I lived in Dallas for 20+ years and CT has everything over Texas except the cost of housing. There is absolutely no natural beauty and driving is insane. Half of the people don't have licenses or insurance, let alone know how to talk english.
Yes, CT has it's faults, but other states do to.
Salt fishing, fresh water fishing, nice outdoors and climate isn't too bad. The other part of my live I lived in the snow belt of western New York. That's still a pretty nice place to live. Dave
I’ve never lived anywhere else but Ct. my job keeps me here . Both of my kids have moved away . The few places I’ve been and spent some time in that are possible retirement places are Maine and upstate New York . Speaking of Maine , Mike , please explain the lower cost of living there ? Don’t confuse housing prices ( only some areas ) With lower cost of living . We have a place there ( selling now) . I’m very curious to see your reasons .
Barn1, my experience in driving in VT is a little different, been going back and forth for the past 4 1/2 years because both grandchildren attend or attended the University of Vermont and daughter finally moved to Vermont in June. Speed on 91 and 89 seem to be 75+ but the roads don't have a lot of traffic so it seems safer, obviously the harsher winters not an advantage. Housing is not far off CT costs but education system no where as good as CT. VT has a drug problem, state is losing population and medical facilities no where near as available as CT. VT has only one certified trauma center, I know, I spent three days at the UVM Medical Center.
The plus for VT may only be their recreational opportunities but those diminish greatly when you reach 65 or your health goes down the tubes. Doubt most people will be using anything other than the bunny slopes at that age. Like most states, be careful what you choose for the rest of your life. Florida caters to old folks, thus the attraction but the weather sucks but old folks have a tendency to stay inside anyway.
YOOOOOOOOO!!!!! Connecticut is the worst Kidding mostly, but living in NY and CT my whole life i didn't truly realize what I was missing! I do miss a lot about CT, but the lifestyle is just so much greater here in the Midwest than it is in CT. Put it this way, I don't even lock the doors when I leave the house. When I lived in South Windsor, I wouldn't let my kids play in the front yard without me out there watching every step they took...here in Nebraska I'm much less concerned about that type of stuff. Halloween as an example...when I was in SW, we had to hit about 50 houses just to get a handful that were even participating. Here in Nebraska, there are entire neighborhoods basically quarantined off to keep the traffic down and every house is decorated and the people are all outside talking to each other, cheering on the kids, and basically making it an awesome experience. There are literally thousands of people wandering about and enjoying each other's company.
Christmas...every house is decorated and many of them have music set to play when you drive up and the lights set to the same...its awesome for the kids!
Its just a different environment, Family is the highest priority and you can tell. Not one time in my time in CT did I feel that the sate actually gave a #*&! about family life. I love it here!
And then you talk about recreational activities: Within 15 minutes of my house I have more "state access" hunting ground than might exist in the entire state of CT I can hunt pheasants, dove, deer, turkey, antelope, waterfowl, you name it virtually any time I want within season and it takes at most an hour to get to quality ground to hunt on. The pheasant hunting is world class and if you haven't chased antelope before as a hunter, thats an experience you MUST have...its simply incredible.
Not all is great about leaving CT/NY as I miss the fishing mostly. I have plenty of places to go, its just not nearly as productive and much more scattered out. A trophy smallmouth here is 3lbs ....this is me rolling my eyes I have plenty of opportunity to get my youngsters out and catching fish, but its just not the same as it is in the northeast! And don't get me started in Saltwater fishing...i miss it every day
Id say the biggest advantage to living in the midwest is the wifey gets to be a mom! She only works one day a week...we took basically a 100K pay cut when we moved to Nebraska, as she was making a fortune as a NICU nurse at Connecticut Children's Hospital. We worked non-stop to barely break even....yes we weren't struggling, but we weren't raking in the $$$. Our combined income was over 200K and we were not living comfortably. Here while we are again not living the high life, we are getting by and she gets to be mom, I get to be dad (coach every sports team, fish and hunt with them on the weekends, etc). In CT we were so consumed with work and the general chaos of life in New England that we barely had time to be a family. In Nebraska, we have dinner together every day, we have every weekend together, and we are focused on family. Its just soooo different.
Would I move back to CT...likely not. Upstate NY...probably, but only because 99% of our family is there. If they weren't there I'm not sure Id have the desire to come back to either state after almost 4 years in the Midwest. I love it here and so do the wife and kids!
Team Daiwaimano Team too many broken rods to count Team bluefish lawn ornament Team "oh shiit we are out of gas"
Mike , please explain the lower cost of living there ? Don’t confuse housing prices ( only some areas ) With lower cost of living .
For me that's a big part of it though. A lower house price for substantially more house and more land directly equates to lower costs per month and year. Also it would appear my insurance rates would go down substantially with a move to the areas that I want to be in. The property tax values would be correspondingly lower as well.
Food, gas, oil those things still cost the same as far as I can tell. But the huge break on a house and the amount of land I would get is a major reason for me. We don't want to live on the shoreline or where it cost the same as Connecticut, we want to move out into the woods, so there's a big price difference.
What have you found Tony? Just in terms of your cost of living expenses? It sounds like they really didn't change from what Connecticut would be for you and I'd love to know why as we're planning the potential move in the next year or so.
We worked non-stop to barely break even....yes we weren't struggling, but we weren't raking in the $$$. Our combined income was over 200K and we were not living comfortly
We worked non-stop to barely break even....yes we weren't struggling, but we weren't raking in the $$$. Our combined income was over 200K and we were not living comfortly
Clearly doing something wrong if making over 200k and not banking a #*&! ton of cash.
Glad to hear things are going well out in Nebraska and IMO being able to stay home and raise your kids has NO price tag. I'll never understand people who can afford to do it, and choose not too, but that's another thread topic.
Agree with Mitch - post some reports. I haven't chased goats in about 8 years and I miss it.