Is leaving the right thing to do? (Chester: new house, job market)

[nic529]

Merry Christmas to you too! Good luck with your move....thank you!

[tahiti]

Originally Posted by colleeng47

I am so amazed at the violent response the OP recieved. And all in a matter of hours! You really touched some nerves on this board. Wow. My family is heading out of state late January. We're skipping the NC/SC/FL corridor relocation so popular with those in NJ. We're heading to Oklahoma. Funny thing is, in researching Oklahoma, I stumbled on these boards and have been reading for weeks now on the Oklahoma forum. Very nice, friendly, warm, welcoming people. Just decided to check into the NJ forum to see what's going on and I happened to access this question/discussion. You people are harsh!

I won't go into my reasons for leaving because it's no one's business but mine, but I am stunned at how posters are treated on this board. I'm sure you're as glad to see me go as I am to leave! Merry Christmas.

i'm sure you haven't read the whole thread because you'd then know that only a handful of ppl have been harsh. you'll find that anywhere, even on the OK board. Merry Christmas to you too...going to Bartlesville?

[colleeng47]

Originally Posted by tahiti

i'm sure you haven't read the whole thread because you'd then know that only a handful of ppl have been harsh. you'll find that anywhere, even on the OK board. Merry Christmas to you too...going to Bartlesville?

Sorry to disagree, but in the 7 or 8 weeks I've been on the OK board I have never heard anything like this. You can check if you would like to do that. We're heading for the outskirts of OKC. Either Yukon, Mustang or possibly Norman. We have a realtor who's been working with us and we're scheduled to fly to OKC January 1 for the purpose of buying a house. Really looking forward to it.

[tahiti]

Originally Posted by colleeng47

Sorry to disagree, but in the 7 or 8 weeks I've been on the OK board I have never heard anything like this. You can check if you would like to do that. We're heading for the outskirts of OKC. Either Yukon, Mustang or possibly Norman. We have a realtor who's been working with us and we're scheduled to fly to OKC January 1 for the purpose of buying a house. Really looking forward to it.

my brother and sis-in-law went to OU, she grew up in B'ville. i hear norman's nice, a good college town. good luck!

[Friendly Advice]

[quote=nic529;2275104]I am a thirty - something mother with 2 kids - 14 and 5. We live in a nice part of Burlington County. We are the average middle class family. I think we're average anyway. We can't go out and by $150 boots for my teenage daughter or the $379 powerwheels my son wants....but they will have a nice Christmas. My question is: with a combined income of 100,000/yr - why is so hard to make ends meet? Is it only us? Is this normal?

My kids go to great schools - my daughter is a high honor roll student and a cheerleader. Lots of friends. My son is loving Kindergarten. But my taxes are 6,000 yr on .40/acre. My mortgate is almost 3000/mth.

I know to a lot of you that sounds cheap. Lots of you make a lot more money - or somehow figured out how to start a savings account. So what am I doing wrong? We have a moderate house...a 4 bdrm cape with about 1600 sq feet. We don't go out to dinner or spend hundreds of dollars on hair or nails. We shop when there are sales. We have less then $5000 on credit. We're trying to play catch up from a spout of unemployment this summer, so now our credit is shot........why can't I catch up? Should people who make a combined income of $100,000 be having these problems?

Do we leave? Is it worth it to move my children out of their schools and go to Va, NC, or SC? Are the lower property taxes down there really worth the pay cut? the school change?

