Florida family movin to Wisconsin (Milwaukee, Waukesha: living, prices, vs.)

[elizajane78]

still hashing out the details, but myself, my husband and our 2 children 2 and 1/2 and 6 months are considering a move to the Brookfield, WI area. He is originally from Wisconsin, but hasn't lived there in years and I am from south fla and totally clueless to Wisconsin besides 2 visits! Any info. esp. pertaining to jobs, housing and things to do with little ones would be helpful....THANKS!!!

[EnjoyEP]

Well, Ms. Jane, I am glad that you found the CD Forums and have decided to participate here, however, I do have to in frank honesty tell you that your type of post/questions is the type of post that drives the regulars on the CD Forum nuts.

You are being extremely vague. So it might be hard for anyone really to comment on anything too specifically for you.

First off, this obvious -

You say you are from South Florida with only 2 visits to WI. He hasn't lived here "for years."

1. Are you guys ready - honestly and fully - for winters here?

Seriously. When were your two visits? How long ago, in what month(s) of the year, and what were the durations?

I almost am boring myself with the canned and obvious response, but it needs to be stated. Winters here are extremely long, (mid-November through mid-April - especially from what you are used to in So. Florida maybe even mid-October through mid-May), can be extremely snowy / icey (100 inches of snow last year, about 50 inches thus far this year), and can have brutally cold stretches (sub-zero not uncommon); we haven't even hit 32 degrees (freezing) here in weeks.

Also, there is very, very scant sun in the cold months, and the days are quite short and dark in the winters months.

Having said that...are you HONESTLY prepared - coming from South Florida - to live in that climate? If not, or if you haven't thought it through terribly yet, I would heartily suggest you do so before really considering moving here.

2. Your husband hasn't lived here "for years". Sometimes absence makes the memory remember only the fond and minimize the negative. I should know, I was away from here for a mere 4 years and I in my own mind minimized / forgot the impact of winters here.

Is he absolutely sure he remembers shoveling / snow blowing 20+ times a winter, having only 5 (at most) semi-warm months, driving in ice/snow/wind for many, many days, and paying through the wazoo for gas/heating?

I am not saying he doesn't of course - I have no clue - but I do know that absence does sometimes make the heart grow fonder...often to its detriment.



I am not trying to beat you to death over the weather thing, but I think if you are pretty much only a South Florida person, you are for the absolute freaking shock of your lifetime if you aren't fully aware of what a Wisconsin winter could present to you. Do you like going to parks and being outside with your young kids? I have two young kids too. Get ready to spend largely 6 or 7 more indoors-oriented months with them (except for some jaunts out to sled, build snowmen, do snow-angels, etc.).

As for "jobs", "housing", and "things to do", I am sorry, but you'd have to be much, much more specific to garner any sort of a useful response.

[SickOfTheSunbelt]

EnjoyEP, enough already with the scare tactics about the winter. I love Milwaukee, but man-oh-man do you people LOVE to complain about the winter. We live in the north and it gets colder for a few months when the earth tilts on it's axis in a certain direction. Big deal. Dress appropriately and life goes on as normal. Get out there and enjoy it. Milwaukee is a very beautiful place in the winter and the county does a great job plowing the roads and the trails at some of the bigger parks. No reason to not go outside and embrace the season.

To anybody moving here, keep this in mind. The absolute worst thing about the winter here is listening to all of these miserable crybabies moan about it. I'd be miserable too if i stayed inside for 6 or 7 months a year!

[Fishtacos]

Originally Posted by SickOfTheSunbelt

EnjoyEP, enough already with the scare tactics about the winter. I love Milwaukee, but man-oh-man do you people LOVE to complain about the winter. We live in the north and it gets colder for a few months when the earth tilts on it's axis in a certain direction. Big deal. Dress appropriately and life goes on as normal. Get out there and enjoy it. Milwaukee is a very beautiful place in the winter and the county does a great job plowing the roads and the trails at some of the bigger parks. No reason to not go outside and embrace the season.

To anybody moving here, keep this in mind. The absolute worst thing about the winter here is listening to all of these miserable crybabies moan about it. I'd be miserable too if i stayed inside for 6 or 7 months a year!

It's a shame your positive attitude about Milwaukee doesn't carry over into your posts on all other places and regions.

