Good for you, man. How would you like for most of the people, who don’t actually have exceptional use-cases, to not be on the road, in your way, in the form of traffic?
You mean densely-packed cities? I would not call that sane. I would call that hellish.
You have no privacy,
There are forms of non-SFH density that offer plenty of privacy.
no yard for your kids and pets to play in,
The existence of rowhouses makes this false. It’s completely possible to have a yard while not living in densities that support public transportation and cycling.
Higher densities also usually come with common amenities like parks, where your children can play, and also walk to/cycle to without risking their lives. Their friends can also walk/cycle there.
almost no living space,
Baseless falsehood.
a building manager threatening you with homelessness
Higher densities does not equal living in a rental apartment, false again
and catastrophic debt unless you bow to his every whim,
As opposed to living in a house which you don’t have to incur any debt whatsoever to obtain? Hell of a statement.
and you pay a king’s ransom for the dubious privilege of living like that.
Cities are usually more expensive on account of the fact that people actually want to live there, because people want to be close to the things that they want to do, and not have to spend their lives sitting in traffic behind the wheel all their lives. Lots of places have also tax incentivized living in suburban densities to the detriment of those living in higher densities, so it’s not like the higher cost is a law of nature.
I’ve already voluntarily started going to the office. My company does not require it, nor does it gain me any particular favors with the company for doing so - either in-office, full remote or anything in-between is allowed.
I’ve decided to do so because, frankly, our office is out of the world. The amount of free shit I get there on a daily basis straight up rules. The office staff puts on frequent events which I enjoy attending, I get to meet and interact with other people in person as opposed to sitting around in my apartment all day, I’m in the city near all the good food options. There’s a whole lot of perks to going in to the office for me, and not a whole lot of negatives.
Some negatives and my reasoning around them:
I have to wake up a bit earlier in order to get ready for work. This does indeed suck a bit.
I spend more on food buying lunch from restaurants in the city as opposed to eating leftovers. I see this a bit as a plus, as I get to experience great food made by professionals every day.
I have to spend some money on transporting myself to the office. It’s not a whole lot - public transportation is excellent where I live - but I’ve mitigated this further by commuting by bicycle, which affords me some quality exercise on the commute, and some great podcast listening time.
My less flexible schedule affords me less good opportunities for strength exercise. I’m still working on fixing this problem, but right now the bicycle gives me what I consider to be more than enough exercise, all in all.
All in all, I’m happy with my choice. I spent a lot of time working remote during the pandemic, and weighed the upsides and downsides, and going to the office came out on top in the end. I understand that this is not for everyone, and I think everyone that wants to work remotely should get to keep doing so. Hopefully others afford me the same respect in my choice!
I’ve heard this reason being mentioned, but I’m not really convinced by it. If this is of concern, you can tax the combustion of fuel on flights going in or out of the country, instead of taxing the sale of the fuel.
If you’ve been unable to sleep for a while, the best advice I’ve ever been given is to leave the bed for at least 15 minutes. What I usually do is go to my living room, lie on the sofa and read a book or something. After around 15 minutes I go back to bed and give sleep a try.
It never works out to lie sleepless for extended periods in bed, so just accept the fact of your sleeplessness and do something else for a while.
Where I live, nowadays the perfect months are May and September, and occasionally June. The rest are unacceptable - lack of sunlight and constant rain, or scorching heat and humidity.