My Q2–2026 (Part 2) — The Move
Part 1 was focused on my work and I highlighted one specific account that made things a bit challenging. Part 2 will be dedicated to family decisions and our eventual move. This has been a long overdue move and I’m glad it finally happened.
The month of May was our 3rd year in Marikina City; 4th year, if we add the one year we stayed at Lumiere Towers, Pasig City. Those were good 3 years full of new learnings, challenging experiences, and deeper relationship with the Lord.
My wife and I have been praying for guidance and wisdom on what would be the best decision as both of us have been itching to settle on our own home and not anymore spend for rent. One of the biggest reasons for this is that, we wanted to have permanence and a place we can really take root. Moreover, it will also help our daughter, who is under the Autism spectrum, to build a more permanent routine and environment. We’ve been praying for favor on this, researching for good place to live, houses that were within our budget, and a location that is not too crowded but not too far from hospitals, schools, and weekly groceries.
After some search, we realized that we must move closer to our relatives. And, it just boils down to two options — hers or mine. We weighed down the pros and cons and, we deemed it would be better to move close to my wife’s side of the family. That means, we will move to Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija.
With that out of the way, it was time to wrap things up in our temporary home in Marikina City.
4 Years in a nutshell
The move.
All my bags are packed, and ready to go…
Packing all your stuff — is probably one of the most physically demanding activities of moving. You cannot outsource this as you have to sort through your things and sort them, pack them, and put them into their own boxes accordingly.
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Then you have to transfer them to the new place and unpack, sort, and clean and make things functional. Stressful in a good way. Exhausting.
Let me share our parameters in arriving with the decision to move:
The parameters :
These are our parameters and the things most important to us. Yours might be different. But I hope it will help you understand our decision making process.
- Ownership vs. Renting
A lot of people might argue that it’s financially better to rent than to own. Rent is smaller cost than amortization. That could be right as renting offers flexibility, and does not tie you to a single property and location. However, we have a long term perspective in mind. Having your own home provides a sense of security that renting or leasing a place cannot provide. We want to have our own place that we can take root, that we have the full authority to do whatever renovation we want, and not worry about managing a “landlord” regarding rent escalations. - Cost of living
Generally, the cost of living in a less urbanized city is cheaper as you can source grocery items closer to source compared to getting them from the supermarket. Moreover, since you are closer in so many options to spend (restaurants, entertainment, shopping, etc), your tendency to purchase is higher than when you’re in a location where options are not that many. - Overall Convenience (Proximity or Accessibility to important places (Church, Hospital, Shopping, etc…)
Perhaps this is where living in the metro becomes better. Yes, there’s more traffic in the metro, but you’re closer to shops, service centers, airport, seaport, your packages arrive sooner, and the quality of services are much better. However, Cabanatuan City offers options not too far behind and for what truly matters on a daily basis. - Availability help for our daughter
Given that she is in the autism spectrum, we have special requirements for her, and we’re planning ahead for her future. More than the availments of ease in the city, we wanted to invest and develop closer ties with our relatives so that our daughter can also be closer to her relatives. - We can still do our work/business
I’m glad that this was not much an issue in any of our options. But this is a big parameter nonetheless.
Our Key Takeaways:
- Pray for guidance and favor in your decisions. My wife and I began praying for this a few years back but more intently in the last 6 months. We’re truly grateful to the Lord for answering our prayers.
- Moving is stressful especially when you’ve been stationed for sometime. You have already established a routine and now you have to do over. Not all changes are great. Expect it, embrace them.
- Plan ahead. Stick to the plan but don’t stick to it just to stick to them. Know when to adjust or break, and that leads us to -
- Enumerate your parameters. Negotiables and Non-negotiables. They will help you navigate through your options and help you decide reasonably.
