Frugal place to move to?

**Luv2BeFrugal** · 02-10-2007, 01:59 PM

My hubby and I are living in Alaska. We're planning for a move Fall '08.

We're looking for info on general cost of living (rent, real estate, taxes, groceries, utilities, etc.) and job market. He'll be looking for a bookkeeping/accounting job. I'll be looking for anything in aviation/transportation or office.

These are the places we're looking at right now...but are open to suggestions. We're avoiding super hot & humid areas (sorry, us Alaska babies can only take so much heat before we melt

) hehe. We're both comfortable with climates that get fairly warm, though.

Kentucky

Montana

Wyoming

Nevada (Vegas, Specifically)

Missouri

Colorado

Any input would be appreciated!!

We've got 18 months so have time to ponder...we don't like to make major decisions in a hurry.

Thought I'd just put out some "feelers" to get our home discussions going about the possibilities.

**acidcookie** · 02-10-2007, 02:04 PM

Originally Posted by FrugalAlaskan

We're avoiding super hot & humid areas (sorry, us Alaska babies can only take so much heat before we melt

) hehe. We're both comfortable with climates that get fairly warm, though.

...

Originally Posted by FrugalAlaskan

Nevada (Vegas, Specifically)

Hm. It may not be humid in Vegas, but the summers can regularly be in the 110s. I would say that's pretty hot.

**Luv2BeFrugal** · 02-10-2007, 02:17 PM

Originally Posted by acidcookie

...

Hm. It may not be humid in Vegas, but the summers can regularly be in the 110s. I would say that's pretty hot.

Yup...dry heat. We've been there before in the summer...and lived in Oklahoma in the summer. That's just fine.

Was referring more to high heat & humidity index like Georgia...that would kill us! hahaha

**kaykwilts** · 02-10-2007, 02:30 PM

I grew up in Tennessee which is below Kentucky and Tennessee can get pretty hot and humid in the summer. I would think the cost of living would be pretty low if you can stand the humidity.

**FrugalMomof3** · 02-10-2007, 02:35 PM

I live in PA where it's normal temperatures, winter is cold, spring is warm and summer is hot but not usually in the 100's most often below. COL is pretty low and tax rate is 7%, lol dont know if you wanted to know all that. Buying houses around here is easy and getting one cheap is always easy as well, even renting (we used to rent a 3 bedroom house with heat/HW included for $425 a month). Prices are reasonable for normal food and other items.

Either way let us all know what you and DH decide.

**McD** · 02-10-2007, 03:13 PM

We are in Iowa (close to Missouri) and it's not bad at all. There are tons of accounting positions here in the Des Moines Metro and there's an airport. ...

**Dexter** · 02-10-2007, 04:30 PM

We left Vegas for Montana. The housing market there has exploded and is totally out of control. Our tiny 1200 sq foot house is now listed for over $400K in a regular ole neighborhood that honestly has gone quite down hill and I wouldn't want to raise my kids in it. We sold it for $125,000 in 2000. Insane.

**acidcookie** · 02-10-2007, 04:35 PM

I live in central PA right now and there's something about the summers here. While the heat isn't unbearable it's much more humid than I expected, and it's this gross, swampy, too-far-from-fresh-water humidity. I really don't like it.

**Luv2BeFrugal** · 02-10-2007, 05:17 PM

Originally Posted by Dexter

We left Vegas for Montana. The housing market there has exploded and is totally out of control. Our tiny 1200 sq foot house is now listed for over $400K in a regular ole neighborhood that honestly has gone quite down hill and I wouldn't want to raise my kids in it. We sold it for $125,000 in 2000. Insane.

What do you think of Montana? Wages? Cost of living? When do the winters start there? When do they end?

We don't mind the winter...but it starts in late Sept and ends in late April/mid May here... And it's DARK most of it. Just too long... Wears on a person...

**Valerie in WA** · 02-10-2007, 08:02 PM

Montana is beautiful. Home prices in cities vary. Butte & Missoula are reasonably priced (nice 3 bed, 1.5 bath family home around $125K). Bozeman is a college town. Prices in Billings have gone up a lot. Great Falls is reasonable, and there's an air force base. Just north of there is the nation's smallest international airport (Havre, I think or maybe Shelby). Around Flathead lake/Kalispell, prices have come up.

