I thought I was so cool when I used to live in upstate New York. I thought I had all this fancy, hip, modern life that I was living. I’m not sure what happened to me. I now live in western New York and I’m just as comfortable as ever. The fact that I now have a yard with a fence that I can take a picture of in front of is a big deal.
One of the biggest changes I have noticed is a big change in my physical health. I once lived all the way from Albany to Buffalo. Now I live a couple hours away from Buffalo (about an hour south in western New York). It used to be that I would get up around 4:00 a.m. and go to bed around 10:00 p.m. Now I feel like I can get up and go to work before midnight and still be fine.
That’s because I used to live in the area long enough to know that the winters were atrocious and the summers were unbearable. I had my first baby when I was 18 and I know that I was lucky to have had a good career before I had to move south. Now I have my second baby at 22 and I know that I’m really lucky to have been born into a great family and have never had to worry about money.
My parents are still in the same location I grew up too. I moved from Alaska to Minnesota when I was 19. It was a rough transition and was a hard time of my youth. I still haven’t returned to Alaska but I’m going back soon. I moved to Minnesota to be closer to my parents and my brother. I’ve been able to work a bit again and am excited to see how my life has changed.
Minnesota is a pretty amazing place to live and Im happy to be back, but having to figure out how to make ends meet is pretty tough. I have a few strategies I use when I was broke that I would like to share with you.
First of all, I dont think you really need to work. Ive heard about a lot of people who are still struggling to make ends meet, and I dont want to discourage them, but I think you can find a way to make a living. Ive found that a lot of people who are struggling to make ends meet are doing it because of financial problems and not necessarily because they want to work.
I know this sounds harsh, but I’d recommend that any of you who are struggling to make ends meet, make it a goal to figure out a way to do so. Its easier said than done, but if you don’t want to work, at least make it a goal to figure out a way to do so.
Northern Living is an online magazine that focuses on the Northern Midwest. I am a Northern living fellow, and I have recently moved to Chicago, where I live with my wife and son. I’m also a graduate of the Chicago School of Journalism, which focuses on writing about issues in the Chicago metro area. I am a member of the Chicago Journalism Association and am a member of the American Society of Newspaper Editors.
I’m the author of several books, including American City Life: My Chicago Story, which was named a Notable Book of 2014 by the Chicago Tribune and is out now. I’ve written for The New York Times, The New Yorker, and my own blog, The North American Way. My writing has appeared in several publications, including The Atlantic, Chicago Magazine, and the Chicago Tribune.
In my hometown, I am a reporter for the Chicago Tribune. I spent my junior year of college at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where I majored in communications and minored in theatre. I spent a year as a staff writer for the campus newspaper, the Daily Illini. I interned for the Tribune as a reporter in 2009.