I agree, they definitely have cool add-ons at Costco for killer prices. We have a big jar of the artichoke tepenade for entertaining on the fly. Dirt cheap.
Yes I would -- and did -- relocate for the perfect job. Or even a near perfect job. I put my household goods in storage and moved to the Middle East. And I am still here three years later.
But I was in a good position to drop and go. I was nearing retirement and my parents are deceased so I don't have anyone 'back home' that needed my support or that would stress with me gone.
Also I think that 'perfect' has different meanings to different people. Salary and location were things to consider, but more important to me was what I would be doing. No matter how ugly my day is, if at the end of it I know I am proud of my contribution and that tomorrow -- altho with the potential to be just as ugly or uglier -- I am willing and able to do it all over again, then I'm still where I need to be.
I'm trying really hard right now to think of a place I to where I wouldn't relocate, and I really can't think of one. I work in healthcare, and I've long wanted to work in some of the worst parts of the world because they are some of the neediest. I haven't found a way to do that and still get my bills paid, so if I could find a way to do it that would be the best thing ever.
Actually, I doubt if you're right about the "dawn of humanity" thing.
For one thing, I expect bands of hunter-gatherers simply shared everything in the first place, so nothing got thrown out until nobody could see any use for it. (And that's no more subsisting on the waste of others than it is when mom says, "Don't throw those leftovers out! They're still perfectly good!"
Even after agriculture got invented, very few people were rich enough that their trash contained much of value. In fact, it's a pretty strong marker of wealth that you feel free to reject hand-me-downs or leftovers. I wrote a post on that topic called Not the sort of person who. It was only after there were very large disparities in wealth that some people were rich enough to throw away stuff that had real value. That takes us well past the invention of agriculture and into the early days of city building.
More to the point, though, given that people are throwing away that much perfectly good stuff, it's not shocking that Hibbert is able to live off it, and live well.
But the pressures against throwing away all that stuff are large and growing. There are economic pressures—manufacturers don't want to make more than people will buy and retailers don't want to stock it. And there are social pressures—food banks and charity shops accept donations of such stuff and then sell it cheaply. I think those forces will deplete the trash stream. I could be wrong, though. Only time will tell.
If it was my perfect job, I wouldn't need to relocate anywhere! The job would allow location freedom so I wouldn't be tied to one place in particular while still allowing millions of dollars of dough to roll in. But I would relocate just because I want to experience new places.
I moved my family three years ago but having a family makes moving a lot more difficult. My family and I lived in Pittsburgh where I worked for at horrible place and job market has not been good for years. My family and I would travel south to the beach every summer and we always had a great time. After years of not being able to find a new job in Pittsburgh I started applying for jobs close to the beach where we liked to vacation. I was able to obtain a great job and we live 10 minutes from the beach.
I think that making the move was a good decision but it does have issues. The cost of living is much higher here than in Pittsburgh and with work, church, kids school and activities we do not get to the beach as much as we would like.
The bottom line is that if where you live now is not where you want to be and/or if your current job is not satisfying then move. Life is so much better if you do not hate going to work every day!
I think age has a big part to play, as a young man with allot of opportunity ahead of me I would not think twice about moving for the right opportunity. However I would not just do it for the 'fun chapter in my life" part it would have to make financial sense also.
Many moons ago, after I first graduated from college, I would have answered "Yes!" to the question of relocating for a job. But now there are too many things to consider- family, friends, quality of life in new job location. My entire family is located on the east coast so automatically I would never consider moving out west as I prefer to stay close to family. The only reason to pick up stakes for the "perfect" job would be if you insist on working for Company XYZ and it only had one location in the whole world.
I would be very likely to consider moving for my perfect job. I'd even be likely to consider moving for just a good job. But it would depend on the job and the location.
For me, a big part of location is the people I love. Fortunately or unfortunately for me, those people are spread out all over the place right now, so there's a good chance if I moved I wouldn't be far from at least one enclave.
As for tips for thinking about such a question, it's important to remember that a big part of liking where you live is who else is there with you.
