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Has anyone left NJ, moved south and then realized it wasn't at all what you thought?
Hubby and I moved to rural SW Virginia two years ago from the Northeast and have yet to turn up anything but p/t jobs. We're both in our 50's, so it is harder to get jobs at our age, but there ought to be more than $10/hr jobs. We both have college degrees.
So we are in a loop of constantly looking for jobs, debating whether to stay or go, and watching our savings dwindle. We are thinking of just packing it in and moving back to NJ.
On the plus side here is the very low crime rate, no traffic and natural beautiful of the area, plus a lot of interesting things to do, from being in a college town.
Odd things about the area - if you don't work at or attend the college, you're out of the loop. If you leave our town (which is a bubble really), there is an alarming rate of poverty and drugs.
Other sad things I noticed - lots of children in foster care, and many people exist on disability and community assistance programs.
My son is in school here and there just doesn't seem to be much of a budget for extra-curricular things or summer programs.
Uprooting everyone will not be easy, but I'm wondering if it's worth it to head back to NJ?
One of my co/worker moved (transferred back) from Atlanta to NJ. But the was mostly to be near family. (He had terminal cancer).
Company paid to have him move ("Transferred") back to the NJ office. Mostly so he would be near family for support and comfort, (He worked one day in the NJ office then went out on disability, I think)
One Other Co/Worker did not like living in the south, and moved back to the NJ office on her dime. The Price shock almost killed her. She had to downgrade her housing from what she had in Atlanta due to the cost differences of housing, and increase in Taxes.
I moved to Florida years ago, does that count as the south? Anyway, I came back to NJ. Hated the weather, the traffic, and the slow pace. Hard to make a decent living, terrible schools, and too many crazy people. Couldn't pay me enough to live in the south.
Has anyone left NJ, moved south and then realized it wasn't at all what you thought?
Hubby and I moved to rural SW Virginia two years ago from the Northeast and have yet to turn up anything but p/t jobs. We're both in our 50's, so it is harder to get jobs at our age, but there ought to be more than $10/hr jobs. We both have college degrees.
So we are in a loop of constantly looking for jobs, debating whether to stay or go, and watching our savings dwindle. We are thinking of just packing it in and moving back to NJ.
On the plus side here is the very low crime rate, no traffic and natural beautiful of the area, plus a lot of interesting things to do, from being in a college town.
Odd things about the area - if you don't work at or attend the college, you're out of the loop. If you leave our town (which is a bubble really), there is an alarming rate of poverty and drugs.
Other sad things I noticed - lots of children in foster care, and many people exist on disability and community assistance programs.
My son is in school here and there just doesn't seem to be much of a budget for extra-curricular things or summer programs.
Uprooting everyone will not be easy, but I'm wondering if it's worth it to head back to NJ?
Anyone else gone through this?
I visited northern Virginia before and I liked it! I agree that it is harder to get jobs at your age. My mother is trying to get a full time job (because she was always lazy in the past) and it's tough since she is in her mid-50s.
I'd say you should move back to NJ (Get ready to come back to this expensive state). Southern Virginia sounds lame if children in foster care, people on disability, no budget for extra-curricular things, and you can't leave the neighborhood you live in due to poverty and drugs.
My parents live in SC and I went to high school there for a few years. I also worked in Atlanta for a summer and spent a lot of time on tour driving all around down there.
You literally couldn't pay me enough to live down there.
I visited northern Virginia before and I liked it! I agree that it is harder to get jobs at your age. My mother is trying to get a full time job (because she was always lazy in the past) and it's tough since she is in her mid-50s.
I'd say you should move back to NJ (Get ready to come back to this expensive state). Southern Virginia sounds lame if children in foster care, people on disability, no budget for extra-curricular things, and you can't leave the neighborhood you live in due to poverty and drugs.
Comparing northern VA to southern VA is like comparing NYC to the most depressed areas of upstate NY. Two different planets.
Comparing northern VA to southern VA is like comparing NYC to the most depressed areas of upstate NY. Two different planets.
Yes. I have a friend (who moved to the DC area 35 years ago from NJ) who lives in Arlington. I visit her occasionally, and I really like that area outside of DC, although the traffic is worse than NJ's. Really. It is!
There are about fifty wineries or so scattered throughout Virginia south of the DC metro area, and so we've taken trips to a few of them. The countryside is beautiful, and when I noted that, she said, "Yes, but a few more miles and the Confederate flags are flying and every stereotype you associate with that is there."
My retired aunt came back. Not quite the same situation. She moved to The Villages in Central Florida and hated it. Hated the weather, lack of healthcare, everything.
Anyway, I always say this, as bad as NJ is, you can make a living here if you hustle. Think about what you want for your son as well. Maybe there will be more economic opportunity for him here in the future as well
Look at the whole state too, housing costs don't seem as crushing down near the Philly suburbs
Thanks for your input everyone, and for making me realize I'm not totally irrational.
Sometimes I get up in the morning, see the mist on the mountains, smell the clean air and think I should hit myself on the head with a mallet for wanting to leave this place.
Then, the other day, I went to (yet another) job orientation for an $8.25/hr we'll-call-you-as-needed position. The other two ladies who had been hired f/t were wearing flowered sundresses, cackling away, discussing growing up in the country and whose kin knows whose. And I realized I'm just never going to fit in.
Time to start planning our escape.
Last edited by Carrie987; 07-03-2018 at 04:01 PM..
No, but this doesn't surprise me. Unless you are from the South, they aren't going to be welcoming to you there. That's how the red states are. Unlike NJ which is accepting of all people.
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