With that said, discussing weather from a South Floridian transplant to Milwaukee is very relevant. I know tons and tons of upper Midwest residents that have relocated elsewhere, Milwaukee, and other parts of WI included because of Milwaukee's winter and Spring. It's a common enough occurrence where it's discussion makes sense. Living annually in Milwaukee's winters, has caused many people to relocate, and or become frustrated with the weather at that time of the year, even mixed in with enjoyment of it for part of the time.

Milwaukee's streets and roads are in terrible shape at this time partly because of its weather.

I've lived happily in Milwaukee as has EnjoyEP, and others, but it's a common opinion to point out some of the weather extremes, and, for many to not be so fond of dark, dreary, frequent lack of sun, cold to colder weather and wind until about June.

EnjoyEp is one of the most positive Milwaukee posters on here. The guy tried to help you out. Nice appreciation.

Your original post was extremely vague, and perhaps a few seconds of your time to search past similar questions and responses was too much for you to ask for you to do and then come back with more specific unawnswered questions.

[Fishtacos]

Sickofsunbelt,

This is your quote on Dallas, "You cannot go outside and enjoy anything in the summer here. The heat + air pollution will literally take years off your life. You will regret moving here if you're looking for a place where your boys can "go outside and enjoy life." There might be legitimate reasons for moving to Dallas, but this would most definitely absolutely 100% unequivocally NOT be one of them." The funny part is the topic of the thread was reasons to move to Dallas, and this is what you posted first. I guess your weather tolerance only applies to some places and not others, lol. Let's see you said weather crybaby, ....ok, ....got it.

And I suppose your positive attitude doesn't apply to threads you started such as "Cities with the most unattractive women."

Or even starting threads in Milwaukee about its violence, etc..oh those "crybabies."

A poster started a thread on Holiday fun in a city, and instead of ignoring the thread or posting something constructive, you posted negatively yet again, that it was hard to have Holiday fun there.

In the Milwaukee v San Jose thread, your first response was to bash San Jose at all costs.

You contradict yourself quite well and quite often.

Let's see, San Jose, Dallas, warm weather, Washington D.C., etc...must be excluded from places where people can't be a crybaby.

[almost3am]

There are tons of things to do in Milwaukee with little kids year round, I have 3 kids under 5. We regularly go to Betty Brinn, the Domes, the Zoo, and the Natural History Museum. All are quite good, and I frequently compare to Los Angeles. Plus there are tons of parks and lakes out in Waukesha County and Lake Michigan, too. MKE metro is a great place to raise a family, I have found.

[Sweating in Florida]

Go and visit Wisconsin and investigate things before a decision is made. Go in winter time.

Wisconsin is the extreme cold and Florida is the other extreme with heat, humidity and sweating........I'm sure you probably already know all this. When it is cold in Wisconsin you can put as many clothes(coat, hats, scarf, mittins and ect.) on as it takes to stay warm, but when it is hot in Florida you can only take so much off unless you are at the beach. Sometimes even a swimsuit is too much and the when the water is too warm it is not very refreshing. You can actually wear makeup in the summer in Wisconsin without it melting off!

Buy a personal snow plow/blower when you move there.
Also, make sure to wash and wax your car frequently because the salt on the road in winter will cause erosion to the body of your car. In Florida we also have to keep our cars waxed and ect.. because the hot sun will fade the paint and dry out other parts and make them brittle.
In Wisconsin you have a high electic bill in the freezing winters and in Florida you will also have a higher electric bill in the hot and humid spring - summer - fall months(varies). Get a wood burning stove as many do in Wisconsin.

Check out craigslist for all posible jobs compared to Florida. Craigslist is not as complicated and seems to have the most that is current compared to some web sites that have outdated open positions for weeks and even months. Also, check out the average childcare rates/prices if it will be needed.

Also, check out Department of Labor website for any info that will apply to you.

[EnjoyEP]

Originally Posted by SickOfTheSunbelt

EnjoyEP, enough already with the scare tactics about the winter. I love Milwaukee, but man-oh-man do you people LOVE to complain about the winter.

Sick...

I almost was kind of pre-anticipating this kind of response...as I usually do when I have to post an honest post to southerners with no experience in the upper midwest.

A) Admittedly, I do hate the winters here. I loathe them. You caught me there.