I've done several rebate offers that were definately worth the money - or so I thought - but each time there was some kind of issue and I ended up losing money. I am glad that a lot of you have had success and are able to save cash. If anyone has specific, on-going rebate offer information for everyday things please post them here. I'd love to take advantage of things that actually will work and don't require ten tons of red tape.
Problem is, finding the job - then knowing for sure it's perfect.
That being said, I'm starting to really dislike the city I live in, so if I or my husband found a halfway decent job, especially one that would pay moving costs, It would be an easy decision.
Every society, since the dawn of humanity, I suspect, has those individuals who scavenge the waste of others as part of, or the entirety of, their subsistence. It's a pitiful measure of the wastefulness and profligacy of our first-world economies that someone can live as comfortably as Hibbert apparently is on the stuff that the rest of us see as useless or excess.
And she could continue to live that way even as society devolved, but only to the level of her tolerance. Lots of large cities have shantytowns full of people doing what Hibbert is doing, just at a much lower level. The only thing shocking about Hibbert is how satisfactory an existence she's building out of junk.
And when Hibbert is ready for more stability, or a family, it surely isn't going to be in the situation she's built for herself currently.
I just bought huge jars of artichoke hearts and roasted red peppers at Costco - some of my favorite things to put on a sandwich. For the $3-4 a pop for a tiny jar of artichoke hearts, I hardly ever eat them but if you plop down the $8 at Costco (or ask a friend to pick them up), you get a massive jar of artichoke hearts. It will take you forever to whittle it down, they're delicious and low-cal, and I couldn't find an expiration date on the jar, which to me says they'll last as long as it'll take you to eat them. Man, I love artichoke hearts!
I stock up on low fat ground round when the price drops to $1.99 per pound here and use it frequently for tacos and enchiladas,chili, meat balls, burgers on the grill, meat loaf, soups, and casseroles. I am limited only by my imagination when it comes to using hamburger in my household.
Lately I've been trying out TeuxDeux. It's very simple which is its main advantage to competitors. If you are looking for simple this would be worth checking out. http://teuxdeux.com
I would absolutely relocate for a perfect job right now, but that's primarily because I'm not crazy about my current job or location. However, I would also be considering the job my spouse would get, so it would have to be a pretty good deal for both of us to do it.
I follow this blog all the time and love it... I am actually relocating to another country, away from family and the comfort of your homeland... for the perfect job, where I plan to train hard, grow big, and be happy. This relocation will be hard, especially for my husband, who will have to uproot his longtime projects and see if they take to transplantation, but I am forever grateful for his support.
Now, there are very few telecommute jobs so I'm looking at in-office jobs within 300 miles of home and I'm looking through the CraigsList 'room for rent' listings in those areas.
It's a simple math problem. I'm a programmer, so most jobs in my field of expertise pay $70K-$125K+. I can share a roach-infested apartment with six stoners for $250/mo ($3K/yr) and drive home on weekends. It's a positive cash-flow and, hopefully, I can tolerate the arrangement long enough to convince the employer that WAH is more efficient.
Anyway, that's what I'm looking for now.
We're "luckier" than many: we're debt free, we're adapted to frugal luxury AND we own a farm. Truth be told, we only want the money to build a new house with net-zero energy footprint (or as close as I can get it) and we refuse to go into debt to build it.
I'm a voice actor with my own studio. My commute is painless unless I trip over the dog on my way to the studio. My voice goes all over the world without me. Granted, I'd like to go along sometimes... Someday, when my kids have left the nest, I'd like to spend part of the year in France, Germany and/or Spain. I could continue to work while improving fluency in other languages. That would be perfect!
Her lifestyle was obviously very *cheap*, but it's much less obvious how frugal she is. Frugality isn't just about how much you spend a day.
Would, Will, Have!
Moved across the country for my partner's school (his dream job). 4 years later, I'm learning to like it. Might move again in another 4 years, too!
I agree, they definitely have cool add-ons at Costco for killer prices. We have a big jar of the artichoke tepenade for entertaining on the fly. Dirt cheap.
