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My daughter and I have been here on the Big Island now for about 3 weeks and I have gone shopping a few times. Here is what I have found - the prices are comparable IF you shop right. Yes, if you just go to the store and pick what you want without any consideration of what is on sale that particular week you are going to spend a fortune. But with getting the newspaper on Tuesdays and Sundays in order to see the coupons/ads, and doing my shopping around what is on sale, I have been able to keep my shopping to around 60 a week. We have done without nothing at all - We get our milk (under 5 a gallon if on sale), and our cereal (found on sale this week 4 boxes/8 dollars - 2 dollars a box), our meats (very reasonable for the sales, including beef, chicken, fish) and veggies/fruits (farmers markets - VERY good prices for all kinds of things!). We have changed the way we eat, yes - but only because now we eat what is on sale instead of what we feel like having. It works, we eat healthy, we eat local, and we love it. Just thought I'd put in my two cents!
Aloha and mahalo!
Nelli
one more thing - its very important to take the time to get the store cards - you actually don't even need to be a resident to get these (in case you are just visiting but still cooking), and it saves A LOT of money. The advertised prices are only with those cards. When you go to check out just tell them you want to apply for a store card - they will scan it for you and give you the card right there.
Also, in the previous post I said I spend about 60 a week - remember that includes getting started with bare cupboards! So right now I am getting things I dont normally get weekly. Soon it will be a lot cheaper!
Nelli
Well this whole string has been interesting. I want to move back this year and I'm saving up to make the move. It's interesting to me as a Black Female the fear and anxiety expressed by other people about moving to a place where the will be the minority. Ha! Welcome to my world and oh by the way, it ain't bad at all. I love Hawaii (Oahu) and love the people. It's what you bring to the Party - folks.
Yes it is expensive, I've lived there previously, off and on, for over 10 years. If you shop at COSTCO and Sam's or the base Exchanges and Commissaries you will be okay. Growing your own stuff works as well.
I love the whole Ohana feel to the islands, some of my best friends are still there and I miss them terribly - email and phonecon is just not enough. There are little things here in Texas that remind me on a daily basis what an IDIOT I was to move away. Can't wait to get back.
Mahalo for listening to my rant.
Well this whole string has been interesting. I want to move back this year and I'm saving up to make the move. It's interesting to me as a Black Female the fear and anxiety expressed by other people about moving to a place where the will be the minority. Ha! Welcome to my world and oh by the way, it ain't bad at all. I love Hawaii (Oahu) and love the people. It's what you bring to the Party - folks.
Yes it is expensive, I've lived there previously, off and on, for over 10 years. If you shop at COSTCO and Sam's or the base Exchanges and Commissaries you will be okay. Growing your own stuff works as well.
I love the whole Ohana feel to the islands, some of my best friends are still there and I miss them terribly - email and phonecon is just not enough. There are little things here in Texas that remind me on a daily basis what an IDIOT I was to move away. Can't wait to get back.
Mahalo for listening to my rant.
Moving Aloha,
I mean no disrespect when I say this but take it however as you will. Looking inland from the mainland, it seems that Hawaii people are "content" with subpar living conditions. And this starts at the top, government. I love Honolulu, everything about it but having traveled to other places, I mean Honolulu could be even more a reaaaaaal special place but man, it is ollllld, dirty and in dire need of many many "upgrades". The homes are old and ricketty, the buildings are as well. I'd love to see Honolulu more in the likes of Saratoga/Tampa/Phoenix areas where its clean, modern and new. Honolulu gives off that "dumpy" "rundown" vibe. And the thing is, I think natives think that everything is fine and dandy and content. Contentness never gets you anywhere. You have to have the burning desire to be better and make things/people around you better and I firmly believe that Honolulu is lacking in this area which I also attribute their Meth problems too. People get lazy in these types of environment and they don't have the desire to do better.
Just my opinion...not saying that there is anything wrong with that.
I'd like to make a quick comment. Yes, Hawaii has a serious drug problem, so does much of the mainland and on the mainland all the criminals have guns. I used to live in Willits, Calif. (the heart of the Emerald Triangle) that's the Pot triangle for those of you who don't know. I just saw a documentary on the area the other day about the pot problem and the Mendocino County Sheriff admited that 60% of the county's residents are now pot growers and it's legal! As long as you don't have more than 6 plants. (California state law) That equates to $24,000 to $36,000 in income! per legal pot grower. That's as much as I make working 24-7 for 7 months at our inn.
On food, just remember that if you want to save at your local supermarkets, you have to shop at all of them as they have a spread the wealth policy. Each one runs different specials every week and by shopping at all of them you can live reasonably and get your exercise too.
Comfort is about altitude in Hawaii. You like hot and humid? live at the coast. You like temperate? Live between 700 and 1000 ft elevation. You like snow? Move back to the mainland! It dat simple.
Just a note on Florida. We moved there 2 years after moving back from Hawaii to New Hampshire as the town we lived in took more in taxes for our real estate than we made so we cut our losses and moved south. It was in the beginning of June 2004 that we moved to Sarasota, the land of Beverly Hills prices, bad food and blue hairs.
