Will I fit in in Colorado Springs?

[Kit624]

Originally Posted by lalahartma

Chances are you can raise your own!
Check with your neighbors. The thing is organic feed is not cheap, I raise my own and waited almost 6 months before they began laying. If you drive out to the country for eggs you will probably pay @ 5 a dozen due to the gas you use!

Really?!? $5 a dozen is awfully steep. Here is a "city," but there are farms right here too. There are really no markets or anything, or people I could just buy them from, in the city proper, who raise their own, etc? I could stock up and freeze them, I suppose, but I'd still rather not go back to buying the ones in the store. Even the "organic" ones aren't nearly as good as the home grown ones. AFter having "real" eggs--the taste is so yummy. Maybe I WILL get my own chicken.

Maybe I'm just suffering from cost of living shock or something. We live in one of the cheapest areas of the country right now (cheapest place I've ever lived for sure!) and maybe I'm just suffering from that! I can't believe the housing prices either--over $200-300 more for houses that are at least 300 square feet less.

So, that said, how much could I charge for private lessons in COS? I have my masters degree in music and teach flute and piano. Could I charge for flute (what my masters is specifically in) say, maybe $45-$50 an hour? For piano, could I charge about $35?

Here my rates are significantly lower, but it is a significantly lower-income area in general, and I have had a hard time getting people not to say, "That's too much."

Thanks for answering all my questions.

[bovinedivine]

BTW, on Interstate-25, mileage from downtown Pueblo (Rt. 50) to Fort Carson/south end of COS is about 40 miles/40 minutes. Perhaps not quite within your goal of 20 minutes, but neither is it necessarily the hour-long ride that someone posted. COS is very very spread out, so, of course, it depends on your starting and ending points.

[Kit624]

Originally Posted by bovinedivine

BTW, on Interstate-25, mileage from downtown Pueblo (Rt. 50) to Fort Carson/south end of COS is about 40 miles/40 minutes. Perhaps not quite within your goal of 20 minutes, but neither is it necessarily the hour-long ride that someone posted. COS is very very spread out, so, of course, it depends on your starting and ending points.

Thanks! No, that's still too far. TBH, 20 minutes is too far. If it were up to me alone, we'd live downtown. But DH is more of a country boy, so we usually try to find a place with a yard and more space for him, that is still near the downtown for me. But Pueblo--too far. I want to be able to access the main parts of the city on a regular, twice weekly at least basis without spending buckets in gas. 40 minutes is too long to drive regularly. Thanks for the help though! I'm not trying to be rude or anything. Just know myself and us--and 20 minutes out of any downtown metro area is my max.

[Kit624]

Here, we are 17 miles from downtown--where our church, the movie theater, the arts stuff, my temp job (I no longer have it, but it was downtown also) etc is. That is far enough for me, I do not want to be any further--it takes 20-25 mins--and would prefer to be about 10 minutes closer. Gas gets expensive in our car--it's an old one, and though not an SUV, eats gas like it is one.

[bovinedivine]

I hear you, Kit624. I live way out in rural southestern CO, drive 50 miles each way to the nearest store, bank, gas station, and everything else -- and sometimes drive nearly 150 miles to Pueblo just to take an elder friend to the doctor and then shop at Vitamin Cottage! On the other hand, I often walk to a friend's house to get my eggs, and just went in with folks on a grass-fed cow. Sometimes I forget how totally alien our lifestyle must seem to others. Best of luck in your search and your move!

[Kit624]

Originally Posted by bovinedivine

I hear you, Kit624. I live way out in rural southestern CO, drive 50 miles each way to the nearest store, bank, gas station, and everything else -- and sometimes drive nearly 150 miles to Pueblo just to take an elder friend to the doctor and then shop at Vitamin Cottage! On the other hand, I often walk to a friend's house to get my eggs, and just went in with folks on a grass-fed cow. Sometimes I forget how totally alien our lifestyle must seem to others. Best of luck in your search and your move!

Thanks! Yeah, I'll drive a bit further for my eggs and such, rather than my daily things. But I do think it's cool that you got a cow! My DH would love that! But me, not so much, and since I'm the one who does the errands and the running around....and the artsy one who gets gigs and teaches music for my job and needs access to the high incomes and the arts...we live closer in. We usually try to find a "countryish" feel on a house or a lot but still be close to the city.