Moving from Los Angeles to Kauai w/ Infant (Hanapepe, Hana: sales, 2014)

[kwatabum]

Hello!

My husband and I have been seriously discussing moving away from our hectic lives in Los Angeles (and my high-stress job) to the Garden Island.

We have a small two-bedroom apartment with little furniture; the majority of our furniture is in the baby's room (bookshelf, chair, changing table, crib, mamaroo, play gym).

The furniture isn't what I'm really attached to; it's all of the sentimental things like our books, my Le Creuset collection, our Buddha statues, etc. We could probably ditch most if not all of our bedroom and living room furniture; it's the baby's stuff that I would be sad to let go of... If we sell it all, will we be struggling to replace it once on the island?

How difficult are rentals and jobs to come by? We are both in the retail industry; myself at the corporate level and my husband at the store level. I've been cruising craigslist and other job boards. I have seen a few rentals already that I would be excited to move into tomorrow!!

Any advice for a couple of newlyweds w/ baby looking to live a simpler life? Any help at all is appreciated. We have got to get out of this city and into the ocean, man.

[scgali]

We moved over when my son was 5 days old to an unfinished home with several boxes to our name. For the baby, we brought a pack n play to use as his crib since it was easy to bring on the plane. We also had some clothes and blankets for him (all 100% cotton due to the weather). We bought a stroller on CL in San Diego and brought it over. We didn't need much else for him at that age and have been able to purchase anything else either from Craigslist or Walmart. It is easy to find baby items on Craigslist as well. We also use Amazon prime.
Check CL for furniture and household goods. There are many people who move off island and sell everything since they don't want to ship it to the mainland. It can be hard to find quality furniture items here unless you pay a ton. Also, the weather takes a toll on furniture and clothing. Leather shoes/clothes mold quickly and need to be wiped down often. Our wooden dressers also got moldy. We now have to hang DampRid packets in the closets every month. After a year we got rid of most of the clothes we brought over since they were too heavy. Bring the sentimental items but you can probably replace most everything else.
I don't know anything about the rental market.
Jobs can be tough to get initially since it's a who you know environment. Employers are weary of hiring people new to the island since it is so transient and they figure you may move in a year or two. But you can check CL for jobs too and maybe make some cold calls. I think it is easy to find the lower paying jobs since they have higher turnover. I saw a banner outside the new Ross that said they are hiring since you are both in retail. I think Sports Authority may be as well. Retail shouldn't be too tough.
We have found life to be simpler in some ways and harder in others. Simpler mainly due to weather and the slower pace. Harder financially due to a lack of jobs and the cost of living. We've only been here 15 months and are now starting to feel more comfortable as far as understanding how to survive here.

[KauaiPono]

My two cents:

If you cant get Kauai out of your system, but are unsure of the move. Try coming here for just one month to see if it is what you really want. Take a sabbatical from work, utilize the family leave act or just quit. That sounds harsh, but being unemployed on the mainland close to jobs and family is better than being unemployed in one of the most expensive places on earth and without friends and family to help.

Rent a condo for 4 weeks through VRBO to try it out.

As far as Kauai rentals (long term), they are hard to come by and expensive. Remember the units you see on CL are also being checked out by numerous other people too. The demand is high so the price goes even higher. If you see a unit that has been there for quite sometime it is probably because the rent is too high or even worse, just someone charging you the $50 application fee just to deny you anyway and never run your credit report. There are scams. Most landlords want to see you before they rent to you, so scoring a long term rental before you come, is very difficult too.

Good jobs are extremely difficult to get. Low paying ones are around but still hard to find especially if new to the island. Many newcomers to the islands have two low paying tourist centered jobs.

There is a price to Paradise. Good luck if you are serious, you can do it. Congrats on your baby.

[internationalyoga]

Good for you should go ahead.

[davephan]

I think you should do some long term thinking instead of blindly going ahead with a move to Kauai. First of all, have you ever set foot on Kauai? The population is very small, about 60K, but you might not think the population is small due to all the traffic on the main roads. The cost of living is very high, and your job prospects pay very little. Plus, it may be difficult to find even the low paying jobs.

You're a young family, so you have a lot of working years ahead of you. You have time to make mistakes and time to avoid making mistakes. Instead of working at stores making very little money, why doesn't your husband consider improving his education, so he could obtain a much higher paying job. You could start looking around for a job that has less pressure, but still provides a decent income. Or, you might improve your education after your husband obtains a higher paying job after improving his education and job skills. You need to start thinking about your long term financial goals and start saving for retirement, which will not be possible if you move to Kauai and work multiple low paying part time jobs with no benefits.

It is possible to survive in Hawaii without making much money, but your living standards will be pretty low and you are jeopardizing your long term financial future. You should think about what you want your lives to look like 10, 20, and 30 years from now. Will you still be struggling financially? Or, will you both have decent high paying jobs, making enough money to support your family?

[HanapepePuppy]

You guys are young so I say go for it. Just make sure you have enough cash in reserve to get back home without setting yourself back too much.

Just know the rental market is tight on Kauai and rental prices keep going up. Finding a good rental can be very challenging for someone who is not on island and scammers are ever present.

This is a garden island new paper article featured today about the uprise in scammers across the state.

The price of paradise - Thegardenisland.com: Crime And Courts

Good luck....

[OpenD]

Something worth noting... the OP posted once, on 10/15/14 (see the top left corner), and hasn't been back since (check the profile), apparently not even to read the responses.

[Blondebaerde]

Originally Posted by HanapepePuppy

You guys are young so I say go for it. Just make sure you have enough cash in reserve to get back home without setting yourself back too much.

Good luck....

LOL: 1) They don't, and 2) aka "it's in God's hands now!"

Moving from Los Angeles to Kauai with "a baby." mmmkay. Sentimentality wouldn't play a major part in the decision process were OP serious; they'd build a budget, pack, and do it. They aren't, nor does the previous even remotely make sense, thus never came back after Post 1 in October 2014. Anytime someone says they have to "get away" from something, I'd bet money whatever "it" is will follow them to the new place, too.

Might suggest, to anyone in a similar boat: take a leave of absence from the career, do some traveling. Ultimately, a cheaper solution and will help clear the head. If one "can't afford" to do that, I'd question if they have the remotist idea what moving to some small island in the Pacific might be like in the long run. In about ten years I'm going to try the same thing. I'll report the findings after, to C-D Hawaii

Most people have little clue about jobs or anything else in other states. We are in a similar bubble here in Seattle, no. 10 hottest rental and sales housing market in the U.S., with out-of-state knuckleheads looking for "safe, affordable housing" like right next to the tech centers (Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Boeing, others). Little housing of that sort exists anymore, and hasn't for years.

[HanapepePuppy]

Failure is the best teacher I know and life is way to short not to experience it because you "might" fail.