Bad News / Good News

[knight0334]

Bad news: Tomorrow I get laid-off.. Budgetary thing.. Major cut backs to ease up on company debt. Probably only a temporary thing til funds build up and work piles up. (Dad and I just do alot, thus spending alot)

Good news: WOOHOO!! State paid vacation for upto 6 months. Time to work on the house and yard. Go fishing or explode some groundhogs with one of my favorite rifles. Sleep in.. BF1942 til weee early morning hours.

I also got another company pretty much begging me to work for them. From my experience, I should fall in their mid to upper pay scale - $26.25ph or $32.25ph starting($5-11 more ph than I make now), only catch is they I gotta negotiate expenses.... like fuel to town and motel/room. As it stands now, they dont pay for those things like my present company does. They only pay mileage for on the job travel. ....BUT, they are in pretty desperate need of two engineers. The company I would sign up with just signed a 3 year contract with Verizon - so it'd be somewhat stable. The sight would only be 80miles from home as apposed to the 145miles presently.

[TurcoLoco]

Good Luck to you Knight! If they are desperate and really want you, that should give you some leverage to negotiate or demand more (without crossing the line of course).

I am in the same boat myself, unfortunately my next job in AZ is very much likely to pay 10%-20% less than what I was making in CA due to cost of living BS! But oh well, you work with what you can....may be taking some time of could do you good too since it seems you have not taken any vacation!

~TL

[knight0334]

Dang man.. you too?

Our cost of living is really decent in PA, with exception of Pittsburgh and Philly areas. In my town you can make $10 per hr(figuring not having any debts) and you can live like a king.

I was talking to my brother the other night about jobs and housing in FL. Cost of living down there is through the roof. 600-1000sq ft houses selling for $80-150K. $950 to rent a two bedroom apartment.. (he has to move by July) Same house here in my area would sell $15-30K tops for a really nice place, and two bedroom apartments rent for $150-300 per month sometimes including a utility or two.

If you move to a lower cost of living area, you can make a hellava lot less, but have more money than before.

[TurcoLoco]

Dang man.. you too?

Our cost of living is really decent in PA, with exception of Pittsburgh and Philly areas. In my town you can make $10 per hr(figuring not having any debts) and you can live like a king.

I was talking to my brother the other night about jobs and housing in FL. Cost of living down there is through the roof. 600-1000sq ft houses selling for $80-150K. $950 to rent a two bedroom apartment.. (he has to move by July) Same house here in my area would sell $15-30K tops for a really nice place, and two bedroom apartments rent for $150-300 per month sometimes including a utility or two.

If you move to a lower cost of living area, you can make a hellava lot less, but have more money than before.

WTF? For a second I though you were giving those figures from the 60s!!

lol...ok, hold on to your butt and do not scream, I live in lala land Orange County, very family oriented, somewhat boring but very clean and very safe!
All this comes at a unreal housing/rental charge, my 600 sqr ft single bedroom apartment is nothing special, I do not have a garage, just a covered parking and I was paying $1170 which would have been almost $1300 if I decided to stay another year!! No utilities are included either which cost roughly another $100 to $125 a month and I hardly ever use the oven, AC, etc.

I, along with most of the IT techs at my last job were facing to be replaced by a cheaper overseas alternatives (code name Patel Mandeep) probably by the end of the year. I couldn't even last a month with all these bills and no income!!

...and to top it all, Terminator is the Governor of California, need I say more?

PS. TL hates the Corporate America that is ruining the IT field and IT Professionals by sending jobs overseas to 7-11 Techs!

[Gizmokid2005]

Wow....a nice two bedroom apartment around here is only $700/month, with utilities of roughly $150ish/month. BUT, a LOT of things are expensive, such as Gas, groceries, etc....I'm surviving on $10/hr, but not with as much cushion as I'd like....but it's still completely doable, but if I was to live on my own, I would be more than strapped even in an "economy" apartment, as after gas and truck payment/insurance I only have about $300ish, at most, left on a good month...

[knight0334]

Thats plain nuts what you guys are having to pay for housing. Inflation in big cities is running a muck.

Here's my advice for you all, find a suburb or rural area just outside of a town/city to live - but work in the city. You will make the city wages, but have the rural cost of living. Yeah, you'll pay more to commute - but your housing costs and property taxes cancel the fuel costs out many times over.

I'm gonna find some econo-box beater to commute to Jownstown if I take that job. Since its somewhat urbanized, I won't need my truck(8-12mpg) like I do for Greene Co. PA.

[F1]

Are you going to be able to make it to FL for another Hooters get-together? I haven't been able to get ahold of John yet as our schedules are too conflicting right now but I will get ahold of him eventually......

[knight0334]

I doubt it, not til X-mas at least.. What I do have saved up will have to hold me over until work is secure. ...cant afford 8-12mpg for 1200miles.

[Heylinder]

Enjoy your vacation

You could always fly down to Orlando .... still cheaper than your 8-12 mpg

[Mathster]

Sounds like Gizmo will have someone to play with all day.