrated over the cost of living here in London. And while I’m not completely sure how I feel about the topic, my partner and I have begun discussing possibly living together at some point.

During an initial discussion about our rents, which I had assumed were very similar, it came out that since he is renting from a friend, who pays a mortgage at a much lower rate than current rental prices, his rent for a his own room and bathroom in a significantly nicer part of London than I live in is less than half of what I pay to live on my own in the outskirts. And he cannot afford to pay much more than that.

As I am currently pretty much maxed out on how much I can pay too, this sent me into a small spiral of panic because, like… how would we even live like this? My apartment is too small for two people to live in comfortably.

And I would like to not wind up hating him because we moved in together and I am a human being who needs my own space.

This conversation all happened months ago and, all other emotional and future related considerations aside, has really been a large stressor for me, trying to figure out what our future together could look like that doesn’t involve moving into a flatshare with a bunch of other people or something.

Now about two weeks ago, I received a notice from my landlord that in May my rent will increase more than the standard 3% in my contract and then he accidentally sent me the wrong confirmation information and it said my rent was going to double.

So I had a small heart attack and was like, screw it, I’m moving back to America. This is bananas. And during my panic, wtf am I going to do, I also looked up cities within commuting distance to London.

And I found Peterborough. And if I paid the rent I am currently paying, I could live in a two bed, two bathroom flat with either a garden in the back or a nice balcony. All refurbished. All new builds. A flat comparable to what I live in now is easily £200-300 a month cheaper.

I looked at one flat that I could afford with my partner, and still pay less rent than I am paying now, and it was a massive penthouse apartment with a balcony that looked over a river at the local cathedral. It was stunning.

And then my landlord sent me a new notice with the correct amount, which is still an increase greater than 3% but only an extra £100 a month, which was right around the limit I could possibly afford.

But I’m left thinking, why am I living like this with all this stress in this absolutely lousy and expensive apartment with old, energy sucking appliances, that is poorly insulated and impossible to heat, with mice?

Peterborough is a 45 minute train ride to central London and then about 45 more minutes probably to school once in London. And tickets would be about £25 for a round trip.

September-December, I go in to school once a week, if that. January-May, twice a week. There are three weeks at the end of April, beginning of May that would be really unpleasant and then it would be down to like maybe once or twice a month June-August.

This would be the biggest change because I’m currently a 20 minute walk to the campus I spend the most time on and about an hour from my flat to the main campus where the library is. To get the library costs less than £2 each way. I don’t go very often though. Honestly, the British Library is the better library to spend the day at but that’s about $14 each time I go and takes about an hour to get to.

I cannot stop thinking about what an improved quality of life we would have out there because of less financial stresses. I also looked into it -they have all the things we require: a movie theatre, a game café, a Nandos and a Taco Bell.

We are simple people.

They also have two gyms with swimming pools, in case I get my life together.

We also have two friends we play a complicated board game with (Gloomhaven), so twice a month we might have to go into London on Saturdays, though they have also expressed that they would come to us as well.

And it would be kind of a pain to get to Heathrow, but I can deal with it.

I don’t know. I’m pretty sold.

We are going to check out the town this weekend, so hopefully we don’t see a clear reason why it’s such a good deal to live there.