What is the cost of living in general? I'm moving soon (hopefully) (Chandler: for sale, car insurance)

[bvet4dog]

hi guys, sorry if the question has been asked before. i did a lil search but in specifically i'm wondering how big of a difference it is from maine to arizona.

Currently my car insurance is about 120 for a 96' ford ranger. I'm clean, no records and i'm 20 years old... Cost me about 60$ for gas which last me roughly 1-2 weeks. I also have 2 dogs which they are labs and loves water. I currently live with my mother, younger sister and i'm going to a local college. i'm unsure whats the cost of my mothers property and such. All i know is that she's struggling very hard, and we cant afford for heat this winter. we still owe 5 grand for propaine/oil from last year winter.

So i'm wondering if someone here can give me a good solid comparison in cost of living. Mainly i'd like to know the insurance rates for things and such. I dont go out much around here since it's too pricy (dont have a gf, thank god! they are expensive.... we'll see about it in arizona? help me out ehhehe :P) If you can jog down for me, i'd like to know differences in prices between both states in gas, food, housing, vet, car (will need to buy 1 or 2 cars/truck after we move into arizona) and entertainments such as internet, cable and what not. ( i like to go to ranges pretty offten and shoot guns)

also how bad is the taxes? any one knows the taxes for both states and knows which one is cheaper?

we are considering moving pretty soon, dont know when. I might end up selling most of our items including my truck since it's pretty much a beater. Wondering if theres some decent cars/trucks i can get for cheap? I saw a 01 mustang for sale some where here in maine for 5k i think. How much does a 01 mustang go for at arizona?

sorry about many questions and such a long posting, hopefully you can help me out here? thanks alot.

[bvet4dog]

PS: any good places to hunt aswell? i die for hunting, it'd be painful if i cant hunt

[sablebaby]

AZ is a large state, I think you need to be more specific of where IN AZ you are thinking about moving to.

[bvet4dog]

that part, i'm unsure about. My mother just randomly told me that shes considering about moving to az because of the cost of living here is too much and we wouldnt be able to get heat for the winter. She has been looking around for jobs and hoped that she may would be able to transfer from her current job to somwhere in az. I might be able to be transferred aswell (depending on the enviromental specialist status in phoneix or tempe)

Other than that i doubt my mother will want to live in a city, more of a townish or country. She may will want to bring her horse, depending on the costs and such. might sell the horse or give it to a family member in rockland,maine.

So basically, i'm just trying to gather up infos much as possible and lay it out with my mother. For what ever reason she thinks its greener on the other side. I told her to hold the phone there... there are positive and negatives about moving across the united states into az. I truely LOVE winter and i love to go snowmobiling and ATV'ing when ever possible. I never owned them but would love to since some of my family relatives have had them and i've driven them alot. That will be truely missed along with hunting if we ever come down to AZ. But i understand my mother's situation that we wont be able to afford heat this year, no matter how hard we work together.

[sablebaby]

Lots of people come here and find that it's somewhat more expensive from where they are from, unless you're from an expensive city yourself. Where are you moving from?

[bvet4dog]

well, to be hoenst we live in gardiner, maine in a old house on a 1 or 2 acre lot. We had just rebuilt a 2 car garage and we are TRYIING to redo our house so that we can conserve more heat. Seems like every time we do that, it burns our pockets really hard. Ashamely, we are barely making 40k a year...

i had a feeling that she thought we could find some "better" paying job and may would have a better living in AZ. I'm not even sure what we are going to do, and i'm trying to find whats best for us. My family relatives has moved every where now, my cousin/aunts lives in north carolina in fort bragg base and my gramp moved to alaska which was where i was born . Ever since i got home back RIT univeresity in new york (dropped out, no major i wanted)... i am more of an outsider right now. No friends around here, and my every day life now is work, sleep, eat, home, computer then it cycles all over again. I do have a decent job here 12$ an hour doing enviromental work for EPRO at TRC but, it's not cutting it due to excessive amount of bills. It gets depressing here sometime and it really does stinks for us.

She figured we can have a fresh start in AZ, but i'm more worried about cost of living and our outcomes. hopefully you can get my drift here.

Ps: sorry about my english It's not my first language .

[Debbie SE MI]

This was put on this site a few weeks back, I am also looking to relocate to AZ. Just need to sell my home in SE MI then I will be on my way.

Good Luck,
Debbie
Moderator cut: linking to competitors sites is not allowed

[snowthedirtbub]

Chandler, Gilbert, Queen Creek sounds like the right area for you. Queen Creek has the lowest cost of living of those cities. Overall the cost of living is more expensive then Maine, the main factor is housing. Moving out here you probably would get paid more but not much.

You could look at Casa Grande, the cost of living there is essentially the same as Gardiner Maine.

And there are plenty of places to hunt and rider quads. I always go riding. But not sure about snow mobiling, maybe up north.

[WestcoastBrit]

Moved from Tampa Bay to Lake Havasu City last year. Car insurance went down 30%, food bills down 20% and cable/internet stayed about the same. I have bought new vehicles in both states and would say AZ is more expensive for cars. Car tax is what got me, 07 Tahoe in FL was $48 and in AZ $560!

[bvet4dog]

ouch! so really the cost of living in AZ is about the same or more than where im at in maine?

Thanks for your help guys! i appreciate it. I'll be chatting for a bit with her and see what she thinks.