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Things have changed a bit. We got the Salt Lake paper delivered to us for a few months before we decided to move. We sent out tons of letters of interest to any company that was advertising for help in my husband's field. We didn't get a whole lot of response, but did land 2 interviews! A month before we we moving, we flew out to find an apartment to rent and he had his interviews and accepted one of the positions. It was a big pay cut, about $4/hr difference. We didn't realize it would be that much, but we had money saved and it was just a "get your foot in the door" job until we could find something better.
I don't know if you plan on renting or buying, but property taxes in UT are MUCH lower than NJ. As is car insurance!!
It ended up that my parents moved out here also, but I have always lived about an hour away from them anyway, even in NJ. Who knows? Maybe her parents will visit and love Utah, too! As far as friends, we are both pretty introverted and really didn't socialize with a lot of people. It was always he and I against the world
The LDS/non LDS thing that so many make an issue about has never been a problem for us at all. Possibly if you are more extroverted, you *might* feel like you are being a little shunned. It really just depends on attitude, and where you live I would advise against anything in Utah County.
It sounds like you and your husband were in the same boat we are now. Were you two moving with or without a job? That is a scary proposition. We will more than likely rent for a while until we get settled, then look into buying. The hard thing about renting (I think) is going to be finding somewhere that will let us have our two dogs. My wife's mother has said that if we move, she will be close behind. She has about 7-8 yrs before she can retire. I don't know how serious she is, but I think she would do it. My father-in-law is going to be the hard sell. :-) We are pretty introverted also. We have a couple close friends and that is about it. I think that is what scares my wife, that it will be hard to meet new people because we are such homebodies. I'm perfectly fine with just me, my wife, and my son. I didn't really expect the LDS thing to be an issue, but I saw a few other threads where it came up, so I figured I would add it in. Again, me and my wife are fairly introverted. We have lived in our current house for 3 yrs and I couldn't tell you a single neighbor's name. :-) Thanks again for the into. It is greatly appreciated.
Sorry for any typos in my previous posts. Most of them were made from my phone. My wife had a question she wanted me to ask. To anyone, how are the schools in general? It is hard to tell from the internet because any ratings are based on standardized testing which isn't always a great indicator, IMO. We want our son to have a good learning/school atmosphere more than pressure to make sure he does well on a test. Also, would it be best for us to just stay in SLC when we visit and use that as a base camp to explore the surrounding areas?
EDIT: One other question I thought to ask, what is a decent income for the area? My wife and I currently net about $54,000 a year. I am pretty sure we aren't going to get close to that, at least not at first. But it is hard to compare NJ to UT in that regard. Housing seems similarly price(property taxes are way, way cheaper), but everything else is an unknown for us.
Last edited by JPDVM2014; 05-22-2015 at 08:45 AM..
Yea, sorry. Work probably would have been a good idea to include. :-) We both currently work for the NJ Court system, so ideally a job in that field. However, we are really open to anything as long as it provides enough income. We both would be more than qualified for anything clerical related. I know that finding work is going to be the hardest part of all of this, it is hard enough to find work without being thousands of miles away. Glad to hear that SLC isn't necessarily a "city" like I would think. It is hard to tell from google maps. :-) I currently have an hour commute each way so a commute isn't a problem. As far as winters are concerned, I know Utah gets significantly more snow than here, but how is it overall(road conditions, temp, etc)? I'm assuming it's better than montana/idaho? I hope Katydid stops by, I would love to hear her input.
Just a comment. I am an attorney, so I have some familiarity with the court system here. We have gone to a system where attorneys file legal papers electronically over the internet and everything is done automatically. When that was done, a large number of court clerks were laid off. I don't know what your employment with the courts in NJ was. However, understand this: If vacancies occur among the remaining jobs in Utah, they will likely be filled from the ranks of those whom were laid off first. In other words, I'd definitely look for work outside the court system. I would also get employment before I moved. Employment statistics look good in Utah. However, the part that is left out is that an amazing number of these jobs are jobs that pay between $9 and $12 an hour and often are part time.
Just a comment. I am an attorney, so I have some familiarity with the court system here. We have gone to a system where attorneys file legal papers electronically over the internet and everything is done automatically. When that was done, a large number of court clerks were laid off. I don't know what your employment with the courts in NJ was. However, understand this: If vacancies occur among the remaining jobs in Utah, they will likely be filled from the ranks of those whom were laid off first. In other words, I'd definitely look for work outside the court system. I would also get employment before I moved. Employment statistics look good in Utah. However, the part that is left out is that an amazing number of these jobs are jobs that pay between $9 and $12 an hour and often are part time.
Thanks for the input. NJ is actually in the process of switching over to e-filing also. I work as a Probation Officer, and my wife works in arbitrations. We would never move without employment. We are both too risk averse for that. Neither one of us is dead set on a job with the courts, or even with the government. It is just what we currently do. If the jobs never work out, then the relocation won't work out unfortunately.
Thought of another question for anyone that would like to chime in. I have been reading about the inversions. How bad can they be? We live in a fairly unpolluted part of NJ, so the inversions might not be something we would be looking forward to.
The school system can be hit and miss and most of it is always what your child will put into it! There are several schools with top honors/IB programs. My own oldest daughter graduated high school as a junior with 15 concurrent college credits. How old is your son?
