10 reasons why I OFFICIALLY left New York City (*NOT Clickbait*)

• New York City has been home for nearly 20 years.
• A leap of faith into entrepreneurship led to amazing experiences.
• Leaving the city for more space and better living conditions.
• Excited about the future and plans for the YouTube channel.
• Reflecting on memories while embracing change.

New York City has been my home for nearly 20 years, and when I moved here, I believed this is the place where you can make your dreams come true. After all, Sinatra says if you can make it there, you'll make it anywhere. It is a city for the go-getters, the dreamers, and the game changers.

Over the years, I've made my dreams a reality here. After working for Disney Corporate for five years, I decided to start my own business. It was scary, risky, and people called me insane, but it was incredibly fulfilling to create my own path. Fast forward to 2024, and I made that dream a reality thanks to you—my viewers, customers, friends, family, employees, and followers who have watched my videos and supported me over the years.

Because of you, I have been able to do amazing things in New York City like start Funky Experiences, a walking tour company that has won Trip Advisors Best of the Best award three years in a row. My YouTube channel has gotten over 50 million views and resulted in me becoming an on-camera host for brands like Travel and Leion, Godaddy, Johnson and Johnson Wander, and countless tourism boards around the world. I was even able to start a production company that produces videos across the United States for luxury real estate brands.

When I reflect on this, it is truly amazing what my crazy idea to be a New York City YouTuber has led to, and for that, I am so thankful. In the end, growth does come at the edge of your comfort zone, and I have made the decision to leave New York for now, which is both scary and exciting. This reminds me of how I felt when I first took the plunge and quit my job in corporate to be a YouTuber.

You know what? That led to amazing things, so I'm hoping this will lead to the same. Plus, I'm excited about the possibility of the future with this new house. I'm excited to give my child a true home where she has a room, a yard, and can be close to family. Many of you have asked what this means for the channel, and I will get into that a little bit later. But first, I want to share why we're leaving because I do owe that to you.

Do I still have a job after this? You still have a job, Lucas. That's his only priority. Today is our moving day, so I feel it is the perfect way to share the 10 reasons why we're moving. Honestly, focusing on these reasons will help me make it through this day without being too sad. Let’s get into it while our amazing movers from Piece of Cake Moving pack our stuff for us.

Moving is so overwhelming and time-consuming. So, I booked their full service where they pack everything and transport everything for us. Just because I'm already so stressed and emotionally drained about this. And I'm just like, if someone can do this, so I'm not just slowly crying and putting things in boxes, it's probably best.

Okay, so let's focus on the reasons why this is a good idea. Number one, we need more space. Bella can't sleep in a bathroom anymore. That's right. I had never said this online, but the first two years of Bella's life, she actually slept in this bathroom, which always annoyed me because I felt like this bathroom could have been a full room.

We don't need two bathrooms in an 800 square foot apartment. The house is 6,700 square feet. Now, she gets her own room, which is going to be amazing. Another thing: the house is cheaper than this apartment, so that will help us save more money, enabling us to live our lives better.

I created a list here to remember the reasons why this is a good choice. So here we go. New York City is not kid-friendly. Sorry, but for basic kid things, of course, those are kid-friendly, like kid museums. But besides that, it's so difficult having a kid in the city.

In my experience, no restaurants have high chairs. Taking a stroller on the subway is impossible because there's always stairs. Almost all the elevators are broken. Only 25% of the subways even have elevators, and a lot of times, they're broken. And then say, I want to go out with friends after work. I can't bring Bella pretty much anywhere because after 5 pm, kids aren't allowed in a beer hall or something.

That means I have to get childcare, and then a typical night will turn into an additional $200 of childcare. And so, moving to where we are now, we have family. That is point number four. Where we are moving, we have families. So if Louisie and I want to go out, we can just say, “Hey, watch Bella.” That way, we save on childcare costs. Exploit your relatives. That's right! I hope you guys are ready for that.

Bella's daycare here in New York is $2,400 a month. In the place we're moving, it is half that cost. So that will save us a ton of money on childcare. That alone is worth it.

As you can see, our room is quite small, and this is like the only bedroom really in this apartment, which is a two-bedroom. One is a bedroom, and one is an office. We eventually want to have another kid. We’re already struggling to fit Bella in this apartment.

So we thought, oh, let's look for other apartments that are three bedrooms in the areas we like in New York City. But that price goes up to $7,000 a month, and we can get our house way cheaper than that. And then we have 6,700 square feet versus an 800 square foot apartment. We'll have so much space, and that is great, especially if we want to have another kid in the future.

