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Kaneohe is a nice town too. Better commute than anywhere on the leeward coast, that's for sure! Kaneohe doesn't have the big white sand beach that Kailua does, though. It's a family town, but is more based around housing and shopping and basic living than going to the beach and outdoor activities like Kailua. Although Kailua has gotten Californicated quite a bit and isn't like it used to be. Still a nice place, though.
How about Enchanted Lakes? That's a housing area to the side of Kailua and still easy access to Kailua beach and the commute to Waikiki would be either over the Pali or around Makapu'u side. Or over near Castle Medical.
Actually, most of the towns on the Windward side are pretty close to each other, although as newcomers to the island, you'd probably not want to choose Waimanalo right away. If you fit into island life, 'Nalo is fine, but if island life isn't something you fit into, that area would just make it worse.
You could try Kaimuki. That's an area on the leeward side sort of above Waikiki. Very family type community and easy to get to most of the Waikiki and down town areas from there. It might be in your price budget, too.
Good luck on Waialae/Kahala! Bit pricey in that area.
Hubby is back home and is recovered from his jetlag we are trying to pack up the house so when he returns to honolulu I won't be left to box up the house on my own. We are donating the items we don't want, mostly toys etc. Selling a few things on Craigslist and storing the majority of the rest. Only leaving bare necessities and a few sentimentals to carry with us. I hate moving, you never know how much stuff you accumulate until you start to move it!
As far as the job front goes, he was asked how soon he could return and he told them he needed a week to pack up at home. Hence the sudden rush to move. If things work out he would go and work there, leaving me and the children to follow when we could financially. He'd be able to stay at a friends apartment and give him some money for being allowed to bunk on the couch.
I feel better about locations for rent now. I've narrowed down areas and have a better grasp on locations based on where hubby visited, schools and commute.
If things end up working out we could be there sooner than what I was mentally preparing myself for. Guess we shall see!
I think about you every now and then when I go about my daily life. You can definitely pick up lots of stuff once you get here but consider bringing that favorite little kitchen gadget you love - mine was my awesome potato peeler (I have no life) and paring knife. I have a rubber basting brush that's the bomb too, though I rarely use it. We brought some basic favorite cooking utensils and I'm glad we did.
Thanks for thinking of us!
I'm packing up the bedrooms first. I'm so overwhelmed with those rooms I can't even see past them right now. I have no clue what kitchen items I will take. I'm not a big cook though so it should be pretty easy and basic. Maybe I won't overthink it.
I called around and got storage unit pricing today. Listed a few items for sale on craigslist. My mom so thoughtfully volunteered to 'store the deep freezer' for us lol. We have a super nice tv i'm hoping my mother in law will keep for us.
Progress is being made, slow progress but progress! The Salvation Army will be we'll stocked with our donations for a while
Thanks hunterseat, WHOOHOO for not sleeping on the floor!
So, I'm thinking on the idea of possibly renting a storage unit for hubby to accumulate some things before our arrival. I'm going to google how much they are. Anyone rented from any of the places? Are they safe? Does this sound like a bad idea? Mostly we will need a crib and crib mattress for the baby, maybe some dishes, just the necessities at first.
I've heard rumors of electricity being extremely high....like so high people unplug things when not using them. Is that the case?
We rented a very small climate-controlled storage unit (small container arrived, but condo had not yet closed). I believe we wound up paying for about three months worth of storage when it was all said and done, and looking back through the check register it was less than $300 for the time it was rented. My husband found the best deal at that time to be Public Storage (near Ward Center I believe).
Electric is a very high budgetary expense. In Washington state we were on the budget plan with Puget Sound Energy, so we paid the same amount every month (roughly $90 per month) and a couple of times a year that amount was adjusted based on usage. The summer months (when we used less) was the same cost for the winter months (when we used more and the heat was on). It all "evened out" in the end. We lived in a 1,500 sq foot townhouse.
Here we have a 488 sq foot condo (obviously no heat, nor do we have air), but we do run fans when we sleep. Our August 2013 HECO bill was $184, that is just for one month and it is about that same amount every month And no, we do not unplug stuff.
Thanks sbartist.
That's a good idea with the budget plan. I think we have that option here but we have never used it. I would think they don't have that in Honolulu due to no major change in seasons?
I'm used to a 350.00 bill for electricity. Of course that's running the AC and pool pump and everything else we need freely. Our water is about $40-50ish (we have a pool that we add water to every now and then) and we run the dishwasher everyday and all 5 of us shower
I'll tell DH about the storage pricing. I sorta googled it and found some pricing. The $300 sounds about right.
COMPUTER TECH?-
I have a Dell thats never been used. It's a few years old, had windows vista on it and I took it off and erased everything on it. Are computer tech people terribly expensive? I'm pretty sure I have all of the windows cd's to put xp on it. I just wonder if it's worth taking or if I should just leave it here.
Our household averages 4 showers per day (my son takes one before and after work). Our water is through our HOA.
We found a computer tech guy here recommended by our tattoo artist friends who was very reasonable when our computer crashed a couple months back.
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we are trying to pack up the house so when he returns to honolulu I won't be left to box up the house on my own. We are donating the items we don't want, mostly toys etc. Selling a few things on Craigslist and storing the majority of the rest. Only leaving bare necessities and a few sentimentals to carry with us. I hate moving, you never know how much stuff you accumulate until you start to move it! 
And no, we do not unplug stuff.
