Should I move to TX? (long)

In My Humble Opinion
1

So, we found out about the Temple job. He’d start out making somewhere between $8-9/hr (he doesn’t remember which). Low chance for overtime. Would work 12 hour shifts, 3 one week (36 hours), 4 the next(48). After 3-4 months, he’d make $10. After about a year, $11.

Let’s say he makes $8.50/hr, averaging 40 hours a week. $340. Minus tax is, what, $275/$300? Let’s say $275, for the sake of underestimating.

275 x 4 = 1,100 a month.

Let’s look at costs:

Rent: $405
Phone: $50
Electric: $50
Internet: $15
Cigs: $175
Gas: $240

$935

1,100 - 935 = 165 spare moola a month.

`Course, I was overestimating some costs (phone is currently $31/mo here, cigs are about $15 cheaper there, saving $75, I estimated Cody using $20 in gas a week [really only uses about $15 up here], I use $40 in gas a week [driving to Austin and back all the time, I have no idea how much it really would be], wouldn’t use as much electric down there, since I wouldn’t be home much).

Let’s look at the cheaper idea.

405
31
40
15
100
220

811

1,100 - 810 = 290

Aw, shit. I forgot about food. 50-100/mo. Bleh. Stupid food. Hehe.

Oh, I also forgot that neither of us smoke as much as we used to. Instead of us going through a carton about every 4/5 days, they now last a week. So, subtract $35 off first total, $20 off second one.
Now. We’d be saving up all our money before the move, aside from paying off all bills and buying cheap food. That means saving about $400/week, aside from when rent is due. Let’s figure we move at the beginning of May, which gives us March and April to save. Plus, we’d have our tax returns, being about $150 from me (wee!) and $1,000-2,000 from Cody. Tax returns should take care of the moving costs (U-Haul + car dragger for Cody’s car = ~1,000-1,500).

If money’s too tight in Temple, I might have to get a part-time job (bleh). But that’d give us an extra $400/month, thereabouts.

And we’d have to move to Temple. Unless someone in RR area knows apartments for the $400 range. Plus, driving that much 3-4 days a week would be hard on his car (my car could handle it), so we’d eventually have to get him a new car.

We could live in a mid-point between Austin and Temple, but there doesn’t seem to be much there. Plus, I tend to be wary of small-town Tx, what with my purple hair and tattoos and such.

In conclusion, what do y’all think?

2

Ahem. I keep forgetting to check my sig on. Is there a way for it to be on all the time?

3

Georgetown Park in Georgetown has apartments at $425. I knew some guys that lived there, they’re ok.

Westwind apartments in round rock - $425

I live in Round Rock, and I like it. Question though, what kind of work does he do? It really isn’t that hard around here to find a job that pays much better than $8.50 an hour. I work in a restaurant, and I generally make $250 for my 20 hours a week.

4

Ah. I guess I should’ve given some background info.

I lived in Round Rock for five years. Cody lived in Austin his entire life (aside from a few years when he lived with his dad in San Antonio). We moved up here about a year and a half ago (July 2002), due to a lack of jobs in Austin (we couldn’t find any, at least).

So, Cody got a jov working for a paper factory called Pactiv. Been there since October 2002. He makes $14/hr there.

We both miss Austin mucho. I visit twice a year, he visits once. Cody found out he could get an in-company transer to a factory in Temple that makes plastic bags or something. This means that he’s guaranteed to have a job as soon as we move down there, without having to worry about finding a job before we starve, or having to move in with family.

But I’m concerned with the pay cut. Would it be worth losing $5/hr, not to mention 8+ hours of overtime (making $21/hr) to move back to the place where all of our friends/family live?

Should we move into apartments in Round Rock and have Cody look for a manufacturing job there that pays more? Have jobs come back in the past two years?

WHAT TO DO?? :confused:

5

My family lives in Austin, and I’ve gotta say that I agree with Intent about finding a job in the $8-9 range. It seems that you’d easily find a job paying that much else where.

Personally, I wouldn’t care to live in Temple.

You say:
“But I’m concerned with the pay cut. Would it be worth losing $5/hr, not to mention 8+ hours of overtime (making $21/hr) to move back to the place where all of our friends/family live?”

a) Where do you live now? It’s hard to give advice without knowing what your situation is currently.

b) you do realize that even though you’ll live closer to them, you probably won’t see them all too often. My parents live in Cedar Park and when I lived there, I almost never went into Austin proper. Dealing with the traffic wasn’t worth it. You’ll live further out (what is it, about 45 minutes?) and have a job on top of that.

c) Temple is, as far as I recall, a base town. Not that that’s bad or good, just saying is all. The mindset of a base town is way different from a non-base town.

6

  1. I live in Kalamazoo, MI.

  2. I wouldn’t be the one working, Cody would. So, I’d have vast gobs of spare time.

  3. I don’t know what a base town IS, so . . . er, thanks?
    I’ve been tossing around the idea of moving to Round Rock and having Cody look for a job while he works at Pactiv. Are there decent paying manufacturing jobs in the Austin area?

Also, I’ve been thinking about doing the bartender thing, once I turn 21 (July). So, that’d be moola coming into the household.

7

I bet BNB means the town is near a military base, probably Fort Hood, and consequently has lots of military folk around.

8

yes, I mean that Temple is near Fort Hood.

Not knowing you, I don’t know how you’d feel about living near military establishments and in your case (as a future bartender) dealing with military clientele. Some people like it, some don’t. Some, like me, don’t really care.

My only advice would be to not move there specifically because you want to go to Austin. I would be willing to bet (and this is just based on my own experience, so make of it what you will) that you won’t be going into Austin as often as you think.
If Austin is your dream, I would try and find a job in Austin (except get ready for the rents to be higher!).

9

Why wait on the bartending job? Here in TX, you can serve alcohol at the age of 18. I’m 19, and I have bartended on occasion.