Just got back from TN.... (Knoxville, Chattanooga: credit, insurance, budget)

[sal329]

Loved it. It was soo beautiful. The mountains, the river, loved everything about it. Went on my job interview, everything was great. I am still debating on moving up there though. The job offered me only $3500.00 a month. I do not see how that can proved for my wife and 2 kids. I am still trying to negotiate something more. I was hoping that they would offer me 20% less then what I am making now and I would have been ok with that. Well I guess I will have to try and find another way of gettin up there, I loved it a lot and I would be next door to my family so I was excited.
Am I thinking too much into this? Maybe I am comparing the pay to what I currently need.
My current bills are:
Rent $1,100, Water $60-80, Electric $150-175, Dish $90, Internet/Phone $65, Cell phones $150, car insurance $300, Credit cards $150-200, food $800 (on just groceries now including goin out), gas $200-250
In TN the only real difference I see is rent would be $900-1000, Insurance I dunno how much it would be, I do not see anything else being cheaper.
Is it me or do you think $3500.00 would support a family? I really want to leave here and be closer to my family.

[mbmouse]

That does seem a tad low but to to bad for starting out. Will they do a 6 month review with a set % raise if you pass review?
What part of TN are you looking in? Rent can be $700 to $900 for a very nice home in some areas. Your car insurance bill seems WAY high to me, like hundreds more a month! Call and get some quotes from local TN agents, but remember to tell them to NOT pull your credit, you just want an idea on costs.
Water and Electric do also seem a little high, but again, depends on what type house you rent.
Hope that helps.

[pixiewytch]

Our family is looking to possibly move to TN as well. I just wanted to chime in and say that my husband brings home a bit more than that to support our family (about $4000 a month). I stay at home with a 4 yr old and we have a baby on the way. Granted, we live in Fl where I believe the general cost of living is definitely higher. We get by alright but it isn't always easy and we have very few luxuries. We don't have cable or satellite and we share one used car (no car payment). Our rent here is $950. Our other bills look a lot like yours, with the exception of our monthly grocery bill (about half that). I think you can do it, especially in TN but you may still have to give up some luxuries. That is what we have done. You've got to weigh the pros and cons. Is it more important to live where you want to live, closer to family and have less? Or would you rather stay where you are, making more money, and living it up a little more? I don't think there is a right or wrong choice here.

I mainly just wanted to let you know that if it can be done here in Fl with our family it can be done in TN with a little rearranging of priorities.

[sal329]

I live in West Palm Beach now and $3500 is $2,000 less a month then what I get now. I really did love the area.
We are looking to live in Hixson and I would work in Chattanooga.

The apartments I was looking at are 880-1100 a month. I really would rather rent a house. Any good areas for renting I should look at that are near Hixson with good schools? Thank you everyone.
After taxes $3500 would come to $2600-2700 take home correct?
Im just scared of movin my family there and then we would have to struggle to make ends meet.

[SPLIT]

S: We live just North of Hixon in Soddy Tn. Believe your budget #'s were the Fla expenses. Just listed a post for the CONN member Wayne, but can give hard values for the past 3 months. Car insurance for 2 suvs is $440 every Six months, Travelers,. New R.E. coupon can get cable for $29/mo-Internet $19/mo for the 1st 6 mo. My electric is $30/month-we have TVA here and they even just gave 5% discount with the lower cost of gas. Bakewell water co is $15 / month ( 2200 gal minimun about $13 /mo if away.) Neg side is about 9% sales tax on Food at grocery store - know Fla was zero, unless beer- cigs. Read daily newspaper at "TimesFreePress.com" to keep abreast. Libraries here also have free computer / internet use.

[insanesmooch]

Well, that salary would give you the average salary for all of America. So there are a lot of people living off that. And I'm sure some strugle and others do quite well. So it is hard to say exactly how well the decrease in salary will work for you.
I don't live in the area that you are looking at so I can't say for sure what the bill would be like there. I have no idea about rent. I've only rented apartments and you typically don't pay water in them- do you ususally pay water renting a house? If you do, one big factor will be if it is hooked to the sewer. I'm not on one and in Northeast TN, my water bills are less than $15. Most of my family is in Knoxville and I have not heard of any of them having bills over about $20-$30. If you are hooked to the sewer, it would be higher.
You can bundle your dish/internet/phone. I am on a plan now where I get all three for less than $120 and that includes all the fees and taxes they tack on. If you are not in a contract with your cellphone provider, you can find that cheaper. We are on a plan with 3 phones, unlimited nights/weekends, can talk to people on our system free, no roaming, rollover minutes,ect... for just under $85 and that includes all the fees and taxes added on.
Is that car insurance amount per month? That is high. Two of our cars are on one policy that is just over $400 ever six months. I think only the 2003 has full coverage.
As far as groceries, the prices may be similar. But maybe you all can get into couponing and rebating. From some boards I frequent, I hear that FL does not have double coupon stores. Here in TN we have a few. I can recommend some boards where people will prety much tell you where the sales are, what circular the coupons came from, and anything else you need to know to get great deals.

[Blue Grass Fever]

Be sure to check out Ruby Falls and Rock City with your family out there.

They'll enjoy it.

[LauraC]

Originally Posted by sal329

.In TN the only real difference I see is rent would be $900-1000, .

I think you can rent a 3 bedroom house for cheaper than that. I just looked at the houses for rent classifieds in the Chattanooga Free Press I don't know anything about Chattanooga or the surrounding towns but when you rent in a modern apartment complex you are paying for amenities that you probably can do without. If I were you, I'd look at the classifieds for renting a house. You might be surprised. There are multiple pages, and again, I don't know anything about these towns near Chattanooga.

http://www.tfponline.com/travidia/indexHomes.aspx (broken link)

[sal329]

Thank you everyone for the help. I think I may just up and do it. I will be closer to my fiances family and all my family now lives in Charlotte NC so I would actually get to see them more then once a year as well. I will call today and see what the insurance will be on the cars over there.
If I can find a place to rent that is in a good area near good schools and pay about $750.00, my car insurance about $100 a month, and water under $45 a month. I will be very pleased and know that I can make it. Now I just have more motivation to get my internet store up and running as well. Thank you everyone.
If anyone knows of a 3/2 house in or around Hixson for rent please let me know.
Insanesmooch, I am very interested in the website you mentioned, if you could please post it or pm me, thank you.

[Lutz Lady]

You can go to the internet and several websites will do a salary comparison for you to let you know if the salary you will be making is comparable to what you make now. One would be Sperlings Best Places, if that helps