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To make a long story short, I'm thinking of moving from an expensive metro area to a smaller, more cheap city so that I can go to school in that area, live comfortably while doing so and while paying off whatever I owe afterward, and then I can start fresh in an area more suitable for the job market.
The problem is, my mother is having none of this. She doesn't realize how much the cost of living has increased for renting here, and how even though the job situation is pretty good compared to other cities, the influx of people has made it nearly impossible to compete for jobs for a low-skilled person such as myself. And to top it off, inflation here is pretty outrageous and all of these things together would cause a lot of stress that I feel I could save myself if I simply moved to a cheaper place for awhile. Have any of you been in this situation? What would you suggest?
(Also, for reasons that would take too long to go into, moving back in with her is not an option even though she has offered to let me). She's an alcoholic and living with her last time I went to college caused me a lot of stress I don't need at this point in my life. I am also not trying to blame her or anything or anybody else for these problems, I'm just trying to really think about how I can make moving ahead in my life doable being that I'm now 30 and still working retail. I feel that I've come up with a doable solution but her solution is for me to either live with her or work two or three jobs while going to school here.
I'd be a bit concerned about expected return on investment of this plan as-outlined. There are risks, with somewhat unknown outcomes. If you could know the odds of a risk materializing (becoming real), you could actually calculate what is called "expected value of a decision" and compare/contrast with two other options: doing nothing, and attending school locally instead.
I'm not familiar with your posts offhand, not sure what your area is. Mine is Seattle metro, which has a very good job market for certain skills, notably technology. Other skills and fields, "they" say not as good. I'm not sure about that.
Unfortunately, parts of Seattle metro, notably Bellevue, has one of the highest average rent cost increases YoY per a Seattle Times article from 2014. "Inflation" is certain occurring, in terms of rental costs as-least, in the major metro areas with high job growth. Makes sense: companies hire, demand for housing increases, supply cannot immediately adjust (an "elastic" adjustment period), prices increase. And yes, to your point about influx of people, Seattle in-particular has seen a big influx of high-skill people from (presumably) the world over, given that the tech companies will scour the earth for talent as-needed.
Nationally, one site indicated inflation 2014-5 was (is) on-track for .8%, which is obviously very low historically. I believe long-term average is about 3%. That is a good number to use in calculations, as a rule.
Now to your specifics: consider all the costs you can think of to move to a smaller, cheaper city and attend/complete the school of your choice. Be thorough. When I was 21 I moved to Reno with the clothes on my back, whatever I could fit into my 1981 Mercury Capri (not a lot), a pistol, couple thousand in startup money, positive attitude and list of networking contacts, and nothing else. I lived in a flophouse for $120/week (the Stardust) a month or so before I had a real job. My expenses were obviously pretty low, but I had prospects and a solid plan. Which worked out fine, but that was officially "a long time ago" at this point.
You're 30, so "please" do the calcs best you can to plan out a decision. I would gently suggest what your "mom" thinks is irrelevant, but clearly every family is different and I was a headstrong young man (now I'm a headstrong, Type A middle-aged guy). Dif'rent strokes, dif'rent folks.
The great unknown is employment prospects when you're done with all of the above, assuming you move on it. Wish there was a good answer to that; there are many threads on what you should being doing during school to maximize chances of success after, too.
I admire you greatly for your plan for your future. So many people don't have a clue and you seem to have figured out what you can do to get on with your life. Go for it and I shall be cheering from the sidelines!
To make a long story short, I'm thinking of moving from an expensive metro area to a smaller, more cheap city so that I can go to school in that area, live comfortably while doing so and while paying off whatever I owe afterward, and then I can start fresh in an area more suitable for the job market.
The problem is, my mother is having none of this. She doesn't realize how much the cost of living has increased for renting here, and how even though the job situation is pretty good compared to other cities, the influx of people has made it nearly impossible to compete for jobs for a low-skilled person such as myself. And to top it off, inflation here is pretty outrageous and all of these things together would cause a lot of stress that I feel I could save myself if I simply moved to a cheaper place for awhile. Have any of you been in this situation? What would you suggest?
(Also, for reasons that would take too long to go into, moving back in with her is not an option even though she has offered to let me). She's an alcoholic and living with her last time I went to college caused me a lot of stress I don't need at this point in my life. I am also not trying to blame her or anything or anybody else for these problems, I'm just trying to really think about how I can make moving ahead in my life doable being that I'm now 30 and still working retail. I feel that I've come up with a doable solution but her solution is for me to either live with her or work two or three jobs while going to school here.
If your Mom is not paying for your education, she has no right to demand you go here or there. Pretty simple. If she wants you to be in an expensive place, she should pay you the difference. It's only fair.
