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Well, as it turns out, the money I thought I was getting from unclaimed property is not coming to me (long story, involves a bunch of government red tape) anyway, I was wondering, now that I will not get the 10,000+ that I thought I was going to get, do I still have enough to move to Seattle.
My situation is this: When it is all said and done, traveling expenses, shipping my car, etc, I should have about 7,000 when I arrive. I know absolutely no one in Seattle (which is one of the many reasons I want to go there) and will need a place and everything. I wouldn't mind finding a roommate, and my living expenses are pretty cheap. I have about a decade of experience as a fine dining waiter/bartender, and should be able to find a job relatively easily (I will be moving in November, when the economy, hopefully, will be starting to improve or at least no longer in free-fall) and, by my estimate, it should be three months at the most to find a job either in the city, or the surrounding area.
So, is it do able with 7,000, or am I just being nieve?
By the way, I might well commit suicide before I delay my move again...I absolutely despise the state of New Jersey, being around the place I grow up in ( I had the worse so-called "childhood" anyone can imagine) and seeing people I would rather not see and a hundred-thousand other reasons. Still, if it is competelye insane, I might delay it for another two months to work another Christmas season and save another 2,000-3,000. As much as I want to get out of New Jersey, I don't want it to be like the many "moving with $200 dollars in my pocket" horror stories I have heard.
Depends on how frugal you are with the $7K. In Seattle the main expense is going to be housing, otherwise it's not an expensive place to live particularly.
Offhand I'd suggest driving or towing your car rather than having it shipped, and I'd suggest making the move in Septermber or early October to avoid crossing the Great Plains at the beginning of snow season.
As a shorter-term measure, you could live somewhere other than Seattle or NJ, I would think.
If it was me, I wouldn't delay moving till the dead of winter just to get another $3K in the bank.
Well, as it turns out, the money I thought I was getting from unclaimed property is not coming to me (long story, involves a bunch of government red tape) anyway, I was wondering, now that I will not get the 10,000+ that I thought I was going to get, do I still have enough to move to Seattle.
My situation is this: When it is all said and done, traveling expenses, shipping my car, etc, I should have about 7,000 when I arrive. I know absolutely no one in Seattle (which is one of the many reasons I want to go there) and will need a place and everything. I wouldn't mind finding a roommate, and my living expenses are pretty cheap. I have about a decade of experience as a fine dining waiter/bartender, and should be able to find a job relatively easily (I will be moving in November, when the economy, hopefully, will be starting to improve or at least no longer in free-fall) and, by my estimate, it should be three months at the most to find a job either in the city, or the surrounding area.
So, is it do able with 7,000, or am I just being nieve?
By the way, I might well commit suicide before I delay my move again...I absolutely despise the state of New Jersey, being around the place I grow up in ( I had the worse so-called "childhood" anyone can imagine) and seeing people I would rather not see and a hundred-thousand other reasons. Still, if it is competelye insane, I might delay it for another two months to work another Christmas season and save another 2,000-3,000. As much as I want to get out of New Jersey, I don't want it to be like the many "moving with $200 dollars in my pocket" horror stories I have heard.
Thanks for your advice.
Personally, I think moving with 7k saved up is *more* than enough. But then, I moved to Seattle after graduating college (2003) with negative $200 in my bank account and everything I owned in a pick-up truck. Of course, it did help that a friend of mine was off backpacking through Europe for a month, so I had a place to stay for a few weeks. Within a month and a half I had a full-time job (parking valet downtown) and was renting a finished basement apartment. Here I am 6 years later with an awesome job (web developer) and an awesome place. It's crazy to think how I much I've accomplished and how far I've come since then.
Food service jobs are easy enough to find, especially with the amount of experience you claim to have. Of course, landing a job as a server downtown during the tourism months (May - October) is a *huge* bonus. I have friends that easily bring home 3 to 4 hundred a night during those months. So you will miss that opportunity by moving in November. But there's always the next year.
Well, as it turns out, the money I thought I was getting from unclaimed property is not coming to me (long story, involves a bunch of government red tape) anyway, I was wondering, now that I will not get the 10,000+ that I thought I was going to get, do I still have enough to move to Seattle.
My situation is this: When it is all said and done, traveling expenses, shipping my car, etc, I should have about 7,000 when I arrive. I know absolutely no one in Seattle (which is one of the many reasons I want to go there) and will need a place and everything. I wouldn't mind finding a roommate, and my living expenses are pretty cheap. I have about a decade of experience as a fine dining waiter/bartender, and should be able to find a job relatively easily (I will be moving in November, when the economy, hopefully, will be starting to improve or at least no longer in free-fall) and, by my estimate, it should be three months at the most to find a job either in the city, or the surrounding area.
So, is it do able with 7,000, or am I just being nieve?
By the way, I might well commit suicide before I delay my move again...I absolutely despise the state of New Jersey, being around the place I grow up in ( I had the worse so-called "childhood" anyone can imagine) and seeing people I would rather not see and a hundred-thousand other reasons. Still, if it is competelye insane, I might delay it for another two months to work another Christmas season and save another 2,000-3,000. As much as I want to get out of New Jersey, I don't want it to be like the many "moving with $200 dollars in my pocket" horror stories I have heard.
