Deciding where to move out east. (Portland, Bangor: apartment, rentals, crime)

[Aiki]

Hi, i'm looking for some advice on moving. I live in Michigan and my job is ending spring 2008. I'm a single father age 35 with two sons age 12 and 13. I have managed to scrape together about $10,000(don't laugh please). i would like to move east somewhere like Maine, conn, NH, or Vermont. I currently live with my parents and share expensives. The job situation in michigan isn't the greatest right now. I'm looking at making $7.00 dollars an hour for jobs anywhere in my area if I stay and the crime is also starting to rise in the area. I'd like to think I could start over somewhere else but I don't want to get out of the frying pan into the fire so to speak. It would just be my sons and I moving. Would like to find a safe place to live with good schools, jobs and housing, i'm planning on renting. I don't have any advanced skills. I have done production work in factories most my life. The most recent job is packaging medicine for a pharmaceautical company. Any advice I could obtain would be much appreciated, thanks.

[K-Luv]

Originally Posted by Aiki

Hi, i'm looking for some advice on moving. I live in Michigan and my job is ending spring 2008. I'm a single father age 35 with two sons age 12 and 13. I have managed to scrape together about $10,000(don't laugh please). i would like to move east somewhere like Maine, conn, NH, or Vermont. I currently live with my parents and share expensives. The job situation in michigan isn't the greatest right now. I'm looking at making $7.00 dollars an hour for jobs anywhere in my area if I stay and the crime is also starting to rise in the area. I'd like to think I could start over somewhere else but I don't want to get out of the frying pan into the fire so to speak. It would just be my sons and I moving. Would like to find a safe place to live with good schools, jobs and housing, i'm planning on renting. I don't have any advanced skills. I have done production work in factories most my life. The most recent job is packaging medicine for a pharmaceautical company. Any advice I could obtain would be much appreciated, thanks.

Not to be rude, but with two kids I would suggest setting your sights for a little bit more then $7 an hour.

[cmcmillan]

for the last person who commented, he said $7/hr IF he stays!

[skytrekker]

Originally Posted by Aiki

Hi, i'm looking for some advice on moving. I live in Michigan and my job is ending spring 2008. I'm a single father age 35 with two sons age 12 and 13. I have managed to scrape together about $10,000(don't laugh please). i would like to move east somewhere like Maine, conn, NH, or Vermont. I currently live with my parents and share expensives. The job situation in michigan isn't the greatest right now. I'm looking at making $7.00 dollars an hour for jobs anywhere in my area if I stay and the crime is also starting to rise in the area. I'd like to think I could start over somewhere else but I don't want to get out of the frying pan into the fire so to speak. It would just be my sons and I moving. Would like to find a safe place to live with good schools, jobs and housing, i'm planning on renting. I don't have any advanced skills. I have done production work in factories most my life. The most recent job is packaging medicine for a pharmaceautical company. Any advice I could obtain would be much appreciated, thanks.

I would consider southern New England (CT, Mass) Before northern New England, because there are more jobs. Connecticut's minimum wage is $7.65 an hour- depending your job skills and experience you would make that here at least, perhaps more. Also consider Massachusetts has which now has 'universal health care' based on income-something to consider, with a minimum wage as high as CT.

I would consider western Mass (cheaper living then eastern Mass) and the Hartford CT area east.

Good luck- I see quite a few vehicles with Michigan plates here in eastern CT.

[sfw1979]

Originally Posted by Aiki

Hi, i'm looking for some advice on moving. I live in Michigan and my job is ending spring 2008. I'm a single father age 35 with two sons age 12 and 13. I have managed to scrape together about $10,000(don't laugh please). i would like to move east somewhere like Maine, conn, NH, or Vermont. I currently live with my parents and share expensives. The job situation in michigan isn't the greatest right now. I'm looking at making $7.00 dollars an hour for jobs anywhere in my area if I stay and the crime is also starting to rise in the area. I'd like to think I could start over somewhere else but I don't want to get out of the frying pan into the fire so to speak. It would just be my sons and I moving. Would like to find a safe place to live with good schools, jobs and housing, i'm planning on renting. I don't have any advanced skills. I have done production work in factories most my life. The most recent job is packaging medicine for a pharmaceautical company. Any advice I could obtain would be much appreciated, thanks.

