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I do receive UI and I plan on using that and my savings.
Just a question... can you collect unemployment insurance if you move out of state? I don't really know how it works - and it's been years since I collected it - so I have no advice. But I would just check to be absolutely sure, before you commit to the move.
Good luck!
And enjoy Houston! I live in California and it gets up to 107 occasionally here as well - and it's fine. A few hot days each year is not a big deal!
You made a good decision. Many unemployed Americans are sitting in the same place where they lost their job and where it's most likely not coming back while either collecting unemployment benefits or having exhausted them. Rather than sit and sink further into despair, people need to suck it up and get proactive. The Metro Area Unemployment Rates chart is a useful tool in figuring out what areas are becoming the new economic centers, and which ones are not/no longer. Since the beginning of the recession the Plains/Upper Plains States, Northern New England and Texas have become the established jobs centers while many of the large urban areas have lost millions of jobs that aren't coming back. Unless people migrate and re-shift population, that'll continue.
Just a question... can you collect unemployment insurance if you move out of state? I don't really know how it works - and it's been years since I collected it - so I have no advice. But I would just check to be absolutely sure, before you commit to the move.
Good luck!
And enjoy Houston! I live in California and it gets up to 107 occasionally here as well - and it's fine. A few hot days each year is not a big deal!
Yep. Spoke to IDES (IL Dept of Employment Security) and they say that I can & all I have to do is call them when I move. Thanks
Houston is good, if you like the heat. The humidity will be fine for you, being from Chicago. And as far as the heat goes, it's not just how hot it gets though (107 isn't THAT bad - it gets WAAAY hotter in some spots) but how LONG it STAYS that way... in Chicago, summer lasts MAYBE 10 weeks. In Houston, it's more like 30 weeks of extreme heat (90+), and just ten weeks of spring/fall weather. Visiting somewhere 3 times for a couple days over the course of a mild spring is very different from living there.
If work was your only real concern, and you had a spouse going with you, to help support you and your child, I'd say "Go for it". But you don't - that's the reality. You may think that because you have custody, you can just move where ever you want, and the non-custodial parent has to 'suck it up', but it doesn't work that way.
Moving to a new area you've never lived before, without family there, without a job, etc will help your non-custodial ex, if he should decide to seek custody - ESPECIALLY if you've left your son in his or someone else's care during your move. Just something to think about.
I think it's great that you are being proactive (so many in this economy are content to sit and whine rather than TRY) but your situation is different - you're a 'single mom'. When kids are a factor, things get more complicated. Their needs come first.
It sounds like you've really thought this through. Unemployed is unemployed, no matter what state you live in. I assume you've looked for jobs in Chicago and it's not happening.
If there was anyway you could postpone the move until you had a job lined up, I'm sure it would be less stressful and more ideal....
That said, your friends and family in Chicago are probably just concerned about you and your child...but may also be a little selfish/jealous that you are taking control of your life and taking a risk. Honestly, if they are truly your friends, they would support your decision.
Good Luck! Just make sure to be as prepared as possible...
Please, PLEASE be vary careful about this.
The High Plains states right now are hiring - all along the Bakken oil field. According to those forums, the expenses of living in what was once rural and remote areas have skyrocketed, due to the sudden influx of oil field workers. People who are from and live in Montana commute to and from the fields - sometimes a month apart between visits home. (My brother lived in ID and did the same thing for two years.) So statistics do lie. "Oh, LOOK! Jobs!" - but maybe not in your field or capabilities. The locals in some spots are making great money by overcharging the newbies, too.
If you read other states' forums, things are pretty bad everywhere, and lots of folks are simply packing up and moving. In CO, one fellow talks about having to evict squatters who moved there for the jobs - and found none, so set up their cars and tents on his property. Another angry person moved from GA to SD because he 'heard there were jobs' - and he hates the area, feels he was lied to, can't get a job enough to pay rent, and is looking to move somewhere else. Still another is being evicted, and is moving his whole family to Las Vegas, "because we had such great times there!" (Yes - when you have money to spend, Vegas is amazing! But the streets are lined with people, panhandlers, vagrants, homeless - call them what you like - who don't have money.)
Blue-collar, low paying service jobs go quickly. Teachers in towns around us are getting laid off. A close friend of mine lost his 10-year job as an ag-medicine salesperson, and now drives a fuel truck for much less money and no benefits. His wife is a nurse, which is all that has kept their heads above water.
I've been accused of being "mean" when I tell people who think that the grass is greener just because of statistics to be cautious, to not leap up and move to a place on the mere hope of finding a job. I'm not mean - I understand the frustration, but changing one's location and hoping that other people (especially people whom they don't know) will help them, house them, and find them jobs isn't practical, and is, bottom-line, rude to those people.
While you seem to have a plan in place, I hope that you also have an 'escape back' plan, so that you don't spend every last dime you have to get to Texas - and have no way to get back to your son if it doesn't work out.
