Making Me a Millionaire

Back from Seattle

Sorry folks!  I’ve been MIA for a while because we’ve been in Seattle checking out the city and deciding whether or not it is the place to move to.  Well, after much thought and discussion, we’ve decided that Seattle will most likely be our new home!  Now we’ll just have to work out the kinks and start downsizing.  We currently live in a 4br townhouse and have accumulated a bit of junk.  We’re looking to move into a 2br/2ba apartment in Seattle so we’ll need to spend lots of time on Craigslist  trimming down on stuff.  I’m glad we’ll be downsizing because after living in such a big house, I really do believe the bigger the house you have the more money you spend to furnish it!  I am however, sad that we won’t be owning property.  I really hope we can get back into the world of real estate before home prices get too high again.  Sometimes I wonder if this move is a good idea.  It’s definitely a great place to raise well rounded kids but with our families back east I’m sometimes conflicted.  My husband doesn’t seem to have this problem as he just does it without worrying so much.  Would you ever move across country to save yourself from state income taxes?  Would you move far from your family to give your kids a good environment to grow up in?

An Act of Charity

We’re back from New Orleans!  Had a great time there although we ran into a few storms which made it difficult to walk around.  I’m glad to be back home though and to start the research/planning process of our move.  My husband started work today but we’re not sure exactly when he’ll officially be on the road.  Once he starts traveling, we’ll make a trip to Seattle (which takes the top spot in places we are considering to move to).  When it comes to places with no state income tax, Seattle is really the only one on the list that we are both willing to move to.  Las Vegas comes in second but I don’t find it to be a family friendly place.  Ideally, we’d love to move to California but I think we’ll wait a few years for that because if we moved now, we probably wouldn’t be able to afford a very nice place to live in there.

So back to New Orleans.  We went with a group of friends which made the trip lots of fun.  But it was heartbreaking to see such poverty everywhere.  We also went to the lower ninth ward which was devastated by Hurricane Katrina and it was really an experience of a lifetime.  I recommend stopping by there to anyone who visits the New Orleans area.  It’s incredibly sad but it brings you closer to the event and allows you to see how terrible the destruction was.  It’s been 4 years and the area still has not been rebuilt.  Homelessness was everywhere and it made us wonder how many of the homeless were victims of the hurricane.

We went out for lunch on our last day and decided to pack all our leftovers into a box and offer it to the next person we saw who could use a good meal.  Just seeing the look on the man’s face when our friend handed him the box and how he immediately began eating ravenously was one of the greatest feelings.  It felt so good to know we weren’t wasting food by leaving it at the restaurant and that we were offering food to someone who was hungry.  I encourage all of you to consider doing something like this the next time you are at a restaurant and haven’t finished your meal.  There are plenty of people out there who would love to finish it for you!

The only thing that disturbed me was the fact that we had to use a styrofoam box for the food.  I doubt it got recycled.  I’m going to have to start carrying biodegradable boxes or something!

Before I sign off, I’d like to share a photo I took of steps leading to where there once was a house.  It was a heartbreaking image for me.

A New Job and Big Changes

My husband got the job!  He actually starts next week so that’s pretty fast.  We didn’t expect for him to start until after the holidays but I guess the sooner the better right?  Because the sooner he starts working the sooner we’ll get a paycheck and the quicker it will be for us to get back on our financial track!

With this new job, he will be consulting and will basically be flying places every week and living out of a hotel.  It’s a great job for him but this is scary because it means I’ll be alone during the weekdays and it changes our lifestyle dramatically.  The good thing about this is that we’ll be able to earn air miles and hotel points like crazy and he’ll have an allowance for food so we can cut out a big chunk of food expenses.

So since he’ll be working wherever the project needs him, we can live wherever we want!  We’ve been looking at states that have no income tax because well…we don’t want to have to pay income tax!

States with no income tax

• Washington
• Nevada
• Texas
• Florida
• South Dakota
• Wyoming
• Tennessee
• Alaska
• New Hampshire

We’ve also been looking at California (I know bad idea) because good weather is important to us.  I know that’s a terrible reason.

But of the list above, the most appealing to us right now is Seattle.  My only concern is..you guessed it…the weather!  I also don’t like the fact that their winter sunlight hours are so short and that Seattle seems so far away from the rest of the country.  A flight back to New York to see my family would be rough.

Do any of you have suggestions on good places to live and raise a family in the near future?  Things that are important to us include big city, good eats, diversity, good weather, family friendly place, preferably not as much traffic, good schools.