I for-real want to move to Alaska.

[AnW819]

I just hate it here. I hate all the sun, and day light, and the heat and humidity. I love being outdoors in the winter and I love snow!

I am sure everything is not perfectly dandy in AK, but I just hate it in NJ/PA.

I have been researching for a long time about AK and DH just thinks I am kidding and he pretty much does not want to move but I am serious. I want to move to AK.

I mean, I am sure it would take years to do so. Finding jobs, paying off all debt, saving tons of money for the move, and finding a room (craigslist has tons of ads for apartments and house sharing!!)...

Am I nuts?

I mean, I use to live in WV and I loved it here with the scenery and such, but I hated the bugs and the heat. I LOVED it in winter time though!!

I know AK has lots of misquitos and I have heard about spiders and such but from what I am reading they are pretty rare. The misquitos are not rare though, but it depends on where you live apparently.

I think I would want to move to a bigger city like Anchorage.

I guess I can dream right?

[nadine64]

Nothing wrong with dreaming of somewhere better! Dreams do come true. My mom dreamed of moving out of Chicago and back to KY for almost 20 years. She finally got to do it. She enjoys every day she has there. So don't give up. We all have goals in life. Yours is to move to Alaska. I hope it works out for you, whether it's in the near future or down the road! A friend that I used to work with has been to Alaska over a dozen times. Absolutely loves it there and he dreams of moving there one day also. So good for you. Make your plans. See what happens!

[Ceashels]

I would enjoy being Alaska bound as well. Keep in mind there is a whole lot of sun during the summer... 15 hr days type of sunshine type of bright sunny days. lol and the winters are just as dark.

[ladykemma2]

i would spend a week in january on a trial basis to make sure you can handle the dark.

[Saule]

You'll also want to look closely at the financial end My sister had thought about moving to AK, but then realized that even as a nurse she would have a hard time making ends meet. It might be more doable on two incomes, but she found housing and groceries were so much more expensive that she could not handle it.

[MaryCarney]

I've always wanted to VISIT Alaska for an extended period. I'm seriously thinking that when I've got the kids out of the house I'll take a 13 week travel nurse assignment there!

Had a nurse friend years ago who went on vacation, came home, broke her lease, loaded up a trailer and never came back. She lives/works on Kodiak and LOVES it!!

[Jamielane]

I have big dreams of moving as well. I just want to get somewhere with less heat as well. We are in Michigan and that may seem like a cold place but it isnt really. In the deep winter it can get pretty cold but it doesnt last . There is never enough snow for me either. The weather man predicts it and then I always feel ripped off when we get a few flurries and thats it. Alaska has always been a fantasy of mine as well but I dont know if I could stand the prolonged daylight hours there . In my mind I would like to lay in supplies for a few months and then spend the rest of the year snowed in somewhere with lots of books and a good satelitte for tv and internet. Nothing wrong with dreams!

[Inkstain82]

Try North Dakota. We're like Alaska Lite, with tons of jobs and a low cost of living.

[frugalfriend]

Luv2befrugal (Kace) can probably give you some good advice since she lives in Anchorage. Maybe she can fill you in on the cost of living, pros and cons, etc.

We made our dream come true when we moved from California to Colorado. One of the best things we ever did - LOVE IT here!!

[frugal is fun]

I've never wanted to live anywhere else than where I do. Well a few years back I thought I wanted to live in Maine. After spending many vacations there, I learned that I just wanted to visit Maine...ALOT but not live there.

If you can try to spend a good chunk of time there on whatever their worst season is, a couple of years in a row. Thats what happened with me and Maine...you can have Black Fly season thank you very much!

good luck! If its a serious dream then I would spend some serious time there before actually moving.

[MomToTwoBoys]

Being outside in the winter in Alaska? Do you realize how cold it gets there?

I'm going to suggest to you the same thing that was suggested to me when I talked about retiring to Osoyoos/Oliver, BC...

go visit first.

Go visit in the summer and in the winter. You'll get a better idea of how the area is during those two times of the year than if you just went on a whim. My friend Damien went from Michigan to Alaska and he hates it there. He just finished school and is getting ready to look to living elsewheres. He's young and single and says that there's not a whole lot for him to do (he's also sort of an introvert).

Alaska has way longer days with and without sun than we do. At the peak of summer, we go through 18.5 hours worth of sunlight and 18.5 hours of darkness. It's worse in Alaska.

I'd scope out the economic aspects of all of Alaska too. My friend Rex moved from Arizona to Alaska and he says he keeps busy, but the weather's really hard for him to deal with. He also had an issue with finding a job when he went there and he'd visited there before. His girlfriend lives there.

I went from Upstate NY to Calgary without ever being out here. Do I miss NY? Yeah. I miss the weather and the family I have there. The weather's still hard to handle here, but it's getting better.

[frugalwarrior2]

simple living alaska (blog). They are very off beat in their veiws but will give you a real veiw to alaska not a travel broshure veiw. There garden w/ cabbage was amazing,Forest fires,-40 degree days in season, hunting bear and caribou ect. Warning some of their opinion may be a bit gritty.

