10 Problems You’ll Only Understand If You Live In Cleveland

Living in Cleveland is awesome, but sometimes it's no cake walk. When it comes to being a true Clevelander, you know the struggle is real. Here are a handful of those ongoing problems so we can all commiserate over them:

1. Having to use your air conditioner and your furnace on the same day.

Ah, fall and spring. Those are the days with high temperatures of 75 and lows of 30. You turn that air conditioning on one minute, then shut it off in favor of the furnace just hours later. Cleveland weather is crazy!

2. Running out of windshield washer fluid.

Ah, Cleveland winters. You know the scene: it's snowing, the roads are wet and salty, and you're on the highway. Suddenly, your windshield washer fluid won't spray. Almost immediately, your windshield clouds up with salty road spray, and you're pretty sure you're about to cause a multiple-car pileup. So you try to position your car behind a semi truck so that you can use his road spray to clear your windshield. Or if you're really desperate, you pull off and dump whatever liquid you've got handy -- pop, water, orange juice, whatever you can improvise with -- on your windshield in a last ditch attempt to clear it and stay alive. Or, if you're smart, you just carry an extra gallon around in your trunk. If you do this, it's probably because you have been through what we just described above, though.

3. Having to road trip to Pittsburgh or Columbus to Go to Ikea.

People -- including Clevelanders -- really like Ikea. Unfortunately, we don't have our own. There were rumors of a Cleveland location breaking ground a couple of years ago, but they stole our dream right out from under us. So every time we want the challenge of spending nine hours putting together a dining room hutch, we have to road trip several hours away. It's a real shame. We know.

4. Having to defend your city all the time.

When someone asks us where we're from, we automatically go on high alert because we're so used to defending our city. Yes, the river caught fire a LONG time ago. No, the Browns aren't good. No, we are NOT the mistake on the lake, and we have about a thousand reasons why Cleveland actually rocks, if you'd give us a chance to tell you.

5. Finding a parking space at the West Side Market on Saturday.

The culinary gem that is the West Side Market is a cornerstone of all things CLE. Come on a weekday and it's unlikely that you'll have any issues finding parking, but Saturdays are a different story. Saturdays are the busiest day for the WSM, and despite the newly enlarged parking lot, we still have to circle the lot like buzzards to secure a space on Saturdays. Somehow, that's part of the charm.

6. The frustration of The Browns.

Ah, the Cleveland Browns. What more can we say here? The Browns epitomize the struggle of Cleveland. You know what they say: there's always next year. We say it every single year.

7. Lake effect snow.

Lake Erie is one of Cleveland's greatest selling points, but when the weather gets cold, it also serves as our archenemy. When the warm water in the lake pairs with cold northern air, the CLE gets pounded with crazy snow storms that often leave us buried under feet of snow.

8. Constant orange barrel season.

There's always -- ALWAYS -- construction going on on Cleveland's roadways. It's no fun to deal with, but we struggle through it. Every. Single. Day. For all of eternity.

9. The effects of road salt.

It's no surprise that we have several entries regarding snow when it comes to our great city, but the damage our vehicles take from the copious amounts of rock salt used on our roads doesn't do our cars any favors. Even if you take meticulous care of your car, it'll likely rust sooner here than it would in other climates. Don't forget to wash off that salt often -- and to do that, you'll probably have to deal with the familiar struggle of the long lines at the car wash in the winter.

10. Having to leave the city for many concerts.

Clevelanders love our music, but for some reason, many big concerts seem to skip our city over when it comes to tour stops. Sometimes we get lucky, but all too often, we've got to travel to Chicago, Pittsburgh, or Columbus to see our favorite live musical acts.

After seeing all those problems, maybe you could use a little positivity. Why not read about 13 Undeniable Reasons Why Cleveland Will Always Be Home?