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I have decided I've had enough of where I live. My wife insists I have a case of the "grass is greener on the other side" disease, but I digress.
I'm in a suburb far west of Chicago proper (Literally, West Chicago). It's a quiet town, relatively speaking -- the actual location isn't unbearable and most people mind their own business around here. But many things, such as the cultural/political culture of Chicagoland and Illinois in general, the ridiculous cost of living, sub-par schooling, crime, horrible assessment fees on my house (HOA and such), my inability to get a job at a reasonable rate to pay for everything, the state going bankrupt, etc. has gotten me to the point where I simply can't swallow my dissent any longer. Hell will freeze over before I subject my daughter to this despicable area. I suppose the final straw was having my car all keyed up because I had an NRA sticker on my car, and the word "Rifle" was scribbled out with black marker and replaced with the word "Retard." Whatever your political views are, and regardless of how you feel about the Second Amendment or the NRA, this is not only uncalled for, but it's also vandalism. C'mon people, really?
Anyway, on to brighter thoughts as I try to keep my blood pressure under control right now. Deep breaths.
I was born and raised here -- so I haven't really experienced living anywhere for more than two months at a time (Except Detroit. What a treat THAT was). That being said, I've traveled extensively -- Idaho not being an area I've visited before, but I've heard so many good things from friends who have. So after doing some research, I found myself here. I'm really thinking that either here, Montana, or Wyoming would be a nice area to raise my currently-7-month old daughter, outside of a world of welfare and entitlement like here.
Financially, things are not well with us. I have been out of a job since October, and even with my unemployment (lol, almost feel like a hypocrite), my wife and I are not quite making enough money to keep ourselves afloat. It's only through our parents' generosity that we are making it. I work in the IT industry (computer support, etc.) and my wife is a reading teacher. We declared chapter 7 bankruptcy back in 2011 due to a business venture going bad after I had a partner screw me over. I think our credit's recovering -- my wife's marginally better than mine. I have a relatively small car payment, and my wife's car is totally ours. We cut luxuries such as cable television and rely more on the internet for entertainment. It's actually worked out so well, we will continue to do this even after we get out of our financial hell. My home's mortgage is about $15k underwater. This may be not totally accurate, but it's a ballpark figure from Zillow (Yeah I know, not the most reliable source). We currently have no capital to put down as a down payment as you may imagine.
I've looked at various areas around Boise, Twin Falls, Sandpoint, CDA (took me a while to figure out what that was), Idaho Falls, and pretty much every city with a population more than 5000 to see what housing generally costs. Everything we could ever want in a house can be had for no more than $130-150k it seems, which is less than what we paid for our house that has much less.
I guess my biggest questions...
I'm sure I may have to wait a bit before moving here. Could anyone recommend a game plan to help me acheive this? Maybe some resources?
Am I looking at the wrong state for someone who does my line of work?
My wife is deeply rooted here (As am I, but I'm willing to uproot) -- what advice do you have to help me convince her this is a better move for our family? (Financially and for my daughter, I really feel it is)
At the moment, I think I'll leave it at this -- I'm sure there's information that I may have left out here that'd help you answer my questions and concerns, and maybe even bring up more questions, but I'm more than happy to provide whatever I could.
OpelBlitz - first of all, you're not alone. There are a lot of us who are having financial problems big time. This system of things is run by evil, money-grubbing morons who are truly out to get all of us...not us, but our money.
I lived in Coeur d' Alene and tried to get an Allied Healthcare job there for 6 months. I am a Respiratory Therapist. I found a job down in the city of Alamogordo, NM. Thank Jehovah for that. He always provides and will always provide for us.
But as much as I liked Idaho I didn't love it. I hated Highway 95 through Coeur d' Alene and Hayden. Too much waiting for lights to change.
It's a nice-looking city overall. Just not enough jobs to go around. And if you take a low-paying job (which by far most all of them are) you will be hound-dogged by local hicks that make up for their intelligence limitations by swearing up a storm and acting all hot and tough. Not a good area to work in. Of course, if you can score a decent job doing something you love, that is different. I wouldn't be so dumb to assume that a person couldn't find something they love to do there, a place where someone must have your back. Because believe you me, the job market there in northern Idaho is cold. And pretty dire.
...the job market there in northern Idaho is cold. And pretty dire.
The unemployment rate is about the same in N Idaho as the national average. For whatever that is worth...
Only come if you have work lined up. Boise is home to Micron, a fairly large IT employer. I believe there are also sizeable IT employers in Spokane. Not N Idaho, but only 45 minutes from CDA, and much larger.
My husband and I both just moved to CDA almost for the same reasons you want to leave Chicago. We have a three year old and we did not want to raise him in Vegas. (political vibes sort of the same as you describe). Schools bad in Vegas too. My husband is originally from Chicago. Palos Hills specificly. He lived there for 18 years and moved. He also works in I.T. Actually we both. I quit though. I am a freelance writer and stay at home mom.
Jobs in CDA : We got lucky. The company he works for moved us and paid for the trip.
We love it here. We are currently renting as to get a better idea of where we want to buy a home.
I think you wouldn't regret moving here. Everyone is so friendly. We had neighbors come to our door and introduce themselves. That never happened anywhere I've lived. So it was a culture shock. But a nice one.
Everyone seems to be very casual here. It is so beautiful. Everyday I wake up and thank God He brought us here.
Last edited by VelvetSky; 01-25-2013 at 09:01 AM..
Oh and my husband who is originally from Palos Hills in Chicago....says the weather is similar.At least this winter anyway. LOL (we only been here one winter)
Boise I think may have a lot of I.T. jobs The weather there is nicer if you dont like cold. But not close to CDA for commute. I think its ten hours away by car.
