If you had told me even 5 years ago that I would become a snowbird in my 30’s, I would have laughed. I have never particularly been fond of Florida because of the intense summer heat. And yet, here I am in Florida for our 3rd extended winter trip with my entire family of 5.
We didn’t plan to become snowbirds, we stumbled our way into it. The choice was mostly driven by my husband, whose moods were majorly impacted by the characteristically cold and dreary winters of the Northeast. He craved sunshine and warm weather to help him feel better.
With this in mind, we began planning vacations to sunny locales at the peak of winter in an effort to combat some of his melancholy. This would work, but we realized that just one week or even 10 days was not enough time to truly relax and recharge. It took several days to be able to wind down from our busy schedules and lives back home, and before we knew it we were headed back into the cold. Not to mention the incredible expense of taking our whole family on vacation to tropical destinations.
Finally, we realized that because we both held remote work positions, there was nothing stopping us from working from anywhere we pleased. I can still remember the day our discussion led us to this idea, standing in the kitchen discussing the possibilities and saying “why not?”
At first, we researched rentals in the Caribbean, but eliminated them because of the incredible expense to fly there and rent a car, in addition to paying inflated prices for meals and entertainment. We were also concerned about reliable internet connectivity.
That’s how we landed in Florida. It was as far south as we could go on the East Coast and still remain in the US. We could drive our own vehicle and bring some of our own belongings. We would remain in somewhat familiar territory with US based systems and routines.
Identifying ourselves as snowbirds came from our very first trip. The amount of teasing we received was not small. Eyebrows were raised. It was the topic de jour. “So, y’all are snowbirds?” became a familiar line. It was pretty much unheard for a young family to spend an extended period of time in Florida during the winter. The snowbird title typically belonged to retired folks, not newly married folks with toddlers in tow.
I have to admit I was pretty reluctant at first. I was worried about being able to maintain my job remotely (even more remotely, no longer within driving distance of my office) while juggling the children. It was a little harder, but doable because my husband jumped in to help me balance. My husband’s consultancy, while Northeast based, was surprisingly portable. He could easily return home for business meetings or tradeshows, but every other aspect of his business could be handled via phone, email, or fax (forwarded to email).
It turns out that I didn’t need to worry about work for our subsequent trips, as I was part of a mass layoff while pregnant with my son. That year we came down right after I delivered him, and I was able to recover with our newborn in the warmer climate.
The benefits for our family are immeasurable. The sunshine lifted all of our spirits incredibly (even mine, and I hadn’t considered myself affected by the bleak winters). The warm weather helped us get more active, as opposed to being holed up inside due to the cold. Our bodies reset to a more summer styled appetite, allowing us to eat lighter and healthier. More typically seasonal foods were available like avocados and oranges, and being close to the water increased the availability of fish to eat.
The most surprising element of all? We were more productive. We got more done during those periods than we would typically do at home during the winter. We’ve spent some time trying to narrow down the exact cause, but mostly attribute it to an overall increase in health and wellness, with a better balance of work and play. We took time every day to swim or hit the park or find an adventure. When we sat down to work in shorter bursts, we were more focused and successful.
I realize this is not an option for everyone, and yes, we feel very fortunate. It’s expensive, but probably not as much as you might think. Renting a house is often less expensive per night than a hotel, and we don’t have to take the time off from work because we bring our work with us. We’re willing to forego traditional vacations because this kind of hybrid vacation has done more for us in terms of lasting benefits. But we didn’t always think it could be a reality for us, either. We evaluated our scenario, and dared to push past traditional boundaries in order to find a solution that worked for our Sanity Plan.
A lot have things have changed since I wrote this post now that I have two school-aged children, click here for my latest update.
That’s amazing! I’m glad that it helped you recover and your husband’s mood. I, luckily, live in California, so I don’t really have to worry about bad weather. But, if I did, I could see myself being a snowbird.
I’m from California originally, so maybe that’s one of the draws 🙂
What an interesting concept. I’ve always lived in the south and occasionally dream of living somewhere colder haha. The grass is always greener, I guess. I love that you find productivity and peacefulness in the heat! I can totally relate to that.
Definitely, we like the balance of both, actually. We typically wait until January before heading down, which means we do get a taste of the cold. Plus we get to enjoy a typical Christmas, occasionally white.
I’m so glad you all benefit from the snow bird lifestyle! As weird as it sounds I would miss the snow too much! I like it in small doses!
Yep, us as well. We get plenty of snow on either side.
Your snowbird lifestyle is so awesome! I’ve lived in Rhode Island, Wisconsin and North Dakota, and Rhode Island was my favorite weather wise. I hope to be in warmer weather one day!
Put it in your plan 🙂
I am feeling super jealous! I live in upstate NY and winters can be rough… I’d much prefer some sunshine and warmth right about now!
Come on down, the water’s warm 🙂
I found this quite interesting. I love how you found your way to recover and help your spouse in the same.
It really has been great for our health, especially our mental health. I think people don’t take that into consideration enough when they are making plans.
Greetings from Miami!!!! I grew up in the North, but now live here. I sometimes miss the different seasons, but the sunshine and turquoise water, well who couldn’t love that? I’m fascinated by the fact that you were more productive. I think the change of scenery brought you a bit more into the present moment, so you were able to be more mindful of how you spend your time. Thanks for the great read!
We might actually take a trip out your way, we have friends in Miami.
