Monday, August 4, 2008
On base...or off?
What have been your housing experiences? Has anyone in the housing office looked at you like you were crazy when you showed up with four kids? Do you like living on base or out in town better? I know for me, I have liked both. It was nice when we were just married and could share a tiny apartment and pocket some BAH. But I have also enjoyed the convenience of living on base and the chance to be in a ward with other military members of the church. For me that is huge. Having people who can really relate to the situation you are in, both with your spouse's career and spirituality, means a lot to me. Not that I haven't loved the wards we have lived in where we were it as far as active duty, but there are times, when it is nice to not have to explain acronyms. Granted, military housing isn't all its cracked up to be a lot of the time. Some of them aren't well maintained and even though the military has privatized most housing and most private contractors are working to improve things, in some areas they still have a long ways to go. But out in town places aren't always any better. In one of our places we had major plumbing issues 2 weeks after my other half deployed. So it is me, by myself, trying to move furniture out of the water, deal with the landlord and then deal with another two weeks in a hotel (it was okay, but Motel 6 quality, not the Hilton) while they re-plumbed our entire apartment. Of course I had to clean up after the contractors were finished. Then I spent the next few months being sure that I was dying from mold growing somewhere in the house. But I didn't die, and that was the end of the plumbing problems, and for that apartment we were able to save a little money. So let's hear about it. I want the good, the bad, and the ugly. Which do you like better? Do you like being in a ward that has other military folks in it? Or do you like to do your own thing and go to ward where you aren't just one of the military people who will be gone in a few years?
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5 comments:
I'm totally for both too. I enjoy being on base. Everybody kinda looking out for each other. Being within 5 minutes of the commissary. Not having to worry about rent, electric, gas, etc.
On the other side, my hubby didn't like it. He didn't like that he NEVER left the base. We did out grocery shopping, errands, dry cleaning, everything on base. The only time he left was to go to Wal-mart. (Anchorage doesn't have a lot to offer in the winter.) So he was feeling totally trapped.
We also have animals and it was a huge stresser to have them with the carpet. We ended up having to pay quite a bit of fines to move out.
Our next base is hopefully Florida where housing is right on the beach. We'll live there because I really want to.
Sooo...I'm for both. My hubby is leaning towards off, especially if we can make money off of BAH.
I'm so happy to see you have started this blog. I have wanted to start a website for so long, but haven't quite gotten to it... you know how it goes. A HUGE list of "things I need to do in order to not have a guilty conscience for the rest of my life." Anyway, to answer the question, we have loved both. Living on post is comparable to living on campus at college. The social life is great, you have instant friends when you move in, everyone is in your same boat, and everything is within 5 minutes. I loved having my husband home for breakfast and lunch too.
We decided to move off post simply because we wanted to own a home, instead of just giving our allowance every month to Picerne. You might as well buy something with it! Now we live in a very small, beautiful community. I love the schools and the neighborhood, but it has been more difficult to make friends outside the ward. I also have had to sacrifice seeing my husband as much, since it takes him 30 minutes to get to work. I think my husband is much happier off post- something about being able to truly leave work at work and come home.
Pros and cons to each. I say figure out what works for you!
We haven't lived on base yet, but I'm looking forward to it!
ronandjana.blogspot.com
Well I absolutely have to put in my two cents...we lived off post at our first duty station. I loved the house. I enjoyed it because it was all I knew. I had never lived on post before. I am all about trying all the options, so the next post we lived on base just to see if we liked it. Even though we lived in housing that had been condemned right before we got there, and then they ran out of housing so they decided to open it back up!:) It was 1100 sq ft, and I have four boys! I think it is all about attitude. I loved it there. We had a lot of things in storage. The things I remember about that place were how many beautiful old windows there were in the living room. I loved that because the housing was so small that EVERYONE was outside all the time. It was a great neighborhood full of kids and fun ladies. I love the comraderie of living on post. I too enjoy MORE time with my hubby, it definitely saves gas. I love that during the last deployment we could all put our kids to bed, and hang out in front of our houses and chat till all hours of the night. We are definitely PRO on post! I feel safer on post when he is gone. I love a military ward! we don't waste time being shy because we know we might be gone soon, so we have to make friends fast! I love the fact that I am surrounded with missionary opportunities. I know we would save a lot of money by living off post, and make money on buying a home, but I can't take any of that $$ with me when I die....and my husband is gone way too much to waste even the 5 minute opportunity to drop by his office throughout the day to say hi. or catch a glimpse of his beautiful blue eyes! ;)
Okay I just have to share one more thing. When we got to AK housing, my husband went in and then was back in five minutes. He came and told me that the housing lady said we needed to live off post and buy a house. I told him to get back in there and tell her that was unacceptable. (in a nice way, I promise :) He went back in, and came back out with keys. We took a huge beautiful house as is (it wasn't cleaned or prepped) and we moved in by the end of the week. I cleaned the house myself and cleaned the carpets myself, but I absolutely love it. The is definitely the best housing we have ever had on post! love it!
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