I have some what-ifs in life since I'll be moving soon to Switzerland.
I'm weighing the pros and cons.
I'm taking my life seriously.
I feel like I'm on a war and I need to have a battle plan.
Care to help me out?

So here is my question:

What's the cheapest, hassle free and most convenient thing to do:

a. Live with relatives. Free accommodation and food but you need to wake up so early to take a public transport to work every single day (e.g. from Bern to Zurich by bus and train)

b. Move to Zurich. Pay monthly bills. Cook your own meal. But work is near or walking distance.

c. Live with relatives. Buy a car instead to go to work? (is this practical?)

Help. Any more suggestions?

B.

Live with relatives until you are settled and understand Switzerland's way of life.

1. Start by living with your relatives until you either:
- find your own flat in Zürich
- find a flat share in Zürich


2. Taking the train from Bern to Zürich is easier than buying a car. If you live in Zürich, you'll need to pay for a parking space and parking in general. I wouldn't buy a car until you've settled in a bit.

1. The cost of running a car and the hassle of driving and traffic would for me outweigh the convenience.
2. Depends if you like living with your family and being looked after. Being 'solo' can be quite challenging (have you lived alone before?

You do not need to choose now... My advice would be live with family, commute to Zurich for 3-4 months, get through the initial culture shock and start to make social relationships, then house hunt and move to independence....you will likely have a three month probation on your job, so try to simplify thngs...

The cost of living alone would easily be upwards of 2000chf per month. So, if you really find the commute difficult, find a cheap room at the youth hostel or a small hotel in zurich or a 'airbnb' a couple of times during the week to see how it feels to not commute...

I worked with someone who travelled 1.5 hours each way from outside Bern to central Zurich for work for over a year... It's possible... She only had a handful of days when her train connection failed, and she would call us an hour ahead if she was going to be late..

I would also choose B as goal, knowing you have someplace to stay while finding your feet could be very useful.

I think I would also discuss arrangement with family to make sure no unexpected grudges develop if they feel used or inconvenienced. Even if their cultural values would not normally allow a family member to pay for food/accomodation, I would insist on making some sort of regular contribution.

Live with relatives? Hmmm...depends. Unless they are your parents, and even so....at a certain age, I for one don't see why anything should be free for you especially if you have a job and your own money. Seriously, it's better to have your own home for numerous reasons I'm too tired to write now.
So def. B.
Good luck anyway!
Btw. You're not on a war...rest assured, Zürich is not that bad. No need for desperate measures.

To answer exactly your question of CHEAPEST AND HASSLE FREE...its logically A in my opinion. You'll need to shell out money for a GA train card (3500 CHF i think???). But, your travel is covered for the year and if you do not pay to live with relatives...this seems to be your only expense. Tres simple.

My personal choice would be B though. Assume you commute from Bern...its possible and many people do this...but the quality of life decrease caused by commuting or getting ready to commute should be a consideration. Cheap does not equal happy. Consider that this would mean you would be in transit at least 20 hours a week. That's almost its own job.

Get your relatives to buy you a car.

Commuting by car is very long, expensive and tiresome. You can buy a GA from SBB by installments.

So definitely option B until you earn enough to live in Zurich.

go with option A. and start looking for a flat in Zurich immediately (it can take some time). then you can move once you are ready and know that you want to stay, have finished the work probation period, and are fed up of the relatives.

Assuming you dont live and work too far from the respective train stations. I would definitely do A with a GA card.
You will probaböy want to to B eventually, but this way you will save a lot of money, and you will have time to decide where to live and find an apartment.

Thanks everyone for the feedback!

The thing is I'm going to live in a self-employed village. My swiss side are into farming and animal grazing,... etc. And I don't want to farm, hence, in our village I have to ride a bus before reaching a train station. Which I find costly if I do it every single day.

Confused a bit with the last statement. Virtually everyone has a cost to get to work. So...Do you or do you not have a job in Zurich already?

Are you saying your relatives are farmers and live out in the boonies?

Do you mean that riding the bus AND a train is too costly? The train ticket can be used also on the bus. You don't need to buy 2 separate tickets.

Yes. Living alone and independent since 2007.
My relatives from the swiss side is quite xenophobic and only understand a little bit of english. But they are nice to me.

Nearly all buses, boats & trains are covered under the GA, the exceptions are a very few montain railways, Jungfrau & Gornergrat spring to mind, so your GA covers all of your transport, everywhere !

Well since I'm not yet in schweiz, no. Not yet. But I'm talking to someone.

Bhum, bhum, bhum....plot thickens.