But check Spokane too being that its close to CDA.
Look up all the big companies in CDA/Sandpoint and check their employment page. Also check hospitals too in all cities.
As for your wife....she will make tons of friends here and can make a new start. Tons of playgroups. The churches here are great and social. People will just start talking to you. In Vegas that never happened. There are also tons of womens groups, hunters groups etc.
We still have family in various areas of the USA including Chicago. Skype works great!
Last edited by VelvetSky; 01-25-2013 at 09:03 AM..
IT jobs are more plentiful in Boise than they are in north Idaho. Here, most of the better paying jobs are in Spokane and the market is highly competitive. You definitely do NOT want to come here without a job lined up first, especially in that field.
Thanks for the information everyone -- surely, I would secure a job in ID before making a move. Sound advice.
My goal is to be able to provide for my wife and daughter. We both LOVE the idea of her staying home to watch our daughter if we can swing it. That's not possible here. Not to mention, the roles are reversed at the moment. I'm sure my wife would love the prospect of playgroups and social churches. We have a church that we go to, but we haven't gone a lot lately. She loves the playgroup she's in, but now that she's working again after Christmas break, she doesn't get to partake in it much anymore.
I've no doubt I'd love life there. I'm a wannabe hunter, but rifle hunting's illegal in Illinois and you gotta go to Wisconsin for that. I am insanely in love with the outdoors, and we both have always wanted a backyard where we can have bonfires and such. By the time my daughter's a bit more grown up, I'm sure she'd enjoy it as well. We have two smallish dogs who are begging to have a backyard to run around in.
I appreciate the input about IT in the area. I'll definitely be able to better focus my searching efforts.
If there's anything else anyone would like to know about me, let me know.
You sound like an asset to Illinois my friend! Good luck out west.
Quote:
Originally Posted by OpelBlitz
I have decided I've had enough of where I live. My wife insists I have a case of the "grass is greener on the other side" disease, but I digress.
I'm in a suburb far west of Chicago proper (Literally, West Chicago). It's a quiet town, relatively speaking -- the actual location isn't unbearable and most people mind their own business around here. But many things, such as the cultural/political culture of Chicagoland and Illinois in general, the ridiculous cost of living, sub-par schooling, crime, horrible assessment fees on my house (HOA and such), my inability to get a job at a reasonable rate to pay for everything, the state going bankrupt, etc. has gotten me to the point where I simply can't swallow my dissent any longer. Hell will freeze over before I subject my daughter to this despicable area. I suppose the final straw was having my car all keyed up because I had an NRA sticker on my car, and the word "Rifle" was scribbled out with black marker and replaced with the word "Retard." Whatever your political views are, and regardless of how you feel about the Second Amendment or the NRA, this is not only uncalled for, but it's also vandalism. C'mon people, really?
Anyway, on to brighter thoughts as I try to keep my blood pressure under control right now. Deep breaths.
I was born and raised here -- so I haven't really experienced living anywhere for more than two months at a time (Except Detroit. What a treat THAT was). That being said, I've traveled extensively -- Idaho not being an area I've visited before, but I've heard so many good things from friends who have. So after doing some research, I found myself here. I'm really thinking that either here, Montana, or Wyoming would be a nice area to raise my currently-7-month old daughter, outside of a world of welfare and entitlement like here.
Financially, things are not well with us. I have been out of a job since October, and even with my unemployment (lol, almost feel like a hypocrite), my wife and I are not quite making enough money to keep ourselves afloat. It's only through our parents' generosity that we are making it. I work in the IT industry (computer support, etc.) and my wife is a reading teacher. We declared chapter 7 bankruptcy back in 2011 due to a business venture going bad after I had a partner screw me over. I think our credit's recovering -- my wife's marginally better than mine. I have a relatively small car payment, and my wife's car is totally ours. We cut luxuries such as cable television and rely more on the internet for entertainment. It's actually worked out so well, we will continue to do this even after we get out of our financial hell. My home's mortgage is about $15k underwater. This may be not totally accurate, but it's a ballpark figure from Zillow (Yeah I know, not the most reliable source). We currently have no capital to put down as a down payment as you may imagine.
I've looked at various areas around Boise, Twin Falls, Sandpoint, CDA (took me a while to figure out what that was), Idaho Falls, and pretty much every city with a population more than 5000 to see what housing generally costs. Everything we could ever want in a house can be had for no more than $130-150k it seems, which is less than what we paid for our house that has much less.
I guess my biggest questions...
I'm sure I may have to wait a bit before moving here. Could anyone recommend a game plan to help me acheive this? Maybe some resources?
Am I looking at the wrong state for someone who does my line of work?
My wife is deeply rooted here (As am I, but I'm willing to uproot) -- what advice do you have to help me convince her this is a better move for our family? (Financially and for my daughter, I really feel it is)
At the moment, I think I'll leave it at this -- I'm sure there's information that I may have left out here that'd help you answer my questions and concerns, and maybe even bring up more questions, but I'm more than happy to provide whatever I could.
VelvetSky - I am glad it worked out for you ta move to N.Idaho. I didn't leave angry, just basically depressed economically. Not spiritually, our local congregation helped us immensely to stay focused spiritually.
I love the land of Idaho and the people were really pretty good people. No complaints whatsoever. I wasn't the only one who had trouble finding suitable work there. It's a situational thing and a specific type of thing, so like I say, I wouldn't put the area down because of that.
So I'm in the SW desert and I'm enjoying our rental home and training in my new job is going fine. I like the people and the city and the desert. So things are good. I'm just glad that you're getting settled there in N.Idaho and that you're diggin' it. Take good care!
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Deep breaths.
Read this