Thanks for your advice.
Thanks for the drama...
I think it depends on if you plan to rent an apartment or hotel. An apartment will normally have some formula like ($monthly_rent * 3)*months_of_contract = how much you need to rent a place with no job.
So $700 for a one bedroom (perhaps a bit shady of a place if you aren't careful) would be approximately $6300 for a 3 month lease. You can perhaps find a studio for a bit cheaper, or even rent with an individual as you suggested and probably avoid the contractual stuff all together.
So I'd say it's possible, especially provided you aren't using part of that money to get you across the country. Really you probably have enough money to stay afloat for 3-5 months, if you are frugal, while you find a job within that time.
I've never done this, but I suspect renting a hotel will be no problem at all.
Your formula seems a little off, unless Seattle is majorly different than any other place i have lived. The formula that seems to be the industry standard is : Make 3X monthly rent per month gross, or have 6X the rent in savings.
But I am sort of in the same position with my wife and I. We are packing up all our stuff and moving to Seattle the first week of July. Once we get there, we should have $6-7k in savings, and will be staying in an extended stay hotel for a few days while we look for an apartment. She has been in health care for 5 years, and has her CENA, and MA certifications/degrees, as well as attending nursing school. I will take just about any job I can. We jsut are looking forward to getting out of Michigan as soon as possible. There is absolutely nothing here in MI worth staying for other than family.
$7K would be enough for 6 months rent plus food and basic expenses. The economy is not as bad in Seattle as it is in many other parts of the country so I'd say that's more than enough savings, particulary if you don't have dependants and really desperately need out of your current living situation.
Good luck!
Your formula seems a little off, unless Seattle is majorly different than any other place i have lived. The formula that seems to be the industry standard is : Make 3X monthly rent per month gross, or have 6X the rent in savings.
But I am sort of in the same position with my wife and I. We are packing up all our stuff and moving to Seattle the first week of July. Once we get there, we should have $6-7k in savings, and will be staying in an extended stay hotel for a few days while we look for an apartment. She has been in health care for 5 years, and has her CENA, and MA certifications/degrees, as well as attending nursing school. I will take just about any job I can. We jsut are looking forward to getting out of Michigan as soon as possible. There is absolutely nothing here in MI worth staying for other than family.
Michigan is a nice place, I agree with you, it isn't worth staying around anymore. Seen enough friends loosing thier lifetime jobs left and right, including myself. I am moving to Seattle later this month...just starting over, things will get better.
Absolutely! You can move to Seattle with 7K. If someone suggests you drive, after you pay for food and hotels for 4-7 days of driving, you're near the (I'm guessing) 1200 or so it generally costs to ship to WA from NJ.
Your best bet with the cash is to rent a room/basement apartment from someone since you probably won't be able to rent from a regular company, as you have no job. Seattle companies tend to hire an outside firm to sort of "investigate" you who call and check references, and generally require a job...
but my suggestion is get a cheap flight (I paid 84 dollars total one way from NC to Seattle, booking 3 weeks in advance on usairways.com, also check kayak.com daily... ) and when you get to Seattle's airport, take a limo as the prices are the same as cabs downtown... it'll make everything more fun. Then use priceline to book a SUPER CHEAP hotel room for a week.. we paid 30 dollars a day for Extended day america in Renton, and since you have a car you can easily go to Seattle from Renton... but initially, getting off the plane you'll prolly want a room in Seattle
and then spend the first day or two walking around neighborhoods and trying to decide what area of Seattle you want to live in... I loved Capitol Hill, and thought I was still in Cap Hill when I signed the lease on my first hill apartment...
Then after combing through craigslist for roommate/shares, move in. if you can get a room for 4-500, you can pay their first, last and deposit, buy a bed and some cheap stuff (Think Air mattress at first, and pay 40 bux for your bed) and look for a job. It can easily be done. Good luck!
Your formula seems a little off, unless Seattle is majorly different than any other place i have lived. The formula that seems to be the industry standard is : Make 3X monthly rent per month gross, or have 6X the rent in savings.
But I am sort of in the same position with my wife and I. We are packing up all our stuff and moving to Seattle the first week of July. Once we get there, we should have $6-7k in savings, and will be staying in an extended stay hotel for a few days while we look for an apartment. She has been in health care for 5 years, and has her CENA, and MA certifications/degrees, as well as attending nursing school. I will take just about any job I can. We jsut are looking forward to getting out of Michigan as soon as possible. There is absolutely nothing here in MI worth staying for other than family.
That's basically what I said, except htat she won't have monthly income...so they look for the sum of the lease at rent*3 per month. So in my example I said rent(($700)*3)* 3_months = $6300 needed in savings. Normally if you have a job they will look at it as $700*3 = $2100 monthly gross income needed...I've seen some places 2.5 x Rent. That's been my experience anyways. Unfortunately I've done this 3 times and am about to do it a 4th time.
I never heard of 6x rent needed when applying with no job. I wish that were the case where I'm going to rent at, as I won't have a job when I land there.
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