Thinking about moving to Maine (Portland, Gorham: credit, minimum wage, organic)

[dramamama6685]

Originally Posted by corgis

I think I know which group of houses you are referring to - the brown one is for sale now, if it's the same group. When you get here, drive up Boynton St towards the IGA, I live in the yellow house that has the car with WV license plates. Stop in and we'll talk. We are renovating this house one room at a time, so while some of the rooms look nice, some look awful but that's the price we chose to pay when we bought this house - our thought was to buy the worst house in the best neighborhood and take our time fixing it up. It'll take several more years but we don't require a perfect house. This one was built in 1879 so it's got it's share of problems.

By the way, I was born and partially raised about 50 miles from Toledo, Ohio so I know about the midwest, the heat, mind numbing cold and wind in the winter, lake effect deep snows coming off Lake Erie.

That's exactly the stretch of houses that I am talking about. We will defintiely take you up on your offer. My husband's Aunt still said the other one was for sale, but we most likely missed the boat on it...grrrr!

[DavidoftheNorth]

Originally Posted by loges

i see someone wants a sugarcoated view of Maine, and gets nasty and childish when others express their opinions... i said there is good and bad in Maine. It aint all flowers and roses here... grow up, and learn some self-control....

Sorry loges, I guess maybe I was a little rude to you.

[Let's tell the truth]

Okay so your dreaming about moving to Maine. I hope your dream is making $7.00 to $9.00 an hour, paying a heating bill of $300.00 to $500.00 a month for at least 6 months out of the year. Paying $400.00 a month for food and that's for 2 people(and believe me your not eating lobster). The price of gas is stupid but I guess that's the price for having a dream.But don't forget in your dream to add crime because we have plenty of it but we just don't tell outsider that because we want you to come up here spend all that money you earned in the city and find out for yourself and leave broke in 5 year's! So keep dreaming of Maine we will take your money.

[mollysmiles]

I make well over 7-9/hour, but of course, I'm educated. My teen daughter works at McDees and makes almost $8/hour. My heating bill is averaged, it's $225/month for 5 months for a 15 room house with 3 bathrooms. And that is for THIS year, with the estimation of oil prices being high. My grocery bill is about $500/month for 6 of us. We're very well fed, I make things HOMEMADE, no processed food, and 3 of the 6 are teenagers. Gas prices are bad everywhere, thank the US government for that, not Maine. Those are the facts for me. I don't think you should claim that your numbers are shared by everyone, just as mine are not.

[DavidoftheNorth]

Originally Posted by Let's tell the truth

Okay so your dreaming about moving to Maine. I hope your dream is making $7.00 to $9.00 an hour,...

What you may not be comprehending, LTTT, is that some of the folks moving to Maine have specialized skills, training, or education that will allow them to find jobs that command higher salaries. In fact, they will benefit Maine by filling roles that we aren't necessarily able to fill ourselves. As for the unskilled in-migrants, you make a valid point - it's gonna be slim pickins for them, chances are.

[DavidoftheNorth]

Originally Posted by mollysmiles

I make well over 7-9/hour, but of course, I'm educated. My teen daughter works at McDees and makes almost $8/hour. My heating bill is averaged, it's $225/month for 5 months for a 15 room house with 3 bathrooms.

Holy cow Molly - you live in a MANSION !

[Elcarim]

Originally Posted by mollysmiles

I make well over 7-9/hour, but of course, I'm educated. My teen daughter works at McDees and makes almost $8/hour. My heating bill is averaged, it's $225/month for 5 months for a 15 room house with 3 bathrooms. And that is for THIS year, with the estimation of oil prices being high. My grocery bill is about $500/month for 6 of us. We're very well fed, I make things HOMEMADE, no processed food, and 3 of the 6 are teenagers. Gas prices are bad everywhere, thank the US government for that, not Maine. Those are the facts for me. I don't think you should claim that your numbers are shared by everyone, just as mine are not.

How the heck do you feed 6 people (3 teens) on only $500 a month? I can't even feed the 5 of us (3 under age 7) on that!! I need a copy of your shopping list to use, I think.

And kudos on having 3 bathrooms! I can't find any rental listings with more than 1.5 bath. I keep saying you folks up there don't understand that a family with 3 girls needs more bathrooms than that! Down here, 2 bath is the norm and 3 is the up and coming trend. I guess we can always add one when we buy if need be.

[Let's tell the truth]

Originally Posted by DavidoftheNorth

What you may not be comprehending, LTTT, is that some of the folks moving to Maine have specialized skills, training, or education that will allow them to find jobs that command higher salaries. In fact, they will benefit Maine by filling roles that we aren't necessarily able to fill ourselves. As for the unskilled in-migrants, you make a valid point - it's gonna be slim pickins for them, chances are.

You do have a point. And again I do not want to be totally negative but no matter how much money you make you still have to live in the area and feel safe that the people in your area that are suppose to protect you will. Unless you just move here and stay in your house and ignore what's really going on.By the way I like Bangor area of course I have only visited there but I really have the highest respect for the hospital.Have a great day!

[forest beekeeper]

Originally Posted by Let's tell the truth

Okay so your dreaming about moving to Maine. I hope your dream is making $7.00 to $9.00 an hour, paying a heating bill of $300.00 to $500.00 a month for at least 6 months out of the year. Paying $400.00 a month for food and that's for 2 people(and believe me your not eating lobster). The price of gas is stupid but I guess that's the price for having a dream.But don't forget in your dream to add crime because we have plenty of it but we just don't tell outsider that because we want you to come up here spend all that money you earned in the city and find out for yourself and leave broke in 5 year's! So keep dreaming of Maine we will take your money.

I am glad that I don't live anywhere near you do.

There are jobs that pay $7/hour and there are jobs that pay more; my wife gets over twice that working in a grocery store.

An older home with poor insulation may well cost a lot more to heat. But that is your decision to make [whether to live without insulation, or to live with insulation].

Raising five children we rarely paid $400/month for food. But then my wife does a lot of coupon shopping. Our food costs are much lower now days, as we produce more of our food. Right now we are down to just three of us [2 adults and one teen], our monthly food budget runs about $200.

The price of gasoline is really about the same coast-to-coast the variations are small. Whining about the price of gas in Maine, is dumb.

Crime? LOL give me a break!

[mollysmiles]

Originally Posted by Elcarim

How the heck do you feed 6 people (3 teens) on only $500 a month? I can't even feed the 5 of us (3 under age 7) on that!! I need a copy of your shopping list to use, I think.

And kudos on having 3 bathrooms! I can't find any rental listings with more than 1.5 bath. I keep saying you folks up there don't understand that a family with 3 girls needs more bathrooms than that! Down here, 2 bath is the norm and 3 is the up and coming trend. I guess we can always add one when we buy if need be.

you're so funny! lol... I buy a lot in bulk...we go to Sam's once or twice a month, and I buy the big flour, sugar, choc chips, spices. I buy only the meats that are on sale--and the meals for the week are tailored to that. We all like pastas, and salads, and veggies. I cook and bake a lot! We're not good at eating left-overs though, so I try not to have too much left over. For canned goods, like tomato sauce or whole tomatoes I stick to the store brand unless I can tell there's a difference. It usually averages $125/week, but with milk going up and us being BIG milk drinkers, plus yogurt, cheese, and the completely and entirely necessary ice cream!, we'll probably go up some. My biggest expense that I can't seem to get down is my water bill! It's high, but with 6 of us, there's not much you can do about that. We want to start redoing a couple of the bathrooms, so we'll definately be looking into more efficient products when we do!