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Good for your gardening skills, LMB! My mother is similarily talented and used to wonderful things with plants before her move to assisted living; I seem to have a black thumb and I don't enjoy playing in dirt on top of that.
I also understand the part very much about moving from a more expensive state to a less expensive one. For me, in this case, with debt, poor credit and weak job history (but some good skills), and general lack of financial planning until that last couple of of years or so; Washington for me is the expensive state. So, when I look at places to move to, they need to be a little cheaper, or at least not that much more expensive. Yes, I think that will be a bit challenging!
rjcjmom--we "inherited" this lush backyard from the previous owner--a retired botanist! Yikes, now the pressure is on to keep it alive and flourishing. I do love gardening, and in our homestate of IL, I had a productive garden and flower bushes, but I only had marginal success in FL. Tough growing conditions there. Hopefully this yard will still look good in a year or two after it's been in my care.
I understand what you're saying. There certainly are cheaper places to live than WA state. Our motivation to move out here was to be closer to our family in Seattle, and only five years ago that seemed almost impossible without taking a major financial hit. Only a few years ago, FL used to be a very inexpensive place to live. Housing was twice as expensive in western WA than central FL, along with taxes/insurance and other living expenses. Then a few years ago the real estate bubble hit FL and we saw the so-called value of our property skyrocket. Around the same time, three hurricanes hit central FL, and soon after that taxes & insurance went through the roof in the area. It was no longer cheap to live in FL, and it wasn't such a big stretch to sell our home there and buy in this area. We didn't sell at the height of the bubble--we weren't able to move at that time. Actually we missed the peak prices by more than a year, but we certainly did better than if we'd waited until now to sell. The bubble is still bursting there, and has quite a way to go before hitting bottom.
Moving an entire household (in our case, our home business too) is exhausting, very expensive and not something for the unprepared. It took us nearly five years of planning, budgeting and preparing to relocate--and now I can finally say it was well worth the effort and sacrifice. We are exactly where we want to be and love it.
Hang in there. It takes focus, hard work, patience and a bit of luck, but it can be done. Good luck finding the right place!
Unfortunately, I believe with your circumstances, unless you hit the lottery or are already rich, a move is not in the near future. Heck I am getting old as heck and a move is not anywhere close in my future! Dealing with your six kids will be foremost in your life and means that your paychecks will more or less go towards that then trying to get out of Washington.
I hve to commend you on your ability to maintain what you do have and deal with your kids. Maybe one day we will see you in Texas!
No, you're right, I couldn't move using my paychecks. That's why I said I'd have to rely on my tax refund.
People are never happy. What can I say about washington I spent my whole life there till I was 19 years old I then joined the navy and have been gone for the last 5 years. I couldnt wait to leave but now I cannot wait to get back. I think the majority of the people in washington have been there and no where else in the world. They dont know how good they have it. Crime?!!!!!! What a joke I have never experienced so many horrible things till I came to Virginia. The worst thing I heard of in washington is suicide that is the most common, here it is constant robbing, raping, shootings all the nightclubs are disposable they never last for more than a year because someone dies. In washington you can breathe- I love everytime I come to visit that first step off the airplane that wonderful air hitting my face. The one highway I-5 I cant wait to be there again. Some people will have to leave to love it.
So I'm truly curious, if you hate our beautiful, wonderful state so much, why are you here? I fully expect some good answers...I'm not trying to be a smart aleck jerk. I just can't think of what those answers will be.
I thought I'd post our answer for you...
We moved here almost a year ago from a small college town in Oregon. We were very happy in Oregon, but my husband felt a bit anxious being in a small town and felt living in a bigger city would give all of us - him, me, and our two children - more opportunites as far as education and jobs and lifestyle. He wanted to do the best for his family, and he wondered if living in a small liberal college town in Oregon was good enough. He wondered if our children would grow up prepared to deal with the "real world" as where we lived seemed too safe, too sheltering. We'd heard only wonderful things of Seattle and the surrounding area, and my husband was totally into the "grunge scene" back in the day... so I guess you can say he had some sort of unfulfilled Seattle fantasy thing he had to work out of his system. But regardless...
An opening came up in the Seattle/Redmond office with the company he works for, he jumped on it, and up we moved.
(I should mention, that we've also lived in California and Texas, and he has lived in Asia and the Middle East... so we've done a bit of moving around in our lives, actually... we are a sort of nomadic family. )
Soon after we moved here, we realized we had made a mistake. Even as my husband found the house Kurt Cobain supposedly lived in (I know... I know... I'm sorry...) we knew we were not meant to live here. We don't like crowded places full of bums that lick their dirty fingers to write smiley faces on your car. We prefer to avoid places that smell like old pee. Seattle wasn't for us.
We chose to live on the Eastside, in a sweet spot where my husband can walk two blocks to work and our kids can walk to school. Still, it's not as ideal as it sounds. With a bigger city, comes bigger problems. Everything costs more, there are more people, more crowds, more traffic when we do have to drive somewhere, it takes longer to get anywhere or do anything. People are not as friendly, the weather is not as nice, the houses are too close together, the yards are too small. The sales tax makes my husband grumpy. People scowl. One woman totally confronted me because I said "Hi" to her. "I DON'T KNOW YOU!!! WHY ARE YOU SAYING HI TO ME!" Seriously... I think coffee is bad for people. And talking and texting while you drive is just really really dumb especially while high on java.
And then... we received our kicker check from our once upon a time shangri-lai - Oregon. Ahhhh.... kicker checks!!! $1500... that we had forgotten about! And it arrived right before Christmas. That was it. We knew we made a mistake. We know we have to get back to Oregon.
