North Florida to Big Island (Hilo, Waimea: bank owned, low income, 2015)

[Jungjohann]

Originally Posted by Jane M

To keep mold from growing on your clothes or towels....etc

You sure you live in Kona, and your figures for the dryers electrical usage are just wrong.


Watch out for the cannibals

[Grassyknoll]

I really don't have an issue with utility rates. In California my electric bill could be $300 in the summer, what with running AC all the time. Winters meant I either cut firewood or I would see my natural gas bill increase.
Where I live now utilities average between $100-125 per month.
LED lighting and on-demand propane fueled hot water make a big difference. And my family of three dry all our clothes in the dryer.

[Lodestone]

I'm in Puna, and few need or want AC here - it rarely gets that hot. I think the Kona area is maybe the only part of the Big Island where AC is needed. Jane, since you're just renting, why not try east or south Big Island? It's cheaper and cooler.

[Arktikos]

Originally Posted by Jane M

..Last month, I was charged a little less than .32 per KWH and the month before a little more than .32 per KWH

Which is the highest in the nation, by far. (Except for electric rates on other Hawaiian islands, which may be comparable).

This is due to the power company using diesel, which has to be barged in, for their generators.

The only reason to hook up to the grid, IMO, is to avoid using batteries in your solar system. It's really ridiculous to be using diesel for power generation in Hawaii.

Well, I guess it could be worse. Coal, anyone?

Jane, are you having any issues besides being too warm?

[Jane M]

Originally Posted by Blind Cleric

Jane, are you having any issues besides being too warm?

yes, haha! my neighbors. Crying babies, screaming children, men spitting and drinking late into the night. The same 5 songs playing full blast all day everyday. 11 cars in the driveway coming and going at all hours of the night.

I realize there are cooler places to live on this Island, but there are other things that I have issue with. Food is one of them. Not only expense, but quality. The fruit isn't even that great. I haven't had a decent pineapple here yet. I am a long distance trail runner, and I just can't do that here. Too hot, no trails within a convenient distance. Everything is so 1950's here.

The upside is people are very friendly.

Like I said. I just don't think HI is a good fit for me. I adjust pretty easily when I move, and this has been by far the hardest move.

[whtviper1]

Originally Posted by Jane M

I haven't had a decent pineapple here yet.

Well, the pineapples in Hawaii are basically the same as the ones on the mainland, mostly from the Philippines - except ours go all the way to the west coast and then sent here.

[Arktikos]

Originally Posted by Jane M

...I realize there are cooler places to live on this Island, but there are other things that I have issue with. Food is one of them. Not only expense, but quality. The fruit isn't even that great. I haven't had a decent pineapple here yet. I am a long distance trail runner, and I just can't do that here. Too hot, no trails within a convenient distance. Everything is so 1950's here. .

You're definitely on the wrong side of the island.

The tropical fruit on the east side is undoubtedly the best in quality and variety that you will find anywhere in the US.

The locally grown, low acid white pineapples are to die for.

But, if your preference is for temperate fruits, then Hawaii isn't the place to be.

Regarding running, the sprawling, rural subdivisions in Puna such as Orchidland or Hawaiian Acres (73 miles of mostly unpaved roads) offer plenty of opportunity for this. Also, a year long pass to Volcanoes National Park would provide some good routes for you.

But, I would think someplace on the mainland, such as Colorado, would be much better for this.

Geoff Roes, former Western States 100 champion, lives here in SE Alaska and loves the running opportunities. And, it's never hot!

[Jungjohann]

Originally Posted by Blind Cleric

Well, I guess it could be worse. Coal, anyone?

They do burn coal over on Oahu.


Some smaht

[whtviper1]

Originally Posted by Jungjohann

They do burn coal over on Oahu.

Generates roughly 10% of Oahu's electric......

[davephan]

Originally Posted by Jane M

yes, haha! my neighbors. Crying babies, screaming children, men spitting and drinking late into the night. The same 5 songs playing full blast all day everyday. 11 cars in the driveway coming and going at all hours of the night.

I realize there are cooler places to live on this Island, but there are other things that I have issue with. Food is one of them. Not only expense, but quality. The fruit isn't even that great. I haven't had a decent pineapple here yet. I am a long distance trail runner, and I just can't do that here. Too hot, no trails within a convenient distance. Everything is so 1950's here.

The upside is people are very friendly.

Like I said. I just don't think HI is a good fit for me. I adjust pretty easily when I move, and this has been by far the hardest move.

You can probably eliminate most or all of the bad neighbor problems by moving to a more expensive area on the Big Island. Although we stayed for a very short time, we didn't have any of those neighbor problems when we visited and stayed in Waikoloa Village or north of Honokaa. We experienced no "Crying babies, screaming children, men spitting and drinking late into the night." Of course, that requires spending more money. Roughly, you take what it costs for a nice home in Florida, and double the costs. If you can afford that, then you can buy your way into a nicer area without all those annoying problems, which sound to me like "low-level" people. All people are simply not the same, as you are experiencing.

There are many other areas on the Big Island besides the two areas we stayed that are nice and the neighborhood environments are free from those problems. All you have to do is have the financial resources, and be willing to spend what it takes. If you don't have enough financial resources, then you're in a tough situation, you can't afford to buy your way out of that "rough" area.

The food prices in Hawaii did take my breath away, especially the produce, bread, and meat. Even canned food, which has an extremely long shelf life is 50% more cost. Other things like produce can be 2, 3, or 4 times as much depending on the item. We found $100 usually equaled about 2/3 of one paper bag of groceries, plus you have to pay for the bag! On the mainland, in the midwest, California, or Florida, that $100 equals about 3 to 4 paper bags of groceries, and you don't pay for the bag, except at Aldi's. You use a free cardboard box or two at Aldi's. Alidi's isn't an option in Hawaii, but it is an option in Florida or California. We did find "Cost U Less" in Kauai had very low prices, similar to the mainland. We didn't check out the "Cost U Less" in Hilo, since we discovered the "Cost U Less" in Kauai after visiting the Big Island. Of course, you could grow a lot of your own food, even in rocky areas if you use hydroponics instead of using soil. Hydroponics can grow food twice as big and twice as fast with very little water, no soil, and very little growing space. Hydroponics seems like a great solution for Hawaii's climate on the dry side of the island.

I agree with you about the friendly people in Hawaii. We found the friendliness amazing and breathtaking. I think a couple of times I noticed "stink eye", but I just ignored those people, because people like that only deserve to be ignored and disregarded, they are meaningless useless people.

We ate some of the best pineapple ever when visiting Hawaii. I assume that pineapple was locally grown, sold at the farmer's market. The pineapples were small and pretty expensive, but the taste was amazingly good. We stopped by the farmer's market in Hilo about 3 times a week, each time we visited the Big Island, but we drive around a lot when visiting. From Kona, you just cruse over there on the new Saddle Road extension, which is a very nice road. I don't know why people live there whole lives or decades without driving to the other side of the island. In the larger scheme of things, a 90 minute drive and a little gasoline is nothing.

Maybe south Florida is a better fit. Some people say you have to be below Sarasota to Ft Pierce to avoid the cold weather, others say you need to be further south, Punta Gorda to West Palm Beach to avoid the cold weather. The weather is less consistent in Florida with more extremes than Hawaii, plus the terrain is pretty flat in Florida, and the chances of hurricanes is much higher, but the cost of living in Florida is half the cost of living in Hawaii. Hawaii's climate is sure attractive, but there are downsides. Even if you have the financial resources, you have to be willing to spend the extra money that you accumulated because of refraining to spend excess money, living well below your means, for many years.