What do you plan to get your education in. Most degrees just lead to having a degree and debt but still not meaningful job. Unless you are going into the STEM fields, do not waste your time getting a useless degree. Do you know what you can do with a bachelors degree? If you hold it in your right hand and toilet paper in your left hand you can wipe twice. TWICE!
To make a long story short, I'm thinking of moving from an expensive metro area to a smaller, more cheap city so that I can go to school in that area, live comfortably while doing so and while paying off whatever I owe afterward, and then I can start fresh in an area more suitable for the job market.
The problem is, my mother is having none of this. She doesn't realize how much the cost of living has increased for renting here, and how even though the job situation is pretty good compared to other cities, the influx of people has made it nearly impossible to compete for jobs for a low-skilled person such as myself. And to top it off, inflation here is pretty outrageous and all of these things together would cause a lot of stress that I feel I could save myself if I simply moved to a cheaper place for awhile. Have any of you been in this situation? What would you suggest?
(Also, for reasons that would take too long to go into, moving back in with her is not an option even though she has offered to let me). She's an alcoholic and living with her last time I went to college caused me a lot of stress I don't need at this point in my life. I am also not trying to blame her or anything or anybody else for these problems, I'm just trying to really think about how I can make moving ahead in my life doable being that I'm now 30 and still working retail. I feel that I've come up with a doable solution but her solution is for me to either live with her or work two or three jobs while going to school here.
I think I'd like to know a little more about your plans before I would say your plan is good or bad.
Do you know what degree you will pursue? At 30, you should a much clearer idea of what you want to do with your working life than you did at 18. If you don't have a career goal, I would put off going to college until you come up with one.
Is this a public college, a private one or a proprietary college? A state run college will cost you considerably less than either a private college or a proprietary one. The proprietary one will easily be the most costly, and most likely to not have the best reputation (despite all the ads they put on TV).
Are you planning on taking classes or doing mostly "on line" course work? In my experience, students who have done entirely on-line degrees do not come into the job market as well prepared as students who have taken mostly traditional courses.
Are you planning on going to college full time and working part time or going part time and working full time?
Can you qualify for financial aid other than loans? Truth be told, loans are loans NOT "financial aid". You can get financial aid in terms of private scholarships and government scholarhips/grants even for part-time study. These usually depend upon your grades (private scholarships) or your income (government scholarships/grants).
What is the job market like in the area/city you plan to move to? Is it reasonable that you can get a job there with your current skills that pays well enough to enable you to live and go to school?
I'm with ncole1. If your mother is not paying for your education, she had no say in what you do.
Hey guys, I'm back! I just wanted to answer some questions that were asked. The degree is really beauty school, it's something I've always thought about doing, but I've been reading about the reputation of the school I want to attend here and I don't like the reviews I've been reading on it.
I also want to learn some languages and figured I could do that through the university in the city I want to move to. To tell you flat out, the city I want to move from is Denver, Colorado and the city I want to move to is Wichita, Kansas. The cost of living is a lot cheaper there than here and doing school and cutting back on work would be more ideal there (though I won't have to do that taking language classes I don't think).
I've decided against it though for now. I've got my retail job, and even though there are less people in Kansas I don't want to try to move somewhere without a job with the economy the way it is and I can't transfer out of my store right now.
Also my mother has breast cancer and will be dealing with radiation every day for at least six weeks and chemo is still up in the air. I hadn't planned to move until after it was over since I've been taking her to her doctor's appointments but she's totally against it. I'm aware of the tornado dangers in east Kansas, but I thought it would be no big deal to live there for one or two years at the most, do what I'm there to do and then leave. I actually thought about quitting my job but a manager there talked me out of it and is willing to help me with hours if needed when it comes to my mother's health issues, so I'd be stupid to walk away from that with nothing.
But I still think it would be a good idea to do at some point. Also, I could get back into my original career field if I moved to Wichita, or get work experience doing something else without all the endless qualifications employers out here demand. It's just impossible to compete with people here because there are so many people in this city looking for work. Even though the job market is pretty good here compared to some other cities, there are just too many people and they don't stop coming. Thanks for the advice though everyone!
Well it sounds like you have made the right decision for yourself at this point
To answer your original question - yes, I would absolutely do it, and we just did. We are considerably older and went though those phases in life where having a bigger, more expensive home and nicer, newer cars were desirable. Well, now we are closer to retirement and having to put kids through college. We downsized considerably, stopped leasing our vehicles, and have moved to a place where it costs us about half of what it did previously.
If I knew then what I knew now, I would have lived more frugally and saved more. Being able to afford vacations, have a decent savings account, and put money away for retirement is much more rewarding for us now.
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