I'd love to hear any advice - or anyone else that is experiencing the same problems. It would be nice to know I'm not alone[/quot


I ran into a similar situation, I made what I thought was a comfortable living but was still playing catch up. I decided to take the world by horns and take my life into my own hands. This advice is for the motivated people that has some time. I understand that you have two kids, one is a teenager and one is a kindergarten. So, I suppose both of you will have to get involved. What I did was start an online business. I know, it sounds intimidating and what should I sell who can I sell it to. If you look into this further it's not as intimidating as you may think. What I knew before starting this was that I had to leverage my money, kind of like putting it into a bank. What I also knew is that the bank wasn't paying so much back too. Perpetual leverage business is what you want to get into. Each sale can grow expedentially, you profit from recruiting people and selling online. By advertising online, let the business flow into your website. It will take about a month for you to get started, by learning the techniques to advertise. I can't say that I'm a millionaire from this, but I make an extra $4500 a month and it has been only a few months. It might be lower next month and higher another month but I'm just thankful that I make more money. Watch out for the large initial investment businesses. Mine was only a few hundred dollars. This is how I started to be debt free along with other money making instruments. I think this would be a good start for anyone that doesn't want to leave their day job.

P.S. Choose what you believe in.

[cyntmac]

Originally Posted by colleeng47

I am so amazed at the violent response the OP recieved. And all in a matter of hours! You really touched some nerves on this board. Wow. Funny thing is, in researching Oklahoma, I stumbled on these boards and have been reading for weeks now on the Oklahoma forum. Very nice, friendly, warm, welcoming people. Just decided to check into the NJ forum to see what's going on and I happened to access this question/discussion. You people are harsh!

I won't go into my reasons for leaving because it's no one's business but mine, but I am stunned at how posters are treated on this board.

I think many of the reactions were way over the top but some of the things the OP said could be misinterpreted. The comment about the expensive boots-were they just there to incite? There have been similar threads started here that followed the same lines.

Some of the comments here were off. One poster compares the NC of today to the NJ of 30 years ago. That is sure not how I remember it. NJ was always a more expensive state by comparison even back then. Someone else here posts over and over claiming amazement that people are not flocking to upstate NY or PA. Are those actually places where people will have jobs waiting? That is required in most cases unless you are relocating by yourself. Even then it is best not to move without a job lined up.
The amazement should be targeted at the people who move there despite the lack of jobs.

You may think your home area is the greatest place on earth but people have to work to live last time I checked. Upstate NY I have some experience with and jobs are hard to come by when compared to many parts of the US. Yes these new areas are now sprawling but that is the system at work. It will never be as simple as personal responsibility. It is very naive to believe that. There is nothing wrong with educating people about the evironment and the economy but lecturing them and telling them they think the world owes them-(even if true) will turn them off before they ever have the chance to hear the message.

If you really want to effect change- time to change your M.O.

[stevemorse]

I heard that Oklahoma pan handle is one of the ugliest areas in the US. I also heard one of the biggest problems with Meth!! Why there? Have you ever been there? That sounds worse than NC to me. However please note never been there just heresay so don't bit my head off, maybe I should edit this????? So tell me whats OK like????

[stevemorse]

also to add, I have learned an important lesson that someone told me .......I forgot who, but they said THERE IS MORE TO LIFE THAN A BIG HOUSE AND CHEAP TAXES!! AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[BobKovacs]

Originally Posted by colleeng47

Sorry to disagree, but in the 7 or 8 weeks I've been on the OK board I have never heard anything like this. You can check if you would like to do that. We're heading for the outskirts of OKC. Either Yukon, Mustang or possibly Norman. We have a realtor who's been working with us and we're scheduled to fly to OKC January 1 for the purpose of buying a house. Really looking forward to it.

Be ready to be "saved". I know they talk about people here in GA being very religious and about how every second person is going to ask you what church you go to, but in 5 months here I've had less people ask me about church/God than I did in two days in Tulsa. It seemed like every person in the Tulsa airport was leaving on a "mission" to save the world......

[tahiti]

Originally Posted by stevemorse

I heard that Oklahoma pan handle is one of the ugliest areas in the US. I also heard one of the biggest problems with Meth!! Why there? Have you ever been there? That sounds worse than NC to me. However please note never been there just heresay so don't bit my head off, maybe I should edit this????? So tell me whats OK like????

she's not going to the panhandle, she's going to the most populated and cosmopolitan places in the state.

(btw, i've never been to the panhandle so i can't comment)