But...

B) I bet I spend more time outdoors on average here in the Milwaukee area winter than you do, or anyone else on this forum does. I run/jog/walk a MINIMUM of 6.5-to-8 miles - OUTDOORS - every day. I do this rain or shine, snow or arctic cold, nearly every day. I work downtown in MKE but park 1 mile away...guess how I get to work? I walk it! And walk back from my office.

C) I grew up in Milwaukee and lived the majority of my life here. Most of my family lives here. I have done the Polar Bear Plunge the last two years. To act like I am just a "common bitcher and moaner and whiner" about the Milwaukee / upper Midwest winters is...false.

NOW...

I will cede maybe your underlaying basic premise that folks from these parts - with their extreme inferiority complexes and all - do tend to extenuate the negative (the long, harsh cold winters) too much. They belittle a great, great, city and area - Milwaukee - only because of the winters, and that is a shame, because the city/region is an underrated gem in the US.

Having said that though...

My advice to an obviously non-researched lifelong South Florida resident about warning them to the winters is more than sound. It is extremely valid and extremely important.

It would be like if someone who lived their whole life in Duluth, MN or Anchorage, AK wanted to up and up move to Phoenix, AZ, Tucson, AZ, or Las Vegas, NV year-round without even a real understanding or knowledge of the hellacious and long summer temps.

I have been in 115 degree Vegas heat...it is unbearable and far from a picnic. If you sent someone there that felt that "88 degrees is unbearable", they'd be in for the shock of a lifetime.

Same thing about someone coming from freaking Miami and just up and up settling in the Milwaukee area year round. I have news for folks - you do that from Miami, and don't have a clue or familiarity with the upper Midwest winter - you are setting yourself up for not only the shock of a lifetime, but also chronic depression, financial despair, etc.

Winters here compared to someone from NYC or Philly might not be *that* huge a deal. To someone coming from Denver, they might be only a semi-transition. But to someone coming from South Beach, I really think they need to do their homework to try to honestly feel they have a chance - not to survive some random week or two (or month or two) of a vacation, but to continually live here year in and year out.

[vdy1985]

Dude, you guys are all doom gloom about winter. Extreme heat is much worse than extreme cold.

Climate, Miami vs. Milwaukee. In the winters here you see people going for walks, jogging, walking their dogs because they can. In Miami summer, people are not going to be jogging because they will get a heat stroke and will be sweating like hell (plus it is probably raining like crazy at the same time).

Remember the uncomfortable response to cold is to shiver, as the response to hot is to sweat. How often do you shiver here really? Never, because you are wearing the proper clothes. How often to SoFla people sweat? Always, because even if you were naked you would be sweating there. They learn to deal with it, just like how you learn to deal with the cold. Extremes suck, but to be honest, cold is more bearable than heat when it comes down to it.

BTW, EnjoyEP, my fiancee came from SoCal (avg witner temp in the upper 60's and 80+ April to November) 2 weeks ago. She was freaked the hell out. She is a typical SoCal girl spoiled by the weather, she use to consider under 70 degrees cold. But after 2 days she was fine because I got her a big proper jacket that you need here. She was unprepared, but once she had the proper clothing she was fine (and it stopped snowing).

[Ron Burgundy]

Originally Posted by EnjoyEP

A) Admittedly, I do hate the winters here. I loathe them. You caught me there.

But...

B) I bet I spend more time outdoors on average here in the Milwaukee area winter than you do, or anyone else on this forum does. I run/jog/walk a MINIMUM of 6.5-to-8 miles - OUTDOORS - every day.

No offense, but maybe that's your problem. Is the average Milwaukeean going to be spending hours outside daily in sub-freezing weather? No.

Weather is a fact of life. I agree that there's no need to sugarcoat it, but to constantly bring it up as the first and foremost criteria of living here tilts a bit towards overkill.

I'm not sure outsiders underestimate the impact of weather as much as you overestimate it for the average individual. Yes, it may be a bit of a shock for an extreme outsider, but who's to say they'll be completely unable to cope or bring themselves to dress warmly.

And please elaborate on how moving to a colder climate can directly bring about financial despair. I don't think the doomsday approach is helping.

By the way, I do enjoy most of your posts and particularly your enthusiasm for the Milwaukee area. I just take issue with your take on this issue.