You can also follow me on Twitter and Trek Hound.
Yes I would -- and did -- relocate for the perfect job. Or even a near perfect job. I put my household goods in storage and moved to the Middle East. And I am still here three years later.
But I was in a good position to drop and go. I was nearing retirement and my parents are deceased so I don't have anyone 'back home' that needed my support or that would stress with me gone.
Also I think that 'perfect' has different meanings to different people. Salary and location were things to consider, but more important to me was what I would be doing. No matter how ugly my day is, if at the end of it I know I am proud of my contribution and that tomorrow -- altho with the potential to be just as ugly or uglier -- I am willing and able to do it all over again, then I'm still where I need to be.
I'm trying really hard right now to think of a place I to where I wouldn't relocate, and I really can't think of one. I work in healthcare, and I've long wanted to work in some of the worst parts of the world because they are some of the neediest. I haven't found a way to do that and still get my bills paid, so if I could find a way to do it that would be the best thing ever.
@ Brian:
Actually, I doubt if you're right about the "dawn of humanity" thing.
For one thing, I expect bands of hunter-gatherers simply shared everything in the first place, so nothing got thrown out until nobody could see any use for it. (And that's no more subsisting on the waste of others than it is when mom says, "Don't throw those leftovers out! They're still perfectly good!"
Even after agriculture got invented, very few people were rich enough that their trash contained much of value. In fact, it's a pretty strong marker of wealth that you feel free to reject hand-me-downs or leftovers. I wrote a post on that topic called Not the sort of person who. It was only after there were very large disparities in wealth that some people were rich enough to throw away stuff that had real value. That takes us well past the invention of agriculture and into the early days of city building.
More to the point, though, given that people are throwing away that much perfectly good stuff, it's not shocking that Hibbert is able to live off it, and live well.
But the pressures against throwing away all that stuff are large and growing. There are economic pressures—manufacturers don't want to make more than people will buy and retailers don't want to stock it. And there are social pressures—food banks and charity shops accept donations of such stuff and then sell it cheaply. I think those forces will deplete the trash stream. I could be wrong, though. Only time will tell.
If it was my perfect job, I wouldn't need to relocate anywhere! The job would allow location freedom so I wouldn't be tied to one place in particular while still allowing millions of dollars of dough to roll in. But I would relocate just because I want to experience new places.
I would relocate for the perfect job or even an OK job. Especially if it is a location that I would want to live!
I moved my family three years ago but having a family makes moving a lot more difficult. My family and I lived in Pittsburgh where I worked for at horrible place and job market has not been good for years. My family and I would travel south to the beach every summer and we always had a great time. After years of not being able to find a new job in Pittsburgh I started applying for jobs close to the beach where we liked to vacation. I was able to obtain a great job and we live 10 minutes from the beach.
I think that making the move was a good decision but it does have issues. The cost of living is much higher here than in Pittsburgh and with work, church, kids school and activities we do not get to the beach as much as we would like.
The bottom line is that if where you live now is not where you want to be and/or if your current job is not satisfying then move. Life is so much better if you do not hate going to work every day!
I think age has a big part to play, as a young man with allot of opportunity ahead of me I would not think twice about moving for the right opportunity. However I would not just do it for the 'fun chapter in my life" part it would have to make financial sense also.
No I would not relocate for the perfect job. My extended family all live close to em and no job is worth me not being close to family.
Many moons ago, after I first graduated from college, I would have answered "Yes!" to the question of relocating for a job. But now there are too many things to consider- family, friends, quality of life in new job location. My entire family is located on the east coast so automatically I would never consider moving out west as I prefer to stay close to family. The only reason to pick up stakes for the "perfect" job would be if you insist on working for Company XYZ and it only had one location in the whole world.
I would be very likely to consider moving for my perfect job. I'd even be likely to consider moving for just a good job. But it would depend on the job and the location.
For me, a big part of location is the people I love. Fortunately or unfortunately for me, those people are spread out all over the place right now, so there's a good chance if I moved I wouldn't be far from at least one enclave.