Please, PLEASE be vary careful about this.
The High Plains states right now are hiring - all along the Bakken oil field. According to those forums, the expenses of living in what was once rural and remote areas have skyrocketed, due to the sudden influx of oil field workers. People who are from and live in Montana commute to and from the fields - sometimes a month apart between visits home. (My brother lived in ID and did the same thing for two years.) So statistics do lie. "Oh, LOOK! Jobs!" - but maybe not in your field or capabilities. The locals in some spots are making great money by overcharging the newbies, too.
If you read other states' forums, things are pretty bad everywhere, and lots of folks are simply packing up and moving. In CO, one fellow talks about having to evict squatters who moved there for the jobs - and found none, so set up their cars and tents on his property. Another angry person moved from GA to SD because he 'heard there were jobs' - and he hates the area, feels he was lied to, can't get a job enough to pay rent, and is looking to move somewhere else. Still another is being evicted, and is moving his whole family to Las Vegas, "because we had such great times there!" (Yes - when you have money to spend, Vegas is amazing! But the streets are lined with people, panhandlers, vagrants, homeless - call them what you like - who don't have money.)
Blue-collar, low paying service jobs go quickly. Teachers in towns around us are getting laid off. A close friend of mine lost his 10-year job as an ag-medicine salesperson, and now drives a fuel truck for much less money and no benefits. His wife is a nurse, which is all that has kept their heads above water.
I've been accused of being "mean" when I tell people who think that the grass is greener just because of statistics to be cautious, to not leap up and move to a place on the mere hope of finding a job. I'm not mean - I understand the frustration, but changing one's location and hoping that other people (especially people whom they don't know) will help them, house them, and find them jobs isn't practical, and is, bottom-line, rude to those people.
While you seem to have a plan in place, I hope that you also have an 'escape back' plan, so that you don't spend every last dime you have to get to Texas - and have no way to get back to your son if it doesn't work out.
Follow YOUR heart! I'd get out of IL if I could! This state is only going to get worse! If you dont you will always be stuck where you are wishing you had done what you thought was right. Show your son to stand strong and courageous! That doesn't mean it will be easy, it most likely wont! I like that movie with Will Smith (can remember the name) the problem with this country right now is people are so afraid the we are giving away our greatest asset, creativity, ingenuity and a "we can" attitude.
Life is short! Ride that bull, obviously your little man is a priority....It doesn't sound like you dont realize that.btw-dump the "friend" I think you should go for it!
Houston is good, if you like the heat. The humidity will be fine for you, being from Chicago. And as far as the heat goes, it's not just how hot it gets though (107 isn't THAT bad - it gets WAAAY hotter in some spots) but how LONG it STAYS that way... in Chicago, summer lasts MAYBE 10 weeks. In Houston, it's more like 30 weeks of extreme heat (90+), and just ten weeks of spring/fall weather. Visiting somewhere 3 times for a couple days over the course of a mild spring is very different from living there.
If work was your only real concern, and you had a spouse going with you, to help support you and your child, I'd say "Go for it". But you don't - that's the reality. You may think that because you have custody, you can just move where ever you want, and the non-custodial parent has to 'suck it up', but it doesn't work that way.
Moving to a new area you've never lived before, without family there, without a job, etc will help your non-custodial ex, if he should decide to seek custody - ESPECIALLY if you've left your son in his or someone else's care during your move. Just something to think about.
I think it's great that you are being proactive (so many in this economy are content to sit and whine rather than TRY) but your situation is different - you're a 'single mom'. When kids are a factor, things get more complicated. Their needs come first.
My situation is different from any other mother wanting to provide better for their child. Yes, I have sole custody & he will never seek custody. That 'someone else' is my mother, his legal guardian should anything happen to me. As I mentioned before, I have friends & family & was in Houston more that a couple of days. Not tryng to sound mean or anything but I have thought about everything in great detail regarding this decision. I don't think staying in a state where his mother cannot find a well-paying job & is depressed about it, focusing on his needs? it sounds a bit to me that me being 'a single mom' in your opinion, is a hinderance?
It sounds like you've really thought this through. Unemployed is unemployed, no matter what state you live in. I assume you've looked for jobs in Chicago and it's not happening.
If there was anyway you could postpone the move until you had a job lined up, I'm sure it would be less stressful and more ideal....
That said, your friends and family in Chicago are probably just concerned about you and your child...but may also be a little selfish/jealous that you are taking control of your life and taking a risk. Honestly, if they are truly your friends, they would support your decision.
Good Luck! Just make sure to be as prepared as possible...
I've been postponing this move for five long, hellish & mentally anguishing years & it has always been my family & so-called friends talking me out of making this decision. I can understand concern but, yelling at someone because you don't like their decision & they're not a child, is just wrong. If I had a job lined up, it wouldn't matter to them. And yeah, Chicago is a dry well when it comes to jobs that can pay a living wage.
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