Living a rural life has a lot of pros, but there are rural issues also. It’s nice to live in a more secluded place, free from noise pollution and the busyness of urban life. There’s a beauty to living in a grand open space, with land at your fingertips, ready for you to use however you want. From a purely aesthetic point of view, rural homes have a stunning quality that you often can’t replicate in an urban setting. Oh, and did I mention the panoramic countryside views?
Reading all of this makes it seem like the rural life is perfect. It may even have a few of you listing your current home on the market right now and planning a move. However, nothing in life is perfect, and rural life does have its fair share of problems. For some, these problems are too much to handle, and it stops them from moving to the countryside.
If any of you out there are thinking about switching to a more rural life, then this article is perfect for you. I will shortly list all the biggest problems you might face, but I’ll also tell you how to solve them. That’s right, don’t assume that a problem remains a problem forever, there are often ways around them, making life a lot easier to manage. So, no more beating around the bush, here are the biggest rural issues and what you can do to prevent them:
Rural Issues: How To Prevent Them
More Frequent Power Outages
In this modern day and age, power outages are way more dramatic than they used to be. If the power cut out in your home a couple of decades ago, it was quite fun. You’d light some candles, everyone would gather in one room, and you’d play games, tell stories, and groan when the lights turned back on. Now, we depend on electricity so much that we can’t bear to be without out it for a few hours. In rural homes, because you’re so cut off from everyone, you tend to experience more power outages. You usually get your power from one main powerline, and if something happens to it, then you’re in trouble. In urban areas, a lot has to go wrong for the power to cut out. Naturally, people are a bit wary of living somewhere that might lose power.
Solution…
Part of me wants to say the way to solve this problem is to not depend so much on modern technology to live your life. But, I don’t think that’s totally fair as a lot of people need electricity for important matters, like using the internet to fill in a tax form for your farm or just doing some important work on the computer. As a result, the best solution I can give is to get a backup power generator. This will provide you with power when you need it, and there are lots of different sizes to pick between. If you wanted to, you could get a big one that powers your whole house, or just a few small ones to plug different things into when the power goes out.
Another option for a solution to losing power is to have solar panels installed. You don’t have to use them all the time and give up having electricity but they are a great solution when the power fails for a period of time. As you can see, losing power is one of the common rural issues that can be solved easily.
Colder Homes
Some people move to a rural abode and are shocked by how much colder it is inside their house. Even with the heating on, it can often be a lot colder than you’re used to. This is yet another one of the most common rural issues.
Why is this? There are a few reasons that might cause the added coldness in rural homes, the first of which is that you’re out there all by yourself. Most big country homes sit on their own, with no neighbors crammed in close to them. In more urban areas, you have loads of homes bunched together, with many housing estates having terraced houses that are connected. As a result, your house can draw on heat from other homes, and it makes everyone in the neighborhood warmer. The second reason is that you may now be living higher up than you used to. Many country homes are on hills, meaning it’s simply a colder temperature up there. Finally, lots of rural country homes are old, which means the insulation materials aren’t up to modern standards, and this could cause the coldness.
Solution…
Don’t get freaked out by this, you can easily solve this problem without spending loads of money on your energy bill and turning the heating on full-blast. The first thing you can do is address the insulation situation. Get someone to look in your roof and see if you need to replace it with something more modern.
Also, consider insulating your house from the outside with some cedar shake siding. This is a wooden siding that adds a really rustic curb appeal to your home, while also protecting it from bad weather, and keeping the cold out. It looks great, it works really well, and replacing cedar shake is fairly easy. If it ever gets damaged you won’t have to worry.
Aside from insulating your home in new and improved ways, you could also light a fire. Most rural homes have classic fireplaces, and it makes sense to get yours working again as a big hot fire can heat you up.
Just like that, the issue of a colder home in a rural setting gets blasted away.
Long Commute To Town
I find that most people are cautious about moving to a rural area as they don’t want to be far away from a town/city. It can be inconvenient to drive a long way just to pick up some groceries and do a bit of shopping. Not to mention having to do a school run every morning with your children. It wastes a lot of gas, costing you loads of money.
Solution…
Is there any way to solve this problem apart from moving closer to the nearest town? Well, I’ll begin by saying you’ll be surprised at how many rural areas you can find that is only a few minutes drive away from a town/city. So, don’t assume you’ll be living in a secluded area completely distant from modern society!
If you have kids and need to take them school every morning, then why don’t you trade in your car for an electric or hybrid one? This way, you will spend less money on fuel because your car is now more economical. So, if paying for fuel is what’s worrying you the most, this addresses that problem. What about if you just need to go into town for groceries? Well, you can avoid doing this by growing your own food. After all, that’s the beauty of a rural home; you have so much land to plant what you want. By being more self-sufficient, you’ll soon find you don’t even need to go into town half as much as before.
When you make a few little changes, you will soon learn that living far away from a town isn’t that big of a deal after all. Another one of the rural issues is solved.
A Lot Of Land To Look After
When you buy a rural home, you usually get a lot with your property. It’s not like an urban house where you have just have your house itself and then a little garden at the front and back, maybe even a driveway if you’re lucky. Here, you get the house and a whole lotta land. Some people may even get fields along with their actual property too, it all depends on what you buy. If you’re thinking of homesteading, then you’ll likely want some fields to plant crops or keep animals in as well. The bottom line is, you have a lot more to look after, and this can be too much for some. This is another one of the most common rural issues you may have to tend to.
Solution…
The only way you can solve this issue is if you commit to the rural way of life. Don’t move to the country if you have a very busy life and many other commitments. At least one of you needs to have the time free to look after your entire property. If you both can’t find the time, then maybe you shouldn’t move to the countryside. When you don’t look after your house – and all the land – then it starts to look bad. The fields become overgrown, your garden looks like a forest, and your home starts to take a bad turn too. Rural life isn’t for everyone, so remember this before you sell your house and move to the country.
So, the moral of the story is that rural life does have a fair few complications and rural issues. But then again, doesn’t urban life as well? You get complications wherever you live, it’s all about learning to overcome them. These are the biggest problems you face when you live rurally, and they can all be solved fairly easily. As such, if you’re seriously considering a move, but have been worried about one or all of these issues, then you now know your worries are for nothing. Like I said, rural life isn’t for everyone, but it just might be perfect for you.
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