Can two minimum wage earning adults make it in San Diego? (rental, credit score)

[1AngryTaxPayer]

Originally Posted by Sassberto

It's a good point, although the median income in San Diego is a bit misleading because there are so many retirees (very low income) and government employees (i.e. military with housing allowances). A lot of people here bought homes for 150k in the 80's and 90's and they would never be able to afford to live the same lifestyle if they had to buy those homes today.

Transient young people fall into that income category too but they leave as often as they come. I would guess that most people who have other options (mom and dad back home) won't spend too many years living hand to mouth unless they have to.

yup

[rocknroth]

Fun to dream of a move here, but, I am a property manager in Oceanside, the most affordable neighborhood in the area and I would say, build a resume first.

You will end up being a slave to your rent and not have any money to play.

There are tens of thousands of twenty somethings here who are unemployed and have educations!

Home Depot would be a good company to transfer with but look before you leap!

Be aware there are 'pockets of nice' surrounded by dangerous neighborhoods. The problem with people moving out of bad neighborhoods is that they bring it with them. Look for graffiti, it is the tell.

Do not shop price, shop neighborhood and go from there. I suggest Carlsbad. Be aware of unscrupulous property owners who will take advantage of a newby. It costs $25 to have a manager process an apartment application. Probably best to start off with an apartment complex to begin with until you get to know the area.

I have attended many classes at Mira Costa Community College and it was wonderful and cheap!

I know you posted last year and I wonder what you decided to do!

[earlyretirement]

Originally Posted by rocknroth

I know you posted last year and I wonder what you decided to do!

Something tells me that we'll never hear back from the OP again. Much like many of these "one post wonders" they figure out quickly it's not feasible to move to San Diego and survive in their situation. As well, there are a lot of people that DO move here but they leave fairly quickly as they figure out that the job market/economy here is NOT what they expected. And these people never post back as well.

It doesn't matter if it's white collar or it's blue collar. The same thing happens at both levels. I'm not saying there aren't any success stories because there are. But the reality is you will have far more sob stories vs. success stories in this type of situation as the OP.

There are a lot of them out there.

[loloroj]

Sure, sell one of your kidneys, then get your guy to sell one of his...

[mollie.donovan3]

It is possible! It can be hard, sure, but stop discouraging everyone that wants to give it a shot. My boyfriend and I did lots of research and found out everything there was to know about San Diego and the area we wanted to live before moving out here. We saved some money yes, but you don't NEED thousands and thousands of dollars to "survive" out here. We moved here the first week in May and within the last week both of us have found a job. Jobs that are not minimum wage either. You have to hustle and get out there and look. Looking for a job can't just be done sitting on the couch on your computer. We were out looking everyday. From reading many threads on here I've noticed that it is hard to find jobs in certain fields. However, trying to stop someone from moving out here when they are looking for minimum wage jobs is wrong. They do exist and you can get them. And you can make it work if that is what you really want. No need to sell kidneys.

[oddstray]

Originally Posted by mollie.donovan3

It is possible! It can be hard, sure, but stop discouraging everyone that wants to give it a shot. ... .

Congratulations on making a go of it. That's not easy! As you pointed out, it requires a good deal of effort ahd hustle.

And thanks for posting here and adding to the discussion. We'll continue to post our warnings, which are not intended to be discouraging but instead are intended to be realistic. And we'll count on people like you who've made it work to also post and provide a balance to the conversation.

[mollie.donovan3]

Thank you. Just trying to keep a good flow going.

[earlyretirement]

Originally Posted by mollie.donovan3

It is possible! It can be hard, sure, but stop discouraging everyone that wants to give it a shot. My boyfriend and I did lots of research and found out everything there was to know about San Diego and the area we wanted to live before moving out here. We saved some money yes, but you don't NEED thousands and thousands of dollars to "survive" out here. We moved here the first week in May and within the last week both of us have found a job. Jobs that are not minimum wage either. You have to hustle and get out there and look. Looking for a job can't just be done sitting on the couch on your computer. We were out looking everyday. From reading many threads on here I've noticed that it is hard to find jobs in certain fields. However, trying to stop someone from moving out here when they are looking for minimum wage jobs is wrong. They do exist and you can get them. And you can make it work if that is what you really want. No need to sell kidneys.