As for tips for thinking about such a question, it's important to remember that a big part of liking where you live is who else is there with you.
I've done several rebate offers that were definately worth the money - or so I thought - but each time there was some kind of issue and I ended up losing money. I am glad that a lot of you have had success and are able to save cash. If anyone has specific, on-going rebate offer information for everyday things please post them here. I'd love to take advantage of things that actually will work and don't require ten tons of red tape.
Tisha Tolar
http://www.genxthenovel.com
http://www.trifectallc.com
Problem is, finding the job - then knowing for sure it's perfect.
That being said, I'm starting to really dislike the city I live in, so if I or my husband found a halfway decent job, especially one that would pay moving costs, It would be an easy decision.
Every society, since the dawn of humanity, I suspect, has those individuals who scavenge the waste of others as part of, or the entirety of, their subsistence. It's a pitiful measure of the wastefulness and profligacy of our first-world economies that someone can live as comfortably as Hibbert apparently is on the stuff that the rest of us see as useless or excess.
And she could continue to live that way even as society devolved, but only to the level of her tolerance. Lots of large cities have shantytowns full of people doing what Hibbert is doing, just at a much lower level. The only thing shocking about Hibbert is how satisfactory an existence she's building out of junk.
And when Hibbert is ready for more stability, or a family, it surely isn't going to be in the situation she's built for herself currently.
I just bought huge jars of artichoke hearts and roasted red peppers at Costco - some of my favorite things to put on a sandwich. For the $3-4 a pop for a tiny jar of artichoke hearts, I hardly ever eat them but if you plop down the $8 at Costco (or ask a friend to pick them up), you get a massive jar of artichoke hearts. It will take you forever to whittle it down, they're delicious and low-cal, and I couldn't find an expiration date on the jar, which to me says they'll last as long as it'll take you to eat them. Man, I love artichoke hearts!
I stock up on low fat ground round when the price drops to $1.99 per pound here and use it frequently for tacos and enchiladas,chili, meat balls, burgers on the grill, meat loaf, soups, and casseroles. I am limited only by my imagination when it comes to using hamburger in my household.
You betcha! Husband is about to retire....so we can go ANYWHERE!
Lately I've been trying out TeuxDeux. It's very simple which is its main advantage to competitors. If you are looking for simple this would be worth checking out. http://teuxdeux.com
I would absolutely relocate for a perfect job right now, but that's primarily because I'm not crazy about my current job or location. However, I would also be considering the job my spouse would get, so it would have to be a pretty good deal for both of us to do it.
I follow this blog all the time and love it... I am actually relocating to another country, away from family and the comfort of your homeland... for the perfect job, where I plan to train hard, grow big, and be happy. This relocation will be hard, especially for my husband, who will have to uproot his longtime projects and see if they take to transplantation, but I am forever grateful for his support.
Unfortunately, with a wife and young son, relocating for me is virtually out of the question.
In the past, thouigh I have moved all over the Southeast in search of the perfect job.
Still looking!
I've done telecommute work for the past 12 years.
Now, there are very few telecommute jobs so I'm looking at in-office jobs within 300 miles of home and I'm looking through the CraigsList 'room for rent' listings in those areas.
It's a simple math problem. I'm a programmer, so most jobs in my field of expertise pay $70K-$125K+. I can share a roach-infested apartment with six stoners for $250/mo ($3K/yr) and drive home on weekends. It's a positive cash-flow and, hopefully, I can tolerate the arrangement long enough to convince the employer that WAH is more efficient.
Anyway, that's what I'm looking for now.
We're "luckier" than many: we're debt free, we're adapted to frugal luxury AND we own a farm. Truth be told, we only want the money to build a new house with net-zero energy footprint (or as close as I can get it) and we refuse to go into debt to build it.
I'm a voice actor with my own studio. My commute is painless unless I trip over the dog on my way to the studio. My voice goes all over the world without me. Granted, I'd like to go along sometimes... Someday, when my kids have left the nest, I'd like to spend part of the year in France, Germany and/or Spain. I could continue to work while improving fluency in other languages. That would be perfect!