Number seven, and this is a big one. This is one of the reasons many people leave New York City, whether or not they have kids. We no longer have to pay New York City taxes. So for those of you who don't know, in New York City, you not only have to pay federal tax and New York state tax but also New York City tax. So you have three taxes that hit your paycheck every month.

By moving outside of New York City, we no longer have to deal with that New York City tax which will save us thousands of dollars a year. That is just glorious. Where is PAA right now? That's a good question. She's with her grandparents.

We decided that even though Piece of Cake Moving is making this a piece of cake, having a toddler here while all these people are in the house packing everything for us just seems really difficult. So we just brought her to her grandparents' house. This is our glass table, and they disassembled it for us. That is so convenient!

Louie, you gotta put that back together when we get home. Or do you guys put that back together? You put it back. Of course, they reassemble it at the house. That's incredible! You could tell to buy new furniture. I would love to buy new furniture.

You know how much new furniture costs? I already looked into it. We want this couch. It's like $6,000. If anyone's looking for a sponsorship for some couches, feel free to email me right here. You can give me a free couch. Happy to put it in a video for you.

The last three points I have are all related to money, which is kind of a theme, but it's in different ways. Moving outside of New York City means everything is going to be way cheaper. I went out recently with some friends in New York, and just a cocktail costs $20.

On top of that, when we got the bill, the first tipping option was 20% and it said 20, 25, 30. What is happening with this tipping culture here in New York? It's absolutely out of control. Life expenses will be cheaper.

Unfortunately, you still have to tip at restaurants because people aren't paid properly. I always thought a 20% tip is a great tip, but why are we doing 30% now? Everything seems to cost a dollar more once you get the bill at a restaurant. So it’s just silly.

Number nine, we have to pay $300 a month for parking. Now we have our own driveway, so parking is free. And number 10, we don’t have to allocate nearly $1,000 at the end of every year to tip the repairman, the doorman, and the maintenance people in this building.

For those that don't know, if you live in an apartment in New York City with a doorman, you do have to tip them at the end of the year, and the standard tip is around $100. You count all the doormen, all the maintenance people, and all the supers, and you're supposed to tip all of them.

They slide this thing under your door right before Christmas that says “Happy holidays from one lic," and then they list every person, hint, hint, tip them. It's like 15 people, and you're supposed to tip them like $50 to $100 each.

Louie will be the staff. We will be the staff preparing all the things. I feel like I'm almost on vacation. This is so convenient! If anyone's moving anytime soon, they gave me a promo code. It’s called IG family, and it’s 10% off your move in New York or 5% off your long-distance move.

What do you think? Incredible! I keep on saying I don’t want to get in their way, so I’m gonna let them do their thing. We are officially done packing. That was so easy. Goodbye, amazing apartment.

We've had so many great memories here. This was Bella's first home. It's where my brother-in-law proposed to his now wife. It’s been the location of so many parties and beloved memories, and it will seriously be missed. You know, all good things need to come to an end, and now it's time to get on to bigger and better things in our first real house.

We are officially out of New York! I know, it's so weird driving here. I'm definitely not gonna miss it. It's just crazy! Everyone’s crazy, man. Everyone's trying to get in their lane. I'm excited!

I’m a little unsure about leaving New York, but it's close by. It's only an hour away. Many of you were asking what the future of this channel is going to be now that we've left New York.

I’m still going to be covering New York City content. For those of you who love New York City content, that will still be happening and more now. Louie and I are going to be sharing a bit more of our personal lives on this channel.

My goal is to still post one video a week about New York and eventually get up to posting an additional video a week about our life at home and renovating this house, which is coming along nicely, and we can't wait to show you the improvements we've made.

So stay tuned for that video coming soon! Let us know what you're interested in knowing about our lives. If there's anything, because I just mostly talk about New York. I guess we have other juicy things to tell you. We're probably gonna be coming back to the city at least.

I think we should do like a twice a month thing where we actually hang out with our friends. Yeah. I'll be in the city like once a week, I think. You know, plus all the airports are here, so...

You know what I was just thinking? The apartment is not just about the location, which is really special, but it was really special because we made it a home. We had so many great memories there. Yeah, right.

Although we'll miss living in New York and its conveniences, I think we're gonna find that we can really thrive in so many different places anyway. All right, well, let’s do it. Let's go. Thank you so much for joining me on this emotional roller coaster of leaving New York City.

We can't wait to start this new chapter of our lives with you. Until next time, Sarah, Louis, and Bella. That's a wrap, everyone. Those are the amazing secrets of New York.