This weekend was really something. Drove to the Bay Area to visit my sister and talk over a possible move in with her and her husband when they buy a home. She’s offering free rent in exchange for doing the stuff to keep the house up during the week and helping out with her 13 year old daughter. It’s not a bad deal since my husband’s job hunt has been so slow.
That doesn’t make it an easy decision, of course. Making this kind of a change in his job hunt and our living conditions is no small thing.
The idea is highly comfortable to me. My sisters and I get along well. She and her husband have been married for just about a year and while I don’t know him that well, overall he seems to be a very nice guy.
But then there’s moving my husband’s job hunt to a new market. He’s been networking heavily here, and moving would take him away from the people he’s networked with. My sister feels the job market is better there. With the public transportation system up there, many of the cities there would be within a reasonable commute.
Then there’s moving away from the hospital I’m near now. I was looking forward to seeing its maternity ward, which I understand is much more modern and comfortable than the hospital I had my first two kids at. And it’s so close! Add in the fact that I’m earning ALMOST enough to keep us here rather than having to move in with either my sister or my inlaws, and it’s tough figuring out what to do.
Much of the decision I’m leaving to my husband. I am quite willing to move in with my sister, and some of the things she wants done during the week, like cooking dinner, are things I’d be doing anyhow. But for him it’s such a difference in the job hunt. He’s checking things out online to see what there is up there for him.
We’ll be deciding soon, so my sister and her husband know whether to put an offer on the house we all liked.
Good luck with your decision. It’s a tough one, for sure. I live in the SF bay Area and I have to say it’s VERY expensive here, so this is one more thing you should probably consider.
Hi Stephanie, I’m one of your Twitter followers (WonderYort, though I’ve been inactive lately). I live in SF, and thought I might chime in here. What kind of work is your husband looking for? If I can help with any connections here, I’d be happy to.
I absolutely love it here, so I try to recruit as many people as possible. The cost of living is proportional to the quality of living, which is to say, they’re both high, but an even tradeoff.
Best of luck in whatever your family decides!
At this point he’s pretty flexible. He’s been in retail management too long and would love to get into training and development instead. He was a theater major and pretty much everyone he’s networked with around here thinks he’d do great, but no job leads yet.
Vered - San Diego area is very expensive too. Similar housing prices, some of the highest gas prices in the nation, etc. Prices in SF don’t shock me in general.