Not only were the people we dealt with (realtors and those who call themselves "Florida Crackers") a most unsavory and snooty bunch but if you want to see humidity, Florida has humidity like no place I have ever been and there is no escaping the 85 degree nights without AC. And then there are the hurricanes. We lived and survived through Charlie, Frances and Ivan the Terrible which chased us all the way to Oklahoma as we were evacuating for the 4th time! I found that it was at least double for real estate from Oahu's prices and the food both in the markets and restaurants was at least 20% more than Hawaii. Now this is for non chain restaurants. The only good fish was at Bonefish Grill and even though that they catch Ahi and Ono and Mahi on the East Florida coast, you couldn't find it in any but the most expensive restaurants which were like $40.00 a plate and up. All they had was grouper which is ok but nothing special. You have to go way north in Florida like Crystal River, Ocala and north of that to find anything reasonable but it also gets cold there in the winter and still stinkin hot in the summer. The farmer's markets there don't have the diversity that they have in Hawaii either. Great oranges from Indian River and Plant City Strawberries are among the top picks but most agriculture there is from megafarms who only sell wholesale. Not that you can't find it but you might have to travel a long way. In Florida, expect to drive 25000 miles per year and use toll roads if you have to get somewhere in a reasonable time if you live anywhere in the Orlando area. Florida is like California in many respects. It's a huge state and things are spread out. Everyone is always in a hurry and drivers there have an "it's all about me" attitude. There is no Aloha in Florida, period! Stick with Hawaii. Remember that the government is more like Japan than America. It's highly traditional with tribal overtones (not simple majority to get things done. More like 80% until things move forward.) And Hawaii is a one party state so no checks and balances. In spite of everything and having lived on both coasts and the south and the midwest, Hawaii is still Ono!!!
terry, Im not disputing anything that you've said. I think that hawaii people could seriously benefit from people rising above to want to and demand better instead of this laid back lazyness of just accepting everything and every circumstance. Sometimes, I see too much of this "aloha" spirit and zero "warrior" spirit.
terry, Im not disputing anything that you've said. I think that hawaii people could seriously benefit from people rising above to want to and demand better instead of this laid back lazyness of just accepting everything and every circumstance. Sometimes, I see too much of this "aloha" spirit and zero "warrior" spirit.
Absolutely too much aloha spirit and zero warrior spirit. Zero tolerance for warrior spirit, no like warrior spirit, no want warrior spirit. Keep 'em on the mainland. We like things the way they are, don't try to change things until you've asked the folks who live here if they want them changed.
You know, these are real concerns. I am moving to Hawaii in 20 days, taking my entire extended family with me (DH, son, sister, niece, and mother). We sold our homes here in NY and much of our stuff. I gave up a secure, good-paying job with benefits to become self-employed (I'm an attorney).
Now you have me scared beep-less.
All we can do is try to become as self-sufficient as we can - we're going to set up an aquaculture thing, with tilapia ponds that produce more than enough fish for the family and also generate fertilizer for vegetable beds. We will install solar electric and hot water and try to grow much of our own food. We might get kind of sick of tilapia but maybe we can trade it.
I don't know what will happen if oil goes as high as you predict, and no substitute is found for powering ships and planes. It sounds really scary. The tourist industry, which is a large basis of Hawaii's economy, may go belly up, and then ???
Does anybody know WHY oil prices are going as high as they are, NOW? I predicted that this might happen 20 or more years in the future, but we're not running out of oil yet. Is it all fueled by speculators who are banking on it not likely getting any better as time goes on? Or what?
I don't have a real answer regarding oil prices, but have been hearing alot about "peak oil"--my husband has been long interested in this subject. It is all very frightening, and I am trying to plan for the worst, hope for the best, and live in the present. I think living in the present--enjoying a sunset, walking on the beach, enjoying the beauty that is Hawaii is the best prescription for beating the fears and enjoying this moment.
As I sit here in the middle of March and it was still 2 below zero yesterday morning, I long for the days of boring weather. In a few weeks the floods start and the tornadoes. I hold my breath as the newsteams arrive to falsely report on the flooding by fabricating a collage of photos which once again will cost us about $10,000 in business when we never are affected by floodwaters. At least in Hawaii, you can grow food year around. The lands for the most part aren't polluted by farm chemicals like they are here. ( our water is not safe to drink unless you drill to 1000 feet to get pre iceage aquifer waters) the rivers are a chemical soup from farm runoff. The farms here grow corn and soybeans that are inedible as they are genetically altered for fuel and chemical production. If it wasn't for Aloha Joe here there would be no "Aloha Friday" here. I would be happy to trade our inn for a Hawaii inn any time. I would rather live in a grass shack than a stone palace. As the song said "you don't know what you got till it's gone"
Fo' got one ting! For DC1225 and hotzcatz. I too felt that way that there is too much lack of warrior spirit. I now feel that's probably a good thing. Hawaiians are happy even if they are poor. Hawaii would lose the primary reason why you wanted to go there in the first place. The Hang Loose attitude where things are not hurried and people will stop a whole line of cars to let you turn, etc. The ones with the "warrior spirit" are the ones that are the radicals who are perpetually angry, especially at the Haoles. They are no better than the freeway shooters and fist shakers of the mainland. I've been on the receiving end of that once. Hawaii would end up like Watts or East San Jose if that spirit was allowed to prosper. Trust me. You don't want to go there.
Shaka, brah!
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