You sound like our literary greats of old, who would move into hotels for bursts of time and come out with the next great novel. I admire the flexibility you’ve shown in moving everything for an extended work-cation. I’m curious to know how your arrangement is changing as your kids are getting older — hope this is one post in an ongoing series!
What a romantic way of viewing it! I am not sure how much longer we will be able to do it because of school schedules. But I’ll definitely keep you posted.
I’m looking to be snow birds – we moved to Florida but our oldest (in high school) is just not adjusting… I’ve heard of school age children being able to attend school for fall and then the attend online school (if available in the district) for the spring. Do you have suggestions? Thanks!!!
Our high school has this online capacity so if it weren’t for our daughter starting kindergarten, we’d be going again. I would give this a shot if it is available to you!
I love the snow, but the older I get the less I enjoy the cold. I would love to travel more in the winter.
I think that’s what happened to us as well. I don’t remember the cold bothering me as a kid at all.
That’s awesome that you’re able to do that!! I’m the same way though — I hate the heat in summer, but need something semi-warm in the winter!
So true, too much heat is just as bad.
This just made my day. We have cousins who live in Florida and I had never even heard the term snow bird until we visited them. It totally makes sense though.
So funny. I’m sure we will be age-appropriate snow birds one day…
I’m curious how you dealt with schooling for your kids, moving between two locations? Not sure if that was an issue, but if it was…
Hi Lee, our youngest two were easy because they were not in school yet. And the teenager was able to split the time between us and her grandparents back so that she could continue attending school. School is actually the reason we will not be going in the future, but we are working on finding a way to still continue to get these benefits of warmer weather.
Such an interesting article! I too was wondering about the school situation, as my husband and I currently live in Upstate, NY and both of us work remotely and are exploring the snowbird idea. To me, I don’t see the issue with having the kids start the school year in New York, stay in NY until right after Christmas, then finish the second half of the school year in Florida. I am originally from an area in Palm Beach County that has great public schools and we are familiar with the system and the community. I know people talk about it being hard for the kids to adapt, but kids move all the time, and I still think there will be some level of consistency going to the same 2 schools year after year. My kids are so miserable here in the winter (as am I) – I can’t see them being anything but thrilled with the prospect. But still mulling this over!! 🙂
That is a tough one. We are looking into this with our school system now. It’s no problem for the teen, who has the option to take online classes for the spring term, but our elementary school was not willing to do this. In fact, they told us that we would have to disenroll our daughter every year and enroll her in the Florida school (and vice versa). I am not sure how comparable the curriculum is either… For us, unless we are able to try homeschooling, we will likely not be returning to Florida.
Currently exploring this idea we are in her 30s as well and moved around a lot for TV jobs. We now live in Chicago, and my husband has the opportunity to work in Miami for six months out of the year. Our oldest will be entering first grade I have a preschooler and two-year-old twins. I’m going to see if I can do a tutor or something else for a first grader and make this possible. We are all miserable in the winter. We live in Cape Coral Florida for three years and her twins were born there but all of our family is in Chicago and we own a home there. Our two oldest currently are in rolled in Catholic school in Chicago.
This sounds like an excellent opportunity for snowbirding with your family. Would you consider homeschooling the children yourself or hiring a nanny that would be qualified/suited to homeschool? I would also suggest that you talk to the Catholic school to gauge whether they would work with you to do half of the school year in Chicago and half in Miami. Maybe there is another Catholic school in Miami that would pick up the rest of the school year for them. We found it a lot easier to work with our oldest’s parochial school than the public school system.
Hello! This article was very encouraging. I am wanting to do this with our family. We can’t take another Michigan winter. Six months of the year it’s bewutiful. But the other six are dreary and by March I am beside myself. Plus I just don’t think it is healthy for our four young children to be stuck indoors for half the year.
I am struggling with how we are going to go about the kids education. Right now I only really have to worry about our nine year old who will be starting 3rd grade in the fall. The others are only 5,4 and 18 months.
What site do you use to locate seasonal rentals? The rates during the winter are at peak and I haven’t been able to find much that’s affordable on AirBnB or HomeAway. Also- do you rent your home up north out for half the year? Or do you pay for mortgage and the rental?
Thank you! Kate
Hi Kate, I’m sorry to say that we’ve run into a similar snag with our local school system. Our high schooler would actually be fine as there is the option for online classes, but it was completely shut down by our elementary school. They informed us that we would have to disenroll our kindergartener. I believe I would have to homeschool the young ones if we were to continue to spend winters in Florida.
We typically rented from VRBO, and as we became more familiar with the area and rented a few times, we were able to do some direct deals as well. We always negotiated because the longer term stays.
For us, we were fortunate to be able to afford both the rental and our mortgage, which just seemed simpler to us despite not being cost effective.
Hope this helps, best of luck to you!
I am trying hard to make this a reality for me and my significant other, in Iowa and Arizona. Having a hard time finding an employer or job that allows the kind of remote work to make this a reality. My current job could be done this way but the company is just too conservative and won’t go for it. They barely allow any flex schedule at all. I am a senior commercial insurance underwriter. So I search daily for possible job options.
I completely understand how frustrating that is! I was so lucky to have a job that allowed me to telecommute in the pharmaceutical industry. They actually were not keen on it at first due to a department policy to not allow for work from home, but when I needed to quit in order to relocate they made an exception. This paved the way for them to allow others to telecommute because they were able to see that the work really still gets done. If you want to read more of my thoughts on this topic, check out: