Up and Move to different area of the country...

[Devil Inc]

Anyone every had this thought? Idea/Opinions Needed

This was something my wife mentioned a couple weeks ago. We are both 28 years of age & have 3 children together (4 months, 3 years, and 8.5 years). The 8.5 year old is my adopted daughter, her "biological" father was not in the picture. I was more than happy to step up. Anyway, she moved out to Colorado about 6-7 years ago, on a whim, only to move back regretting it. When she mentioned moving, I really didn't know what to say, other than OKAY...where? Her response was Kansas???

I've continued asking questions about it. She doesn't know where in Kansas, other than she remembers people she meet and spoke with were pleasant and helpful. She said her heart has always had a warm spot for that place.

I know this takes some time to plan and make it happen successfully, my children are my biggest priority. I want to ensure they have the best life possible. The tenative plan is to move during the summer, that way no one will be in school and such. There is more that needs looked at, I was curious if anyone out there has had similar ideas??? Or are we crazy??? :shock:

 

[bmuzz1]

That's what brought my Wife, I and our two oldest girls to AZ 10 years ago. We were not happy with the housing/rental market in San Diego where I grew up but didn't know what to do until one night while walking on the beach I mentioned Phoenix. I had already been looking for a new job but in SD but truly by coincidence an offer came from Phoenix so two weeks later we packed up and moved.
We are thinking about another move here next year after my oldest graduates high school but aren't quite sure where just yet or even if it will happen.

My aunt is a writer, she has lived in Salina Kansas for probably 30 years now and loves it. I don't think it has ever crossed her mind to move back to Cali.

Good luck with your decision and possible move.

 

[Duuuuuuuude]

A few years ago my wife, son, and I moved to Arkansas even though none of us had ever been there before.

My only advice...don't drag all your useless crap across the country, and be sure you've got a job lined up wherever you go.

 

[Trubble]

Anyone every had this thought? Idea/Opinions Needed

I was curious if anyone out there has had similar ideas??? Or are we crazy??? :shock:

Back in '99 I left a pretty darn good paying warehouse/distribution job in Lake Co., IL, and moved up here to shack up with a girl I met on the internet. Been married since Oct. '11. It was kind of a gamble as I had no prospects for a job, and what money I had was tied up in snowmobiles, boat, brand new pickup, etc... Sure we've hit some snags, but things are lookin' pretty good now.

Actually, this winter crap is wearing on our aging bones, and she actually brought up moving to Tennessee, Kentucky or southern Colorado. I was personally thinking somewhere like Oklahoma, northern Texas, New Mexico, or Nevada. Just longing to get to somewhere where winter doesn't push you back into the house and trap you there for 5 (or more) months at a crack.

My advice would be don't be afraid of moving. Look before you leap, certainly, but I guess I just happen to be a proponent of "guess & go", if you think you can make it work, give it a shot.

 

[C*H*U*D]

Your thread reminded me of this one:

http://www.rccrawler.com/forum/chit-chat/395668-anybody-start-over-career-paths-older-age.html

 

[badhoopty]

Your thread reminded me of this one:

http://www.rccrawler.com/forum/chit-chat/395668-anybody-start-over-career-paths-older-age.html

im still contemplating it every day... trapped by a nice paying job and a severe lack of both motivation and balls to make a change.

 

[JeremyH]

Up an R-U-N-N-O-F-T

 

[Trubble]

im still contemplating it every day... trapped by a nice paying job and a severe lack of both motivation and balls to make a change.

Whew! Then I'm not the only one, good.

 

[hbj069]

thats how I wound up in Bama, good people with good hearts and a love for the gospel, worked here for 2 years then the company wanted me to stay permanently and broke out the big checkbook to make it happen.

Needless to say we moved and almost a year later Obama cut my job and 246 others. Huge loss for the company and 120k a year gone just that quick!!

Still lovin Bama but the job market sucks for a weapon system analyst II/ subject matter expert..

 

[C*H*U*D]

im still contemplating it every day... trapped by a nice paying job and a severe lack of both motivation and balls to make a change.

Warren Miller used to say, "If you don't do it this year, you'll be one year older when you do".

 

[badhoopty]

Warren Miller used to say, "If you don't do it this year, you'll be one year older when you do".

completely true...

i would love to just make a complete life change and get back to nature and good hearted people... but man starting out at the bottom and taking the huge pay/benefit cut is flat out scary as all hell.

 

[Devil Inc]

Warren Miller used to say, "If you don't do it this year, you'll be one year older when you do".

This is something I told her this morning. She said something about purchasing a house where we live now and then deciding what we wanted to do. I straight up told her that we will not be purchasing a house if there's a chance of uprooting and moving elsewhere. No way am I gonna put ourselves into a financial pinch with a mortgage and then move out of the area.

I will for sure make sure I have employment beforehand. I've browsed around for jobs and housing. I'm not scared or uncertain of moving, I know we can make it work. I've started checking on moving costs and such.

At my current job, I pull 42-46k a year, as a machine tool builder for a metal stamping press manufacturer. I see myself as a jack of all trades-do it all kinda person. I've been with my employer for almost 4 years, the thought of leaving the pay and benefits is scary. Yet at the same time, there's this longing to do more, like I've hit a wall. I've got half as much time in my department as my co-workers, yet I can run circles around them building our products.

I guess it's time to bust out a plan of attack. "thumbsup"

So where's a great place to raise a family, has great jobs and a decent housing market?

 

[ecoli]

I grew up moving every four or five years. Kids will do fine. Definitely good if you can do it in the summer to avoid pulling them out in the middle of the school year.

I've done it before as an adult a couple of times, prior to kids. It's a little daunting, but if you have a good job waiting for you, it makes it a lot easier. The bonus, at least in my case, was that the new job offers also came with covering moving expenses. If you move to an area that has high demand for your skills, you may luck out.

Good luck!

 

[JeremyH]

I straight up told her that we will not be purchasing a house if there's a chance of uprooting and moving elsewhere.

Yep. I bought and sold a house within a year and had made no upgrades to. If you do that, be expected to write a check for about 10% to sell that house.....6% for agent fees and 4% for closing. That was the biggest check I've ever written, but I made the money back quickly at my new job (the reason we moved).

 

[offroadace]

Been there done that. Used to contract for mechanical design/drafting. Moved from upstate NY when I got sick of the cold/snow and moved to NC for a few years and few jobs, then to CA. Been here since '98.

 

[Devil Inc]

My parents moved my brother and I from Fort Wayne, IN (decent sized city) to the NE part of Indiana the summer before 6th grade. It was a big change, a good change, everything was a lot slower and calmer than in the city. I see some of you mention multiple moves, I don't intend for us to move from place to place. Obviously, if my career requires it then so be it. I've been doing some searching around on city-data.com, lots of insight & opinions. I'm thinking Missouri may be a better fit for our family. I would love to find a place rural, yet close to town. I know my wife would like something in a small/medium sized community with good parks and things for our kids. All that being said, some of the smaller towns near STL look promising.

 

[C*H*U*D]

...I'm thinking Missouri may be a better fit for our family.

Use Google Earth to make sure they have rocks.

 

[Trubble]

Wonder whatever happened with this thread. OP still has his location listed as OH, Just waiting for school to let out for the year?


The subject came up in our household again. A buddy of mine from IL dropped the bombshell on Facebook that within the week he's moving to the Dallas, TX area, and the wife and kids will be following by early August. Judging by the comments left, it came as quite a shock to a great many of us.

Which has brought up the dialogue in this house again. She's still got this hangup on southern Colorado, or Tennessee, said she may be willing to concede to Arkansas. I'm still in the OK, extreme northern TX, northern NM or AZ mode. (I'd be open to Fla, if we could get anywhere near the Lake Buena Vista area. ;-) ) Basically, we just wanna be far enough south that if we see snow, we can rest assured it won't be as paralyzing as the winters are up here.

She proposed the idea of taking a week off and just getting in the car and driving, stop when we can't go anymore, and just exploring around wherever we ended up. I suppose actually being in an area, and seeing what (if any) opportunities are there would help. Just wish I could shake the fear of jumping out of the rut I've gotten myself stuck in.

 

[Devil Inc]

Yeah, we're still tossing the idea around, though not as often as it was when I posted this thread. Our local school system just hit a big wall for us, they're cutting a bunch of things out due to a levy failing. Some of the things we can overlook, but they're cutting art and a few other classes for the K-8 grades, my wife and I feel that those are essential to a child's development. She mentioned again about moving to somewhere in our current area and then moving out of state later, but I'd rather move once and be done. She's been talking here recently about relocating to the town where I work. We currently live 2 towns north (12 miles). I personally don't want to, house prices are about 60k higher on a 3 bedroom than where we're at currently. I think with the recent tragedies in OK as random as that stuff is. I think that's pushed the Kansas region out of her mind for now. I'm totally down to move Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, well any of the states out west. Overall, it's on the back burner for now.

I completely like the idea of picking a direction and going, until it felt right. I feel you Trubble on the fear thing.

 

[hvydty1]

Me and the wife have discussed this very subject many times. For whatever reason we want to move to Washington state. No idea why, other than North Carolina summers suck a$$. I was able to go to Washington a few times while driving OTR, and I know it is a very nice looking state, but other than that, don't know much about it. I just can't bring myself to pack us all up and make that kind of move not knowing what would happen.