First of all, congratulations for making your move a success mollie.

No one is trying to discourage anyone. People are giving realistic and objective advice to people based on their situation.

It would be helpful if you would take a bit of time to share your experiences. Would you mind sharing a bit about your experience/move? For example, where did you move from? You mentioned that you easily found jobs. Can you tell us what field it was in and how you went about finding it? Are you happy with the job and the salary so far?

I'm sure people would appreciate about hearing about your experience. What area do you live in now and how do you like it? Thanks in advance for taking the time to share some details which I think would be super helpful and inspiring to others.

Lastly, knowing what you know now after making what seems like a successful move...so would you then recommend for two people working minimum wage jobs to make the move out to San Diego? I'm curious to hear your thoughts on that.

[Pedro2000]

Originally Posted by mollie.donovan3

It is possible! It can be hard, sure, but stop discouraging everyone that wants to give it a shot. My boyfriend and I did lots of research and found out everything there was to know about San Diego and the area we wanted to live before moving out here. We saved some money yes, but you don't NEED thousands and thousands of dollars to "survive" out here. We moved here the first week in May and within the last week both of us have found a job. Jobs that are not minimum wage either. You have to hustle and get out there and look. Looking for a job can't just be done sitting on the couch on your computer. We were out looking everyday. From reading many threads on here I've noticed that it is hard to find jobs in certain fields. However, trying to stop someone from moving out here when they are looking for minimum wage jobs is wrong. They do exist and you can get them. And you can make it work if that is what you really want. No need to sell kidneys.

The smart decision is to live off of one income. There are many stories where people move away from the small town and suddenly they become different people. Or one person gets a job, makes new friends, the other person is left to be the 'third wheel.' It probably won't happen, but I can't tell you how many times people from small towns with lots of family/friend support move to any big city, not just san diego, and within a few months they go separate ways. They both might stay in the big city, but they just become different people. It happens more often than you think. And being the OP are 22 & 24, it's the prime age for their first taste of 'freedom' so to speak.

Even if they don't become a statistic, the one income is the way to go. What if only one person can get a job or one person goes back to school and just can't find a job that fits their schedule and the other person is the sole breadwinner. And being its wal-marts, retail, etc, many of those places are hardcore on part time agendas these days. Read up on how wal-mart doesn't even have enough people to stock their shelves because they are too cheap to hire full time people and don't want to give others more hours. Those retail minimum wage jobs are always a struggle.

If only one of the OPs finds a job, and winds up making $9/HR and is lucky enough to get 30 hours per week for most of the year, thats less than $15K per year. That's poverty. Even if the husband/wife both find jobs, that's not even $30K per year. It's hard to survive on that salary in many places in the US, much less San diego.

[mollie.donovan3]

You are completely right. It can definitely be a struggle to try and live off of one minimum wage income. We were lucky enough to both find jobs that pay more than that. My boyfriend just got a job for the Convention Center and I have been working at a Hotel on Mission Bay. So far the pay and hours are great and fit my financial needs. Our apartment is a one bedroom in Pacific Beach, four blocks to the beach. Which we love! It's the perfect location (for us, that is) It's 1100 a month. Which is affordable with our jobs.

We moved here from Philadelphia so we know all about city living. And having lived together for three years already I'm pretty confident neither of us will be going separate ways or become different people.

I guess you can say it hasn't been so difficult for us after getting out here. (knock on wood) I'm sure there are plenty of people that can't say the same. So I would never tell someone not to go for it because it definitely can be done. Preparations and physically getting out here we weren't so lucky. We had to spend more money than originally planned on to get things together and actually get out here. Things are finally all coming together though and we couldn't be happier.