There are things we love about this place. It's not that we "hate" it here. It's got some positives! There are LOTS of jobs here. I love the school my kids go to. I love PCC Market. I love living on the outskirts of the Eastside and being so near to such beautiful places - road trip ideas are never in short supply (if you don't mind the traffic...). However - we had all that and more where we came from. At less cost, and with less people and traffic. And it was more beautiful (in our opinion...)Well, OK, maybe not the LOTS of jobs thing.
And we weren't paying triple for it. Plus tax. Financially... this was the worst mistake of our lives. And we, years ago, bought a Lexus. We thought that was dumb...
So... now we are one of those people... the "I don't like it here, I wanna go back, I wanna leave this place" kind of people. It's just that we know it's better - at least for our family and our situation - back where we came from. BUT - we would have never known whether this place would be good for us, if we didn't at least TRY it out. Sometimes that's the only way to really know if something fits. We did our research, we sorta kinda knew what to expect, but that's really never enough. In all of our moves that we've done as a family, we've learned that at least. It's like having a baby - you can read all the "What to Expect..." books and all the baby parentings books but until you have your little booger right there, you really haven't a clue what you've got yourself into!
So your question: Why don't we just leave?
With most employers, when you transfer within the company to a new location, you are obligated to stay for a certain period of time. My husband must stay with this office for at least one year. Then he is free to go.
Also, as soon as we arrived my husband enrolled in some training classes which his company is paying for which will not end for another 6 months. He must stay to complete that training. Well... he could quit if he really wanted, but he'd lose that training money and wouldn't get the certification and might even have to pay back the company for the money they've put in so far... so it would be a dumb thing to do...
So - in our case - job and school (my husbands job, and my husbands school) are the very valid reasons we cannot leave. If we did, we would be penalized financially and owe the company an ugly amount of money and he would risk ruining his good reputation and seniority at his company. But - as soon as my husband has fulfilled his one-year obligation and completed his training - we will be leaving as soon as we can.
All you folks in seattle and Tacoma who think you are living in a region with not many natural disaster dangers are only partially correct. I'll just say two more words,
Rainier, Pompey !
People are never happy. What can I say about washington I spent my whole life there till I was 19 years old I then joined the navy and have been gone for the last 5 years. I couldnt wait to leave but now I cannot wait to get back. I think the majority of the people in washington have been there and no where else in the world. They dont know how good they have it. Crime?!!!!!! What a joke I have never experienced so many horrible things till I came to Virginia. The worst thing I heard of in washington is suicide that is the most common, here it is constant robbing, raping, shootings all the nightclubs are disposable they never last for more than a year because someone dies. In washington you can breathe- I love everytime I come to visit that first step off the airplane that wonderful air hitting my face. The one highway I-5 I cant wait to be there again. Some people will have to leave to love it.
Yeah. Put them on a boat for a few cruises and they will shut up right quick. I had a near road rage incident with a VA tag yesterday...pretty amazing that the boy would mess with someone he doesn't know. I just waved my mitt at him and he decided not to persue it.
These people mess with other people and then cry when they get their butts kicked. Just like moving around....people move and expect heaven and expect everyone to kiss their butts.....wrong.
Yes, there are definitely differences you have to get used to. Bugs are actually my main concern, but I hate spiders, so there is somewhat of a trade-off for me there. It just depends on what you prefer or can get used to...like your example with our weather here. My dad is from TX but has lived here since the sixties or seventies and wouldn't go back to TX for anything except to visit family. I also have a friend who lived in Houston for 3 yrs and now calls TX "Tex-a_s". When I left to visit Dallas this past summer, she told me to have fun in he*l. LOL
On the other hand, another friend of mine and a WA native cousin both moved to Dallas in the last year and are very happy with their decisions.
I made the worst mistake of my life moving to texas, what a horrible place to live. Sounded good on the net, but be warned....Most Pac NW (ers) are not going to like the intense humidity, flat as a pancake geography (except west texas) and the unusual amount of bugs. Ever heard of the sacada bug. This bug makes an insane noise all day and night, that just drove me batty. I have lost half my wealth in my attempt to get back to Washington, and I am never leaving. GREEN TREES, ocean beaches, comfortable climate (the rain is welcome). Best summers in the USA and even a touch of snow, unlike the midwest that stays white for 7 months. you build your snow man, and it goes away before it gets annoying in a day or 2. Mountains that are volcanoes. Some desert climate for those of you into that. Portland Oregon nearby for those who what to say screw sales tax.
Flat, yes, that would describe Port Arthur, TX, very well. It was odd to NEVER go up or down hills. The one thing I really miss there besides my friends is they have a nifty idea called a feeder road which parallels the freeways and all you have to do to get on the freeway is get on a feeder road in the direction you are going and look for the next entry. Easy off, too. Unlike looking for a freeway ramp in downtown Seattle, for example.
That said - there was a lot of GREEN in Port Arthur - and bugs, humidity, etc. It may have had more rain but I believe the only way all that greenery could survive the intense heat there was due to the extremely high humidity. If humidity is almost 100% - that has got to help a plant stay green. I just felt like I was underwater all the time. That would be under a hot spring, for an idea. Have been told by some that the hill country of TX would be much more to my liking and that I would also enjoy Austin. So maybe someday a trip there would clarify that for me.
Yes, lots of neat things about WA, expecially compared to many areas of TX. And summers are nice - just not nearly long enough. And some summers are not nearly warm or dry enough. So, I continue my research of sunnier, wide-open spaces, with four distinct seasons.
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