[NikoSan999]

I have 2 sisters born in Anchorage. Stepfather was stationed there for several years. Actually during the big earthquake that destroyed Anchorage. There's still several scrapbooks with pictures and articles somewhere. She hated it.
While you talk about holing up during the coldest part SOMEONE has go go out to work, start the car etc. -40 is normal during the winter and sometimes worse.
There was a time when the dead were stored until the ground could be dug.
Beautiful in the summer but not much of it.
Cost is humongous. Of everything.
Go visit in the worst part of the winter and stay a couple weeks.
Again, someone has to go out in the -40, start the car, drive in the snowstorm that you can't see thru and drive home....big part of the year in the dark. And businesses don't close for weather...or they'd never be open.

[ladykemma2]

i got very upset when i got stuck in houston. houston was meant to be a way station not the destination. it is hot, ugly, awful, and not much to do. no beauty. good economy though. and cheap lovely houses.

In AA, we are wary when someone wants to move without planning. called a "geographic cure", most find that their problems follow them. a fresh start somewhere else turns out to be not a fresh start at all. be careful. your mental illness or financial woes might be in charge right now, or is mental health/reason/spirituality in charge? could this be a bi-polar manic phase for you?

for me at age 30ish i had to stop farting around and become serious about my career. i also got married to man whose career was in houston and then i became permanently stuck here.

so i had to find my happiness here. i started to create beauty here for me, now. you've heard that expression "bloom where you're planted".

now I'm really stuck, i am working for a teacher's pension and my district is the highest paid in texas. retirement is based on last three years salary. so i am choosing to stick with my job, my district, and my home, so that i may retire with the largest pension. i put down roots. whoops. god is good.

when i am restless and discontent, for me, that means that a big change for good is about to happen. a spiritual growth spurt in some way or a change for the better.

so what does this restless and discontent mean for you? can you bloom where you are planted?

It's ok to toy with ideas. I toy with half baked ideas all the time. 95% of them get abandoned. just make sure that you bounce your ideas off a trusted counselor before you do anything rash.

some of my recent half baked ideas involved taking in strangers in the couch surfing project so i could travel too, until i decided that having a total stranger in the house was a stupid idea and I have too many assets to lose. another of my half baked ideas- i was toying with the idea of renting out half this house.

edited to add: can you arrange your career/money/life so that you can summer in alaska. wouldn't that be nice? or consider what career can you support yourself in alaska and start laying the groundwork for a career there.

[AnW819]

Thanks everyone. I have done a lot of reasearch about the weather, and day light, and night time and such. I really think I would like it. But I think DH would hate it. I don't care how cold it is. I LOVE it. I love the cold. It does not effect me as much as it does other people.

Try North Dakota. We're like Alaska Lite, with tons of jobs and a low cost of living.

I am totally going to look into it!!!

i got very upset when i got stuck in houston. houston was meant to be a way station not the destination. it is hot, ugly, awful, and not much to do. no beauty. good economy though. and cheap lovely houses.

In AA, we are wary when someone wants to move without planning. called a "geographic cure", most find that their problems follow them. a fresh start somewhere else turns out to be not a fresh start at all. be careful. your mental illness or financial woes might be in charge right now, or is mental health/reason/spirituality in charge? could this be a bi-polar manic phase for you?

for me at age 30ish i had to stop farting around and become serious about my career. i also got married to man whose career was in houston and then i became permanently stuck here.

so i had to find my happiness here. i started to create beauty here for me, now. you've heard that expression "bloom where you're planted".

now I'm really stuck, i am working for a teacher's pension and my district is the highest paid in texas. retirement is based on last three years salary. so i am choosing to stick with my job, my district, and my home, so that i may retire with the largest pension. i put down roots. whoops. god is good.

when i am restless and discontent, for me, that means that a big change for good is about to happen. a spiritual growth spurt in some way or a change for the better.

so what does this restless and discontent mean for you? can you bloom where you are planted?

It's ok to toy with ideas. I toy with half baked ideas all the time. 95% of them get abandoned. just make sure that you bounce your ideas off a trusted counselor before you do anything rash.

some of my recent half baked ideas involved taking in strangers in the couch surfing project so i could travel too, until i decided that having a total stranger in the house was a stupid idea and I have too many assets to lose. another of my half baked ideas- i was toying with the idea of renting out half this house.

edited to add: can you arrange your career/money/life so that you can summer in alaska. wouldn't that be nice? or consider what career can you support yourself in alaska and start laying the groundwork for a career there.

I think a part of it could be depression or anxiety or something along those lines. Just wanting to get a fresh start. But I personally have done that whole lets more and have a fresh start thing, and I know first hand it was no a fresh start.

BUT, I can make it a fresh start if I pay off my debt get good jobs, etc.

I personally want to live there because I go through like monthly phases where I love the day light. Like here in NJ at summer time I love all the light and sun, but I hate the hot. I wish it was sunny and cold. But then I also LOVE the dark. Its peaceful and relaxing to me...

Who knows. DH would never go for it anyway!!

....but I think I still might try my best to see if its a good place for me to live. I know the cost of living is high and such, but NJ is really bad to. If not worse! I was reading up about their current economy, and if I am reading correctly they have a lot of job openings. Their rent seems to be about the same as NJ, and groceries as well.

Car prices are higher though, I believe. But there is no sales tax, or anything like that...

I really think I just need to research states that are cold. Often. But then I get fearful about natural disasters because we do not have them here in NJ.