Have you considered Southern Idaho. I have family in Idaho Falls, nice family-oriented city, reasonable housing. Good wages available: my BIL works for the Dept of Defense at 'the site.' Not humid. Gets hot in the summer, but dry.

I also have family in Grand Junction, CO. Hot & dry in the summer. Cool & dry in the winter, much less snow than the family experienced in Wisconsin. Grand Junction is still reasonably priced, and there's a lot of recreation within a couple hours' drive. Don't know about jobs there, as my aunt's area is light industrial.

If you want reasonable housing, don't come to Western Washington.

**Dexter** · 02-10-2007, 09:00 PM

Originally Posted by FrugalAlaskan

What do you think of Montana? Wages? Cost of living? When do the winters start there? When do they end?

We don't mind the winter...but it starts in late Sept and ends in late April/mid May here... And it's DARK most of it. Just too long... Wears on a person...

There are 4 distinct seasons here. We didn't get any measurable snow here in January. Spring is really spring. We get a spring snow or two. Those heavy, wet snows that melt and leave things wanting to be green. By about mid April everthing is green. Also, I live where the chinook winds blow so our snow doesn't stick around long and our temps will often rise to 40 or so during the winds. It's great. Summers are great. For a week or so in July it might get to 90.

Wages are competitive and fair based on housing prices. CoL seems the same to me everywhere. It's all relative to your wage. kwim?

We moved here because we had to get out of Las Vegas. The stress of the city and dh's business were going to kill him. We moved to rural montana to raise our children. We had no idea where we wanted to live so in July 1997 we flew up here and drove 2000 miles in about 3 days and just explored like crazy. We settled on an area and set our mind to it. In July 2000 we packed up, listed our house in Vegas and hit the road. Found a great house in a very rural area. Our town has a population of 650. Excellent school. Wonderful community. You couldn't ever pay me enough to move to a city, especially a big city. I was born in LA and lived there until I was 19 and then moved to LV and lived there for 12 years.

Anyway, just google your fingers off researching different areas and then go there and explore. Read their newspapers. Talk to their citizens.

Good luck on your journey. It's very exciting!

**jinx** · 02-10-2007, 09:26 PM

stay away from the boston massachusetts area. Housing prices are really hgh, as is cost of living, and lets not discuss auto insurance.

**Hoosier Momma** · 02-10-2007, 10:33 PM

I got one word:

Oklahoma.

Best cost of living we ever had. (Although the sales tax is a bit higher than here in Indiana)

We bought a 3 bed, 2 bath house on 2.5 acres for $84,000 in 2000 and when we sold it last April, we got $104,500 for it.

The weather was not bad, except for the hot summers. At least it was dry and not humid like Louisiana (ugh!).

Just my $.02 cents...

**nwmissourigal** · 02-10-2007, 10:51 PM

Well I have lived in Missouri all my life. I can't image living anywhere else. Our summers can be hot and humid and the winter somewhat cold, however, we have a very resonable housing market. You can buy 10 acres and house, if you look really hard for under 200 grand. The job market is ok. There are lots of accounting positions in and around the Kansas City and St. Louis area. St. Louis has a higher cost of living the KC. We have a large airport, and Kansas City has lots of ammenties that most large cities have. Concerts, ballet, opera, great eating places and the list could on and on. I live about 30 minutes north of KC and commute to work. I live in a small town of 2500. I love rural missouri. We have lots of small towns around KC that are affordable. WE are right smack dab in the middle of the US and Kansas City is easy getting around in. There are also lots of trucking companines in KC. You should check out careerbuilders.com and look at the job market in KC. That would give you a better idea of what's here. Good luck in your search...Blessings...Kathy

**jkelstaten** · 02-11-2007, 12:43 AM

I know it wasn't on your list, but maybe consider Minnesota. The twin cities always have job opportunities. My brother lives there and they were only out of college and married a little over 3 years before they were able to build a very nice house. He has his CPA (but works in a computer field) and his wife is a elementary school teacher. They both have major school loans to pay, but they still live very well on their income.

Also, I second the person that mentioned Des Moines, IA. My other brother lives there and even though he has a pretty low paying job they still live fairly well. Of course, I grew up in Iowa so I'm pretty partial to it. My mom raised 3 kids on $18k/year in northeast Iowa.