Need Advice (Bangor: relocate, insurance, budget)

[sweetmichelle28CT]

Hello everyone. My Fiance and I are looking to relocate within the next year or so. We are looking into Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. We live in CT. We have both lived here all our lives and are really just ready for a change. The cost of living in CT is just way too expensive, and we rent. We are looking for a more quiet and simple way of life. I would like to live in a good community with good schools. We have a 6 year old son. The schools don't have to be top notch. I just would like him to go to a school where he will be able to learn and be safe. He is repeating the first grade this year because he is having difficulty with reading, so schools with a good reading program or that offer extra help/tutoring would be great. I would also prefer a town with a lot of friendly families with young kids, as my son is an only child. When we do move, my fiance will be the only one working until I am able to find a part-time job during school hours. He will keep his job here, so he will be gone most of the week, so a safe neighborhood is a must, seeing how most of the time it will be just me and my son. He makes almost $40,000 a year now. If he could find a job where we move that will pay decent, he would love to be able to work within the state we live. He drives a car carrier and hauls cars to autions and dealerships. He can drive just about anything. His has his Class A CDL. Are there a lot of trucking jobs in Maine, Newhampshire, or Vermont?? Also my son would like to live in a place that has the most snow. We would be renting when we move. Either an apartment or a house. I would like to find something with heat included so it would most likely be an apartment. If that's not an option, how are the heating budget plans? Also we have a siberian husky named max. So a pet friendly place would be great. Any information or advice on these 3 states would be greatly appreciated.

[Shuffler]

Originally Posted by sweetmichelle28CT

Hello everyone. My Fiance and I are looking to relocate within the next year or so. We are looking into Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. We live in CT. We have both lived here all our lives and are really just ready for a change. The cost of living in CT is just way too expensive, and we rent. We are looking for a more quiet and simple way of life. I would like to live in a good community with good schools. We have a 6 year old son. The schools don't have to be top notch. I just would like him to go to a school where he will be able to learn and be safe. He is repeating the first grade this year because he is having difficulty with reading, so schools with a good reading program or that offer extra help/tutoring would be great. I would also prefer a town with a lot of friendly families with young kids, as my son is an only child. When we do move, my fiance will be the only one working until I am able to find a part-time job during school hours. He will keep his job here, so he will be gone most of the week, so a safe neighborhood is a must, seeing how most of the time it will be just me and my son. He makes almost $40,000 a year now. If he could find a job where we move that will pay decent, he would love to be able to work within the state we live. He drives a car carrier and hauls cars to autions and dealerships. He can drive just about anything. His has his Class A CDL. Are there a lot of trucking jobs in Maine, Newhampshire, or Vermont?? Also my son would like to live in a place that has the most snow. We would be renting when we move. Either an apartment or a house. I would like to find something with heat included so it would most likely be an apartment. If that's not an option, how are the heating budget plans? Also we have a siberian husky named max. So a pet friendly place would be great. Any information or advice on these 3 states would be greatly appreciated.

In the grand scheme of things, the future of trucking in this country is highly volatile the way energy prices are going. He may want to consider other employment. Just ask Ranger...he's been there. If you want lots of snow, make sure you also have lots of money to throw at heating your place. I think you really need to research things more, since it doesn't sound like you have much of a plan at this point.

[AlisonL]

I am a bit confused, you say schools don't have to be topnotch, yet your son has reading problems. I would be looking for the best school system I could find. One of lesser quality won't get him the help he needs. Just my thoughts.

[Maineah]

$40,000 a year won't get you far in Maine either I'm afraid. Since your fiance is going to be commuting to CT you will probably need to live in the Southern part of Maine. This is also the most expensive part of Maine too. Most housing in Southern Maine will start in the $200,000 range and go up from there. Rent will cost you $1000 a month for anything decent and you'll most likely have to pay heating costs on top of that. That's nearly half of your fiance's income just in rent and fuel. Most all of the schools in Southern Maine are very good so there is no problem there.
If you buy or rent a house you will have to be willing to shovel snow or hire someone to plow you out since you will be alone most of the time.
Shoveling is fun the first time, though about the 10th storm you just don't want to do it anymore and you still have two months yet to go.
If your fiance is willing to drive a couple of extra hours further north you would do much better in terms of affordability.
You have to remember that especially this winter fuel is going to be a killer. The average house uses three 275 gallon tanks of fuel for the winter months. That fuel this winter will cost you over $4,000. Four thousand dollars is a lot to come up with in the middle of the winter on top of rent,electric,insurances, car payments, food, gas, clothing,etc. You'll be lucky to have enough left over to rent a DVD! Sorry to be discouraging but that's just the way it is around here these days.

[sweetmichelle28CT]

Thanks to everyone for all your advice. I am just starting to research everything we need to know. We won't be moving for at least a year if not more, so I have a lot of time to find the best place that will fit our needs. I wasn't applying that I would settle for any school for my son. So many people are worried about what scores the school gets. I am just looking for a good school with a lot of programs that they could offer my son with his reading like I had said in my post. My fiance is also good with landscaping. He used to own his own business. Is there a great need for landscapers in these areas? And he would be staying in CT during the work week and using his truck to go back and forth, so gas would be payed for by his employer and seeing how he'll only be driving down once and back, the distance isn't really that big of a deal. I don't know if you realize it, but CT is a very expensive state to live in. Of course we don't own anything, but rents aren't cheap here either. I am just looking for all the information I can get and I appreciate all of your honest replies.

