A plan to make a plan

I've whined several times about how I want to move out of the city, want less neighbors, should be happy in our cute little neighborhood where you can walk to cafes, indie movie theaters etc......but I'm just not. Well, it's time to start really forming some plans to make things happen. We're starting a serious search for properties within the city that fit the budget (I'm not a fan of having debt, we like to live well below our means) and our list of things we want in a new home, # 1 being no close by neighbors, I also have this obsession with having a mudroom. We have five dogs, we need a mudroom! Also get an idea of things in surrounding counties. We've done this before....and we ended up living in the city. It's a tall order. Even if this ends up being on a 10 year plan, I want to have a real plan for making things happen. Moving outside the city, with a 40min. to 2 hr commute just can't happen right now, but with some changes made it *could* down the road sometime.