Hi there!

[Count David]

Originally Posted by Sonic_Spork

I have driven through but never really spent time in Aurora. I have heard more than one person (including one who grew up there) say that it is "the ghetto."

Heard words mean a lot (sometimes), but it's not like Aurora is one giant sprawling Cabrini Green or Nickerson Gardens. Could it truly be possible all 300,000 people in Aurora live in the ghetto?

Check out this horribly ghetto hood in North Aurora:
Park East, Aurora, CO

Originally Posted by Sonic_Spork

However, it is my supposition after living in many cities that Colorado natives wouldn't know a ghetto if it bit them in the butt.

Yes, one of my subordinates is a mostly-CO reared fellow, and every time I send him somewhere that isn't as nice as the lily SE Aurora neighborhood he lives in with Mommy, he says, "Wow, this is straight up HOOD!". Most recently he said this about an average neighborhood in Thornton (Woodglen), and also about the Park Lane neighborhood in Aurora (he almost has a point there).


OP, we made a similar move 6 years ago, with anecdotes of the journey throughout the forum, from the beginning.

I'll try and keep this long story short:

We made a fact finding trip to Denver/Colorado Springs in December 2006. Loved CO, thought it was awesome.

We made the move from CA in June of 2007, to South Aurora, to a 3 bed apartment that was $969/mo at the time. "We" were me (at age 23), my-then girlfriend (now wife, she was 25), her then 18 year old sister, and 3 kids (1 has since passed away ). My wife and I both came without jobs, both of us only had restaurant and Domino's Pizza experience lol. We both got jobs at different Domino's here.

We had what we thought was enough money saved to last us ($6K). We were WRONG. We struggled hard for the first few months here, as our income was nowhere near what we expected. We barely paid our bills, and many were paid late. So I went looking for a second job (as my wife lost hers, related to the child eventually passing away).

I found a second job as a courier, settled in, made $$BANK$$ right away, and quit the first job at Domino's. We went from scraping by to ballin' by early 2008.

DISCLAIMER: Results not typical. How ballin' you end up is based on how lucky you get and how HARD you are willing to work; I consider our luck to be somewhere in the range of 1 in several million. DO NOT EXPECT THIS, THINGS ARE VERY DIFFERENT NOW ECONOMICALLY. We were in the right place at the right time.

The job eventually turned into a career (not as ballin' as before, however, but still more than ok), and my wife and I now run the Denver branch (the company has grown from local to multi-metro in my time here {across several states in the West}, partially thanks to me and all my restaurant experience j/k). We'll be putting down semi-permanent roots here in the Denver metro area (via purchasing a house by the end of 2013; I don't intend to live here for the rest of my life, as I still have wanderlust, and more love for other places). We've also since had another baby, now 2 years old.

Keep in mind OP, if you are coming with a fair amount of $$$$ (at least $10K), and the willingness for one or both of you to WORK HARD IF NECESSARY, you can make your dreams come true. The small town we moved from in CA might as well be in TX, and life was very easy there. You MUST work hard to have any semblance of a life here, unless you're coming with a job throwing no less than mid 5-figures at you.

I would suggest you keep your options open OP. I searched for jobs in Pueblo once (for S's & G's), and was actually scared by how little I found among different sources. I would also recommend you keep the Springs and Denver (particularly Aurora and Thornton) as open propositions (for economic, job, and housing reasons). I wouldn't recommend Fort Collins, Boulder, or the mountains, for somebody in your situation. It'd be harder than necessary to get the ball rolling in those places IMO.

GOOD LUCK!!!!

[rachelmc]

Originally Posted by businezguy

You aren't going to find a large Indian population in Pueblo or Pueblo West, just to be warned. Although they do have an amazing Indian restaurant which I find addictive. I don't understand why Americans can't cook that well WHILE using so many vegetables! Besides the restaurant, the only other Indian person I've seen is my son's pediatrician.

It's not important to me to be surrounded by Indians. Would I like Indian restaurants? Yes, but not a sticking point for me. I would imagine other than the Indian Restaurant in Pueblo, we could find a few in Denver and Colorado Springs as well. As far as the vegetables are cooked, I completely agree, nothing like Indian veggies, I think chinese food makes vegetables taste fabulous as well. Mexican food does a great job with beans and all foods they incorporate them into from chilli to burritos. I have been trying new American foods little by little and I will admit, my favorite has been dry rub fall-off-the-bone ribs. Every culture has something awesome to contribute culinary-wise for sure!