[Maineah]

If you're without a vehicle all week long you'll need to live within walking distance to a grocery store as well. I'm not saying it can't be done here but it won't be easy or cheap.

[forest beekeeper]

Originally Posted by sweetmichelle28CT

Hello everyone. My Fiance and I are looking to relocate within the next year or so. We are looking into Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. We live in CT. We have both lived here all our lives and are really just ready for a change. The cost of living in CT is just way too expensive, and we rent. We are looking for a more quiet and simple way of life. I would like to live in a good community with good schools. We have a 6 year old son. The schools don't have to be top notch. I just would like him to go to a school where he will be able to learn and be safe. He is repeating the first grade this year because he is having difficulty with reading, so schools with a good reading program or that offer extra help/tutoring would be great. I would also prefer a town with a lot of friendly families with young kids, as my son is an only child. When we do move, my fiance will be the only one working until I am able to find a part-time job during school hours. He will keep his job here, so he will be gone most of the week, so a safe neighborhood is a must, seeing how most of the time it will be just me and my son. He makes almost $40,000 a year now. ...

Welcome!

We were living in Ct, before we moved to Maine.

We lived in Norwich.

We have really enjoyed our move to Maine.

In our experience moving to Maine has been a big drop in cost-of-living.

Good luck.

[canyontothesky]

I agree with Maineah, who said you'll want to be living in southern Maine with his commute. Perhaps if he does have a trucker mentality or something, he doesn't notice, nor mind the time spent driving, but I'd think that after the first month or so of going back and forth, it's going to get really tiring. Then think about him driving there or back in a huge snow storm. Not too comforting, plus the extra time needed. And the further north you go just adds more and more time for the commute.
But the further out you go, and the more rural you go, the cheaper the rent. You could find a very secluded house for less than $700 (though they are less common than the $1,000+ rentals), but it's going to have a school system with fewer resources (at least in my experience), you're going to have higher heating bills with a lower average temperature, more snow to plow, more cash spent on gas to travel to developed areas to get the things you need, etc, which means more expenses overall.

I guess, however negative it may sound, I would think it would not be a good idea at all to move (to Maine) given your current circumstances, but if he had a job within the state (or even MA or NH), it would obviously be much, much better.
But also the $40,000 a year part is tough, too. Here in NYC, it's common for people to spend more than half their income on rent and utilities, but with a family and moving and all, are you absolutely sure (though maybe you are already doing this) that you can afford everything, especially with the money pit that tons of snow brings?

Bottom line is yeah, he really ought to be working here, and getting as much of a raise in income as possible to make it seem like it'll work. Sorry if I'm being negative, I try not to do that, but other people have taken this sort of tone, so I'm going to have to agree with that.

[canyontothesky]

Also, just to add, I am actually purposely trying to harp on the snow issue, perhaps putting my own needed realizations upon you. I grew up in Massachusetts and always hated the snow. I moved to NYC and it rarely snows in the winter, just cold. Since I've been here we only got a couple of inches. Earlier this year I was campaigning to move to North Carolina to avoid the cold! Then I made a 180, insisting that I miss the snow and want to go back to skiing and snowboarding, and take up snowshoeing and snowmobiling and all that. But right now it's July and it's hot and I miss cold. Its hard to remember the dark, bogged down attitude the snow sometimes brings, how much inconvenience it brings and whatnot when it's this hot. I'm hoping that I'll be less of a whiner when I move to Maine next year, and I've grown up quite a bit in the past few years, but I'm not trying to fool myself into thinking it'll be great, when I'm freezing my ass off shoveling out my car and I just want to die. Nor will it be great driving any amount of milage in a snowstorm, which in New England always manages to happen during the day, whereas in NY it happens while we sleep.
And the point is that CT is nothing like Maine in regards to cold and snow, especially since you are trying to find the snowiest, but I think that it really does bring a LOT of baggage, especially monetary, and also its tough on the spirit.
Sorry if I'm putting my personal woes onto you!!

[forest beekeeper]

Originally Posted by canyontothesky

... And the point is that CT is nothing like Maine in regards to cold and snow, especially since you are trying to find the snowiest, but I think that it really does bring a LOT of baggage, especially monetary, and also its tough on the spirit.
Sorry if I'm putting my personal woes onto you!!

We lived in Norwich Ct numerous times during my career, and then again for three years once I was retired and coming up to Maine shopping for a retirement home.

I did track the local temps and weather conditions on Norwich verses Bangor for a year.

It was my observation that Maine averaged about 3* cooler than Ct, but had about half of the snow fall.

Ct and NYC are much more in line with the storms coming off the Great Lakes. Whereas up here we tend to be too far North to get the Great lakes weather pattern, and half of the time we get stuff coming down from Canada.

It is a different weather pattern, though it is not a worse pattern by any comparison.

We lived in Scotland for a few years, and by our observations Maine is much warmer and drier than the UK is.