Update! First 2 weeks in Seattle (Sammamish: sales, 2015, rent)

[Montezia]

Attention! This post will be a bit long but I just wanted to address some points before I begin.

Am I moving/will I consider moving to a cheaper COL area? No. Moving on.

Also, from browsing on the forums I am getting the sense that a few people are bitter or disillusioned about living here. I really do not want to have a dicussion in this post about Seattle's issues. Anyone posting that, anything overly negative or giving me a suggestion to go elsewhere will be ignored.

The main purpose of this post is to hopefully help anyone wanting to or considering moving to Seattle. But please, let's try to keep this conversation civil.


My post is coming from the perspective of a 25 year old black female LPN. I won't go into the details of why I moved here (or you can refer to my older posts if you are curious). But here's how things have been. Very postive!

Employment

I am already working and have a set schedule. I will be working 4 days a week, 10 hours each, NOC shift. I pretty much had a job the moment I moved here. It's in home care and the pay is 30/hr. compared to 25/hr. I was getting back in NYC. I work as an LPN and had no trouble finding places desperate for even an LPN. The staff on my job are a lot more ethical. There is no workaholic culture like there seemed to be back east. My job will also pay me the living expenses I need which brings me to

Housing

The first week I stayed here I stayed at a hostel for 300/wk. I ended up finding a month to month long term stay at the Vermont Inn. The deposit was $200. Then $1695 each month. Now that is 35% of my income, but I am not a crazy spender. It's also a 10 minute walk to my job.

Positives

-No Seattle freeze. I am also very introverted so it may have to do with that. The people so far have been a lot friendlier and more helpful than back in nyc. This also could be due to the fact that I am petite and look very young. Yesterday I actually had a bus driver ask if I was ok after a drunk guy stepped onto the back of my shoe (even HE asked If I was ok after he did that. He was being obnoxious during the bus ride so I was upset with him). No big deal though
-far less stress. Shorter commutes. I've been really calm since I've been here. Back in nyc I had increasing anxiety and I couldn't figure out for the longest time what was causing it. Now I did have some minor stress but the transition into Seattle was smoother compared to when I first came to nyc
-Weather isn't that bad. The weather reports you find on google are a bit misleading. It does not rain all day and the rain is honestly like a mist. You could even forgo a raincoat or umbrella and not get soaked (I am constantly on the move though). I grew up in TN and even though it isn't as sunny (that can get boring as well) it's not gloomy to me.
- Awesome Barnes and noble. They had a cool selection of niche stuff especially given that it's smaller than in nyc. There were so many books I wanted to buy.
-pretty walkable
-spaces aren't cramped like in nyc.
-cleaner metro buses
-good bus system. No car needed (for me anyway)
-Safeway, the one close to me in Queen Anne at least, is clean and has a lot of non dairy icecreams and good range of food. So long Whole Foods!
-no income tax

The ugly

Homeless

Having lived in nyc for a time I'm pretty used to it already. You'll find more drug addicted homeless

-Everything opens later and closes earlier. A lot of places seem to open at 9 or 10 which has been a bit frustrating from time to time
-people are too laid back at times
-not as many food options. NO corner stores or bodegas *cry*
-I'll have to go back to cooking at home again
-higher sales tax than nyc
-harder to find 'normal' foods. I see all these organic brands I never heard of. It wraps my mind.

No regrets in moving. I pretty much am enjoying a higher standard of living now and better pay with a 10 minute commute to work. I also went broke after getting that place. I had $212 for 4 days then I woke up to 2k from my last nyc paycheck. I pretty much got the $2,400 I lost coming to Seattle. I also get my first paycheck from my new job next week. I won't pay rent again until May but I am financially solid again. I'll post again in another two weeks.

Feel free to ask questions that I didn't think of.

[homesinseattle]

Glad it's working out for you. The good words that pop out to me in your post are "ethical people" and you feel more "calm". I feel the same way here in Seattle (my home for 29 years) versus my hometown of Miami.

[Montezia]

Thanks! I think it will take a minute to readjust to a slower pace of life. The weather is also good for sleeping.

It's nice not to have coordinators begging for someone to fill in a shift last minute and try to bribe you into doing the shift.

[eugene_b]

Glad you are enjoying it! We also moved from NYC a year ago and are now super happy we made the move. I usually laugh now when I remember how a year ago I was creating all these "is it really that rainy in Seattle", "is homeless problem really that bad", etc. topics. I really do think that a lot of the endless back and forth on these topics has to do with all these things being relative (e.g. yes Seattle is very very rainy compared to Arizona but not really compared to NY). And I can't agree more about Seattle being a much calmer place. I developed several very measurable stress-related health issues in NYC that gradually went away after a year here.

[Gardyloo]

-higher sales tax than nyc

But no city or state income tax.

[41Willys]

Same! I live in Sammamish, originally from NY. I moved here in November. My back deck backs to the woods. Douglas firs for as far as you can see! Tonight, I spent an hour deprogramming from the past with a glass of wine. Congrats on the move and best of luck in the coming months/years.

[pnwguy2]

I love good comparison posts that are honest and the OP is that indeed. Nothing more to add really except that the OP will likely enjoy Seattle at the end of the day. They say if you can survive two years you may be a lifer!

[Ruth4Truth]

This is great news! Thanks for the update! I'm happy for you, OP--you sound so upbeat! Yay!

Sounds odd that Safeway would have a lot of organic brands you've never heard of, though. Safeway's always been very generic. Maybe they're trying to adapt to the new market for organic products.Is there an Albertson's anywhere near you? Try them for more familiar brands.

[Unicorn hunter]

Glad you made it and everything is working out for you! You might want to change your location to Seattle, it still shows NYC. And yes, it is more mist and gray than flat out rain....sometimes I would feel like "just rain and get it over with!" Seattle has a lot to love. It's funny about what you say about things opening later and closing earlier....we were saying the same thing about Cleveland! What's with restaurants and stores closing at 3 p.m.!!! Not as bad as that in Seattle at least!

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by Unicorn hunter

Glad you made it and everything is working out for you! You might want to change your location to Seattle, it still shows NYC. And yes, it is more mist and gray than flat out rain....sometimes I would feel like "just rain and get it over with!" Seattle has a lot to love. It's funny about what you say about things opening later and closing earlier....we were saying the same thing about Cleveland! What's with restaurants and stores closing at 3 p.m.!!! Not as bad as that in Seattle at least!

Sure it is. There are plenty of restaurants in Seattle that close at 2:30, or even 2:00. Those, that serve dinner, re-open later. Not all of them have a dinner hour, though.That's normal. All cities have that. Seattle also does get huge downpours that soak through raincoats down to your skin within minutes, if you walk to work or to lunch, but usually during or after El Nino years. 2015 was the last time that happened in Seattle, unless I've missed one since then.

OP, you'd be wise to invest in a gore-tex raincoat, a long one, for those somewhat more rare downpours. You'll be glad you have it, when you need it. A good sou'wester hat, too; there can be winds with those downpours, rendering umbrellas useless.