Originally Posted by David Aguilar

Keep in mind OP, if you are coming with a fair amount of $$$$ (at least $10K), and the willingness for one or both of you to WORK HARD IF NECESSARY, you can make your dreams come true. The small town we moved from in CA might as well be in TX, and life was very easy there. You MUST work hard to have any semblance of a life here, unless you're coming with a job throwing no less than mid 5-figures at you.

I would suggest you keep your options open OP. I searched for jobs in Pueblo once (for S's & G's), and was actually scared by how little I found among different sources. I would also recommend you keep the Springs and Denver (particularly Aurora and Thornton) as open propositions (for economic, job, and housing reasons). I wouldn't recommend Fort Collins, Boulder, or the mountains, for somebody in your situation. It'd be harder than necessary to get the ball rolling in those places IMO.

My husband and I are definitely willing and ready to work hard. No matter what jobs we have held we have always given it our 100% and done it to the best of our abilities. We aren't tardy, we know how to be respectful, adhere to dress code, do the work that needs to be done and we are honest individuals. Both of us handle tons and tons of SSNs for millionaires/billionaires everyday, and help them with their financial investments at our current jobs for instance. So work ethic is something I can confidently say we both have and something that is important to us. As for our savings it's more in the $8k range. We have been working 12 hour shifts and getting tons of overtime and that's the only way we are even be able to make the 8k approximation. I do not see it taking more than even a month for one of us to find a job, let alone two. We would do something, anything to get money coming in while looking for better jobs if that makes any sense. I know every situation is not the same, but being jobless with nothing (literally) is not new to me. When my husband and I first eloped, he didn't have a job, I wasn't qualified (legally) to work here in the US (I am now), and neither of us had (or has) a college education. We literally built our lives from nothing and I do mean nothing. Had to use credit cards for things like groceries and an ironing table. We never signed up for government aid like food stamps/medicaid/etc. Then when my husband lost his job in February earlier this year we had nothing saved up and I do mean nothing. Things just worked out for us and if I am honest I will say it is all because of God, he provided and we were fine. Never once did we ask to borrow money from our friends or my parents who are very well off. Didn't even let them know our situation because we knew they would try to help. Anyways, like I said every situation is not the same and will not be the same, but just wanted to say we have been there before. It does not mean we will move to CO with no jobs, no money and think it will be a-ok, we are trying our best to save as much as we can and prepare as much as we can. We will job hunt and we will save as much as we can.

I did want to ask those of you who have made the move from a warmer state this- what are some of the things you purchased/wish you had purchased before/after moving to CO? The only two things I can think of right now are snow boots, jackets/sweaters and debating an electric blanket (we have a cat and a little one so don't want to introduce unnecessary safety hazards). Oh also considering those portable heaters. Any thoughts on that?

[Count David]

Originally Posted by rachelmc

I did want to ask those of you who have made the move from a warmer state this- what are some of the things you purchased/wish you had purchased before/after moving to CO? The only two things I can think of right now are snow boots, jackets/sweaters and debating an electric blanket (we have a cat and a little one so don't want to introduce unnecessary safety hazards). Oh also considering those portable heaters. Any thoughts on that?

Beanies and gloves, long johns/thermals, snow shovels and ice scrapers (when you get here). You shouldn't need space heaters or electric blankets.

[Sonic_Spork]

Originally Posted by David Aguilar

Beanies and gloves, long johns/thermals, snow shovels and ice scrapers (when you get here). You shouldn't need space heaters or electric blankets.

^^ Totally agree. Skip the space heaters and electric blankets, any place you live should have perfectly adequate heat. Also it really isn't as cold as you may think. It just gets that way sometimes. A decent jacket/hat/gloves/scarf arrangement is a good idea, basically what this poster said...also I want to add to that, it's wise to have an emergency kit in your vehicle, especially if you're into driving up into the mountains and such. You will probably want to carry tire chains (not if you're driving in the low areas during the warm months, but during the winter and/or mountain driving) as well as the typical items for cold weather survival just in case of emergency. I would actually recommend that you do a Google search on this and make your own list of things you think you might need...some of the people here can probably make good suggestions.

Funny story, we arrived here at our new rental house 2 days prior to our moving truck full of belongings, and they pulled up around 9AM and it had been snowing. I had no snow shovel yet, it was in my stuff, on the truck! So one of the moving guys, and I, had to borrow shovels from my new neighbors to shovel the drive enough for them to unload our stuff into the house. If I'd thought about it, I would have popped down to Walmart the day before and grabbed a shovel so I'd have been ready for the movers. That moving guy was not happy with me...

[Mike from back east]

LOTS of fine things can be had for cheap at our many Goodwill and Salvation Army stores. Wait until arriving here to buy items, we have plenty of retail here, as well as Craigslist and FreeCycle.org lists.