Want to move to Idaho! (Sandpoint, Star: how much, houses, find a job)
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So here's the thing. Right now we live in southeast texas. It's hot as hell in the summer, the cold in the winter hurts (both due to the extremely high humididty in the area), with a constant storm of mosquitos, and troops of fire ants, not to mention the threat of hurricanes! The air quality sucks as well with all the refineries and such that have made this place home for so long, and while not the most highly populated area in Texas it's to much for me! Those are the negatives! The only posotive that I can think of is the fact that I make $32.00 an hour! Granted with a family of five this isn't exactly optimal but its better than most! I really want to move to Idaho because I find it absolutly beautiful, with a decent climate, and everyone that we met on our visit was extremely nice and curteous! ( A four lane highway coming to a stop to let pedestrians cross is unheard of here, much less the middle of town!) What do ya'll think? Am i crazy?
I think the big issue is work and making enough money to support your family. Jobs are hard to by and most wages are not high. I certainly wouldn't move to Idaho until to have a job secured and found a place to live.
I think the big issue is work and making enough money to support your family. Jobs are hard to by and most wages are not high. I certainly wouldn't move to Idaho until to have a job secured and found a place to live.
Well that's the thing. Everywhere that I have applied has to have an in person interview. I don't have the kind of money that would entail, flying or driving back and forth! I know we could make it on less than what I'm making here, but I don't know how much less and how long I'm goin to have to figure it out once we get there! We are finding lots of homes that we should be able to afford, once we sell our house,but no way of checking them out till we get there as well. Right now we are living in an rv, till our house gets redone from a fire at the first of the year.
Even if you have a highly desirable skill set, I think you will find it very hard to get $32 an hour for it anywhere in Idaho. Our wages just aren't that high here. You may find your job isn't available here, or may only be available in S. Idaho, where most of our population and industry is. Did it take you a long time to work up to that wage, or can you expect to draw it here as soon as you arrive?
Starting over can be tough in this regard. Odds are, someone here in Idaho already has that job, and at a wage that high, isn't about to be giving it up. A good wage here is half that much.
How old are your children? If they are young, you still have the years when they are most expensive ahead of you. If they're all teens, you already know how expensive they are right now.
Life is a lot more than money alone, but you can't eat the scenery. With 5 kids to support, I think your wisest path is to spend as much time as you can looking at other places as well as here, and to take as many negatives into account as you can find. The positives are always much easier to find and are always more tempting.
Make a list of positives and negatives on where you are living now and a similar list for where you want to move. If the new place is 50/50 or less compared to your present place, it's probably not worth the move.
I think the big issue is work and making enough money to support your family. Jobs are hard to by and most wages are not high. I certainly wouldn't move to Idaho until to have a job secured and found a place to live.
What he said. I know that many people here in the Sandpoint area really struggle to make ends meet. And the truth is that most local businesses hire locals for the good positions. With a family to support, I would not recommend moving without employment in place. I'm sorry. I totally get what you said; culturally, this is a really nice place to raise children.
I understand the op frustration with life and wanting to start anew. The pay for any given job will be close to half of what he is familiar with in Texas. It depends on the field of work of course, but it usually shocks people when they move here without a job.
So here's the thing. Right now we live in southeast texas. It's hot as hell in the summer, the cold in the winter hurts (both due to the extremely high humididty in the area), with a constant storm of mosquitos, and troops of fire ants, not to mention the threat of hurricanes! The air quality sucks as well with all the refineries and such that have made this place home for so long, and while not the most highly populated area in Texas it's to much for me! Those are the negatives! The only posotive that I can think of is the fact that I make $32.00 an hour! Granted with a family of five this isn't exactly optimal but its better than most! I really want to move to Idaho because I find it absolutly beautiful, with a decent climate, and everyone that we met on our visit was extremely nice and curteous! ( A four lane highway coming to a stop to let pedestrians cross is unheard of here, much less the middle of town!) What do ya'll think? Am i crazy?
You're not crazy. Have you compared the cost of living here vs where you are now? The cost of houses, utilties, food, gas, clothing, recreation, car tags, the differences in tax structure? It may (or may not) be that you can live just as comfortably on a lower income here than you do in Texas. Or it may not. Do some number crunching. Check out home prices. Check out general salary levels for existing positions in Idaho (open or not) in your field. Money isn't everything - in fact it's not much and certainly not a good reason to stay where you are if that is the only thing your area has got going for it - but you DO need money to live decently.
You're going to have to come here at some point and view Idaho critically as a place to live, as opposed to simply enjoying the state as a visitor.
b-ray-p ----- we are in the same position. Want to move but can't find a job yet that would really support us. In the meantime we are preparing as if we were moving: downsizing belongings, pre-packing, and getting our house ready to paint and such, and list, so when the opportunity presents itself we can run with it. Also in the meantime we are working an at-home biz, once that gets going a job wont' really matter.
Are there any oil refineries or chemical plants of any kind that would be close enough to commute to? Right now I work three days one week and four the next. If I could find something like that within a reasonable distance, say within five or six hours, I could take my rv and just live in it while I work, and then go home on my off days! (Thinking of the moscow idaho region)
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I'm sorry. I totally get what you said; culturally, this is a really nice place to raise children.
