Help me tolerate the HEAT! (Miami, Tampa: job market, school, living)

[displaced23]

Thanks to everyone for your opinions, comments, and suggestions. We're still trying to figure out what is best for our family. The move would be prompted by finances primarily and secondarily by family considerations. No place is perfect, IMO. I am just deciding what imperfections I'm more willing to live with and without.

[HWTechGuy]

Originally Posted by displaced23

Thanks to everyone for your opinions, comments, and suggestions. We're still trying to figure out what is best for our family. The move would be prompted by finances primarily and secondarily by family considerations. No place is perfect, IMO. I am just deciding what imperfections I'm more willing to live with and without.

Best of luck to you. There isn't a better motivation than doing what's best for your family. You'll figure it out.

[SeaSpur]

I think that most people who think it is HOT in Tampa have moved straight from the North down to Tampa and haven't lived anywhere in between. Try living in Georgia or South Carolina during the summer, where it actually gets above 100 with no breeze and it is all dry. Coming from the Carolinas, this isn't anything. It really gets HOT there.

Tampa has never hit 100 degrees in history.

[New Horizons]

Tony, some of us aren't on some mission to prove how tough we are by keeping our house hot and not running the AC in the car, that's just plain ridiculous. For one thing I would sweat all over my seat and armrest, and that's a quick way to develop odor in the interior of the car. There are alot of minerals in sweat including urea, the primary ingredient in urine. Haven't you ever had a shirt soaked in sweat, left it to dry to see that white crap on it? I don't want that on my interior. Plus the women I take out on dates like to be nice and cool, and I don't want them all sweaty and stinkin' either (kills the romantic mood).

I guess that's where my philosophy differs from the hardcore Floridian. I'm more concerned about saving my own belongings than saving the mangroves or manatees.

Originally Posted by tonyff67

Don't be a wuss. Keep your house AC at 78. Don't use your car AC unless you are going somewhere dressed up or stuck in stand still traffic. You'll get accustomed to the heat very quickly. When you go out in the summer, don't just run back inside because its too hot. When leaving the AC it will take about 10 minutes for you to acclimate to the heat.

[Tiger Beer]

Originally Posted by displaced23

We're considering moving back to FL. We moved away because I HATE the heat. Now we live in the mid-Atlantic. Great for the weather we were looking for (some seasons but not too much snow), and I like the atmosphere (we're fairly liberal I guess). It's also not far to the mountains or to the ocean.
The problem? It's very expensive here and also my parents relocated to Spring Hill. We have two children and no family nearby so it's kind-of us by ourselves and only visiting my parents twice per year. This makes practical aspects difficult, like sick days for the kids and working, babysitting emergencies, and basic things like spending time with family. DH and I went to USF so we know the area well, and DH grew up in St. Petersburg. I'm okay with the area (not thrilled but I know it would probably be pretty good for our situation and our family). If we move for the financial and family benefits, I will personally have to find ways to tolerate the heat again. While growing up in S. FL I didn't mind the heat so much but being outside in 80-90 degree weather most of the year just drains me every time I visit now. After leaving the house even for 10 min I'm looking for ways to return inside.
Will I get used to it again or any tips on tolerating it? TIA!

Where were your parents living before? It sounds like your #1 motivation is that you're assuming your parents will take a very active role in the children's lives?

If the move is based on that assumption, than, did they before? If they did before, why did they decide to move away from you and the kids?

I'm asking this because I also had the assumption that my parents would help with the burden of my kids at times. But, just when I get a chance to visit my parents, I can quickly and easily see that that isn't the case whatsoever. My parents feel too old and tired, and uninterested in that.

I've heard that many times when people move to be closer to their parents to help with their kids, only to find that it didn't really work that way at all in reality. Than they are just stuck in a much worse situation (being where they dont want to live) with parents they dont readily see all that much either.

If your parents are okay with this, are you planning to live right next door to them? If you are even an hour away, it's unlikely you'll your parents around anywhere near as much as you wished they would be.

(Maybe I'm just projecting though, only you know your parents). But the fact that they moved to FL, if they were already actively involved in your kid's lives, that seems odd to me already.

[Roscoe Conkling]

Originally Posted by New Horizons

Tony, some of us aren't on some mission to prove how tough we are by keeping our house hot and not running the AC in the car, that's just plain ridiculous. For one thing I would sweat all over my seat and armrest, and that's a quick way to develop odor in the interior of the car. There are alot of minerals in sweat including urea, the primary ingredient in urine. Haven't you ever had a shirt soaked in sweat, left it to dry to see that white crap on it? I don't want that on my interior. Plus the women I take out on dates like to be nice and cool, and I don't want them all sweaty and stinkin' either (kills the romantic mood).

I guess that's where my philosophy differs from the hardcore Floridian. I'm more concerned about saving my own belongings than saving the mangroves or manatees.

Have you ever been to somewhere REALLY hot and humid, such as Asia and India ? People there learn to cope with the conditions rather than trying to defeat them which, of course, they'll never do.
Humans were put on this earth with a defence mechanism against heat.It's called sweat.And the more time you spend in heat the less you sweat as your body becomes used to it.