Hello. Many people in your position are moving to Arizona. Visit the AZ board Tond of MI people are moving there because it's still cheap to love compared to the rest of the country. I would move where you get a good paying job.
Honestly I don't know if Maine would be right for you because there are not a lot of jobs here and the cost of living is on the high side. Good luck!

[399083453]

Move to Maine! Go for it. But find a job before you get here.

If your looking for the city, Portland, ME is very inexpensive compared to other cities in new england. Rent is pretty cheap. More opportunity. Many city resources, public transportation.

If your looking for rural, rent would also be very cheap, but its hard to come by rentals in rural areas. Less opportunity. Smaller schools.

[forest beekeeper]

Good / bad, I don't know.

We just moved to Maine from Norwich Ct, housing prices are soaring down there. However between the two casinos, and they are both importing workers into the US, since Americans don't want to deal cards and smile, there is a lot of opportunity there.

I own an apartment building in Norwich, so the rising rent levels are nice for me. But hard for the immigrants.

For us, moving to Maine has been a huge drop in our cost-of-living.

But then I am on pension, and my wife works at a grocery store making $14/hour as a loading dock warehouse worker [stacking produce, driving forklifts, stocking shelves, etc]

[janya barrish]

Forest BeeKeeper,

Can you disclose which grocery store your wife works for making $14/hr? My son is turning 19 this year, and has scoured the east Tn area for a job, and he cannot find one! One of my friend here, looked for 2 years, yeah, before she found an 8 dollar an hour job in doing house work for sick folks in their homes. She had to drive many miles around the area to do this. well they did pay her mileage..she just quit because they weren't paying enough for the amount of work she had to do!

[forest beekeeper]

Sure right now she has been working night shift, making $17/hour.

The DECA commissary in Bangor at the airport, the Air Guard base.

DECA is Defense Commissary Agency.

DECA is online, anyone can apply for a job there. They currently have openings for cashiers.

DECA has their own websites for each store location, though their hiring is done through the OPM website.

OPM is the Office of Personnel Management for our Federal Government.

Good luck

[WhoFanMe]

Originally Posted by Aiki

Hi, i'm looking for some advice on moving. I live in Michigan and my job is ending spring 2008. I'm a single father age 35 with two sons age 12 and 13. I have managed to scrape together about $10,000(don't laugh please). i would like to move east somewhere like Maine, conn, NH, or Vermont. I currently live with my parents and share expensives. The job situation in michigan isn't the greatest right now. I'm looking at making $7.00 dollars an hour for jobs anywhere in my area if I stay and the crime is also starting to rise in the area. I'd like to think I could start over somewhere else but I don't want to get out of the frying pan into the fire so to speak. It would just be my sons and I moving. Would like to find a safe place to live with good schools, jobs and housing, i'm planning on renting. I don't have any advanced skills. I have done production work in factories most my life. The most recent job is packaging medicine for a pharmaceautical company. Any advice I could obtain would be much appreciated, thanks.

Welcome to the forum, Aiki. The first thing I would say is for you to have saved that kind of money as a single parent of two boys is not a laughing matter, but worthy of recognition. I believe I heard somewhere that the U.S. has a negative savings rate, so I tip my hat to you and keep up the good work. As a new parent of a 14 month old, my wife and I often look at eachother and say, "how could we do this as a single parent?" Again, I salute you for raising your boys and caring enough to want them to grow up in a healthy environment.

Maine might be the place for you, although I'm not an employment expert, I do know that we are rapidly switching to a service economy as those factory jobs are going overseas and not coming back. I would research the various job sites and online newspapers and see what's available. Good luck and keep posting!