While I love living in Tooele County, and it was a good, quiet place to raise kids, now that mine are teens it can be a bit smothering. There really isn't a whole lot out here for them to do. They don't camp, they don't go four wheeling, they are girls..they like malls. Hunting? No. Fishing? Hahahaha. No. In hindsight, I probably would have picked a nice suburban area of Salt Lake to live.
Just so you know, however, Tooele County is looking to build a new prison to replace the one in Draper, Utah. I would imagine if it happens, they will be needing some workers. I can't imagine too many current prison employees that would want to commute from Draper to Grantsville.
Housing is much less expensive in Tooele County as opposed to SL. Part of the reason we moved from SL.
We did have jobs..well, he did. He got that job when we came out here for that week. I didn't have one, however. Times were much different then, and it was easy to find a job.
Inversions aren't that bad. They don't last all winter long. They will usually come in, last a few days and then a storm will blow them out again until next time. Sometimes they last a couple of weeks. Sometimes we go weeks without one. It really just depends on how the wind flies
Utah is pretty pet friendly, actually. What kind of dogs do you have? There are numerous apartment complexes that allow pets, along with private owners. (I have three dachshunds myself! )
Where we live currently has nothing to do either. my wife and I like it that way. :-) We could go to Philadelphia if we wanted to drive an hour or so. There is a (mediocre) mall about 20 minutes away. Other than that, this time of year it is fishing or just going to a friend's house. We don't really have choices in our son's schools. We have one K-8 and one high school. The high school isn't great test wise, but my wife went there and enjoyed it. I agree that it is more depending on my son. He is about to turn 2, so we have time before worrying about that. :-) Good to know about the prison, that would definitely be an option for me whenever it is built. Good to hear about the inversions, I know that people who post threads on these kind of sites are usually extreme cases, but I have been reading a thread from 2007 where the person's entire family was shunned for being non-LDS and another where the person thought everyone should be wearing respirators during inversions.
I have been reading a thread from 2007 where the person's entire family was shunned for being non-LDS and another where the person thought everyone should be wearing respirators during inversions.
Yeah you'll find a lot of those kind of people on these forums. Over 2M people live along the wasatch front every day without dying from the inversions. Sure they exist, and sure they can get bad. But wearing respirators is a bit much. Unless you have some severe respiratory problems, extremely bad asthma, etc. you should be fine. The LDS people aren't going to shun you, in fact they'll probably do the opposite. They will probably make a greater effort to befriend you than anywhere else. Their reasoning is motivated by their attempt to be Christlike, and also by their desire to share the happiness they find in their gospel with other people (aka, they will want you to come over to dinner and meet with the missionaries). With most of them, if you don't want to do the religious conversion thing, just tell them upfront. Some might stop trying as hard to be your friend, but most will still be friendly and outgoing. I think the only type of person who might feel shunned by the LDS population is a person that LDS people might see as having a bad influence on them (doing drugs, swearing a lot, heavy drinking, general shady and trashy behavior). It doesn't sound like you would be one of those kind of people. LDS people don't shun people like that either, they just don't want to hang out with them on weekends is all.
Just wanted to add that Logan (and the rest of Cache County) isn't too far off from what you are looking for, if you want to broaden the job search a little. Logan is a little further from SLC (about 1.5 hrs) but probation officers are employed by the county so you wouldn't have to drive that every day. Logan is large enough you can get almost anything you need but small enough to not completely feel like a city. (University influence.) And there are lots of little communities in the Valley for a more rural feel. It's a little colder (higher elevation) than SLC but reasonable for someone used to New Jersey winters. We can WALK to the national forest from the house we are buying. We aren't LDS and have had no trouble making friends.
And our inversions aren't as bad as Salt Lake's.
summary: Cache County is more rural and outdoorsy than SLC, also colder. May have jobs.
(I've lived in Columbus Ohio, Champaign-Urbana Illinois, suburban DC, and now Logan Utah.)
Just wanted to add that Logan (and the rest of Cache County) isn't too far off from what you are looking for, if you want to broaden the job search a little. Logan is a little further from SLC (about 1.5 hrs) but probation officers are employed by the county so you wouldn't have to drive that every day. Logan is large enough you can get almost anything you need but small enough to not completely feel like a city. (University influence.) And there are lots of little communities in the Valley for a more rural feel. It's a little colder (higher elevation) than SLC but reasonable for someone used to New Jersey winters. We can WALK to the national forest from the house we are buying. We aren't LDS and have had no trouble making friends.
And our inversions aren't as bad as Salt Lake's.
summary: Cache County is more rural and outdoorsy than SLC, also colder. May have jobs.
(I've lived in Columbus Ohio, Champaign-Urbana Illinois, suburban DC, and now Logan Utah.)
That sounds great! I will definitely add it to our list of places to check out when we visit. We aren't too concerned with the cold. More so the snow. NJ doesn't usually get much snow, so when we do, it isn't pleasant to drive very far. I'm a little jealous of your living situation. Walking to a national forest sounds like a dream come true!
As an aside, the LDS thing is apparently a pretty well-known stereotype. My wife and I were at a b-day party tonight, and my wife mentioned looking at Utah. One person there was like, "Utah is great! Just don't go to SLC...unless you're into that kind of thing. (LDS)" I had never heard of it until I started researching Utah, but I guess it is out there.
Last edited by JPDVM2014; 05-22-2015 at 10:19 PM..
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