Besides, if the women you take out on dates don't get all " sweaty and stinkn' " you're not doing it properly.

[Roscoe Conkling]

Originally Posted by seain dublin

Why do you assume the OP is overweight? There are plenty of thin people who don't like the heat and humidity.

I agree that people who are obese feel the heat more, but they should have other reasons besides the heat for losing weight, like heart disease.

Why should someone walk around in their home sweating to get used to the heat?

And to the poster who suggested driving around with no A/C, thanks anyway but I don't like smelling other people's BO in public.

I have been in stores and restaurants and few times and got a whiff of someone who needs a shower or deodorant....no thanks.

OP, you will not get used to the heat/humidty if you don't like it. You will end up doing what most people do and that is stay indoors as much as possible.

Why do you think FL is a snowbird state? Nice in the winter, but a never ending heatwave for months on end.

I don't - which is why the very first thing I wrote was " I'm not sure what your personal circumstances are and how this affects you "

The OP asked for advice on how to cope with heat. The advice from at least two people on here was that if the OP was overweight then losing some weight would help.

The other advice was to try to acclimatize the body to dealing with heat and simply living a life constantly under A/C is not the best way.

You may think Florida is under a never-ending heatwave for months on end but I can assure you there are many other places with summers just as hot, particularly in Europe in places like Italy, Greece and Spain, where people cope quite adequately.

They take a siesta during the middle of the day, they cook outdoors in the evening. they stay up late sitting outside drinking a glass of wine and chatting with family and friends.

They certainly don't hibernate in front of a TV set for months on end missing out on one of God's great gifts.

[Mike1306]

Originally Posted by gardenpearl

For this reason - are there as many organized sports in Florida for kids during the summer as there are farther north? The OP may want to take this into consideration also.

Are you kidding me?
The soccer, baseball, football, etc. are year round by me. The camps are usually more during the summer and leagues more during the rest of the year, though there are still some leagues in the summer. Most areas of the country do not do as many leagues in the summer because of vacations.

Here is just some of what was available in my area during last summer, Hernando County youth sports camps begin; take your pick | Tampa Bay Times

When my kids were younger I was busy year round with sports.

All that being said, OP if you don't like the heat or don't tolerate it good you will be miserable and should not move here. I don't know why it would even be a consideration if you HATE the heat as you said.

[algia]

Originally Posted by New Horizons

Tony, some of us aren't on some mission to prove how tough we are by keeping our house hot and not running the AC in the car, that's just plain ridiculous. For one thing I would sweat all over my seat and armrest, and that's a quick way to develop odor in the interior of the car. There are alot of minerals in sweat including urea, the primary ingredient in urine. Haven't you ever had a shirt soaked in sweat, left it to dry to see that white crap on it? I don't want that on my interior. Plus the women I take out on dates like to be nice and cool, and I don't want them all sweaty and stinkin' either (kills the romantic mood).

I guess that's where my philosophy differs from the hardcore Floridian. I'm more concerned about saving my own belongings than saving the mangroves or manatees.

Not everyone sweats the same way. The heavily insulated people are prone to more sweating than those with less body insulation=FAT.

I can sit in my car with my windows open waiting for the kids at school, and i won't sweat a drop. I use that time to warm up from being in AC before! LOL Our AC in the house doesn't get under 78, or I will have to wear my down coats, and snow boots. I can hardly consider myself a "hardcore Floridian"! hahahahahahahaahahaha

Obviously if you're on a date, all dressed up nice, you won't be shutting the AC off. I have leather seats in my car, so they won't be gathering any smells. If you have fabric seats then that might be a problem.

[displaced23]

Good point PP mentioned about my parents being involved with the kids. When we all used to live in S. FL (us in Miami, my parents in Ft. Lauderdale), we'd visit about every other weekend. And DH and I would get to go out (like on a date!) every 1-2 months. Now we go out alone about once a year, usually when we are visiting my parents in Florida from where we live now. They were working then so we didn't see them during the week.
I don't expect my parents to watch the kids for daycare purposes, just visits, and occasionally maybe if school is out and we can't get off work. Or if maybe the kids are sick and we need emergency help caring for them if we can't get off work as well. Our school system here has 40 days off per school year for holidays, not including summer vacation.
I would not consider moving back to Tampa, except we would save about $2,000-3,000 extra per month from mortgage differences and cost of living, combined with advertised jobs in our careers. Also, everytime I visit friends and family there I think, "wow, what a good place this would be to raise a family".
I like living here, but honestly? We only get so much vacation time per year and it's always eaten up to travel to Florida (and we'd prefer to travel to new places but cannot if I want to visit family too). We see the mountains/ocean once every year or so, and the ocean is obviously still in Florida. And, of course my parents aren't getting any younger, nor are we.
If the benefits outweigh the negatives, I can live with the heat, but want to approach it in a logical way and try to find ways to compensate instead of focusing on the negatives of what I don't like about Tampa. It really is a great area and has a lot going for it.