These are just the ones that really stood out to us, we've also applied to tons of other places. Hey sisters, do you remember what minimum wage was when you were there? If housing is this cheap, I'm thinking that income is proportional and definitely not as high as Oregon's.
I've also been looking through the online Ikea catalog. I'm noticing I have no kitchen supplies: 4 cereal bowls, some pots and pans, a Magic Bullet and a single person Crock Pot. No silverware and no utensils to speak of. But I've got tons of other furniture!
The whole searching for housing thing is making my head run wild with ideas for interior design and craft projects I want to do. Doesn't help that I follow blogs such as Design Sponge that don't help with my addiction whatsoever. I just found this awesome website for frames. I love this old fashioned style. Only problem is, these are so expensive, but I've seen this style in Michaels and other decor stores. Luckily I don't have enough money to indulge in my decor obsession so for now all I can do is drool over all the good design ideas. John Murphy Frames
My roommate Jill and I are hosting a Clothing Swap today at the Institute. Our living room is full of clothes that we don't want, and hopefully other ladies from the ward will come and we can swap away. What we really need is someone to come empty handed, and leave with all our stuff. I'm excited to see if there's anything I can take home. Everything left over is going to Goodwill. I love me some spring cleaning!
My roommate Jill and I are hosting a Clothing Swap today at the Institute. Our living room is full of clothes that we don't want, and hopefully other ladies from the ward will come and we can swap away. What we really need is someone to come empty handed, and leave with all our stuff. I'm excited to see if there's anything I can take home. Everything left over is going to Goodwill. I love me some spring cleaning!
I found this website recently and I am in Love! Maybe my sister with little girls might enjoy these. Super Cute! Cutest Headbands Ever
So huh, I haven't been running at all. Yikes. I really need to kick my butt into shape for that 5k. What's some good incentives?
Sorry for all the added linkage. Like I said, I've got a thing for design blogs.
Devon...
ReplyDeleteDid I miss a post? I think I must have. I missed the whole "he proposed and now we're getting married" post. Didn't I?
:-0
I have virtually no advice regarding Rexburg because so much has changed since I was there. I mean, it's been almost 13 years since I left. Wow! I think minimum wage was like $4.75. That's dating myself, isn't it!
Marriage advice, however, I have in spades. :-)
So first: get a cheap place to live - especially before you have kids - and save money like the dickens. It's really hard to go from two incomes to one if you've gotten used to doing whatever you want with cash. Plus, everyone I know who saved money before they had kids were much better off during the small children years.
Second: Don't buy ANY housewares before you open wedding gifts...or else be sure to keep the receipt. You might buy a blender, and get a blender, and need to have a receipt to take at least one back, right?
Third: Stock up your wardrobe a bit with good temple-ready clothing. Clothing budget gets a bit tighter after marriage. Mom will probably spring for some of that if you look desperate!
Fourth: Keep me updated as much as possible.
Fifth: Start running or I'm going to whip your butt out on the 5K course (JK - This major rain has kept me off the streets - time to start back up, I'm way behind schedule).
So, like Kelly I haven't been to Rexburg in 10 years, but here is my advice.
ReplyDelete1: looking over the pictures, It seems like almost all your choices are pretty comparable in niceness and price to Oakvale PhII. Which is nice, but pretty expensive for people who are just starting out. I know nobody really wants to, but you can get something a lot cheaper that is less nice and have more money for other things if you need. A lot of places have 1 year leases, so its hard to leave if you find it's too expensive. Also it ca be hard to move from something nice to something not so nice. Trust me. We did it. It's o.k to live in a cheap dump for a few years. That's what people do.
2: Wages. Not as high as OR. they follow the federal min. wage which is $7.25. BUT, if you work in a job that gets tips your wage is $3.25. Minimum wage does not go very far when you pay $600/mo for housing. You would have to work 86 hours just to pay for it. Wait, subtract witholding for taxes and you have to work just about 100 hours just for your apartment. Remember you can't work 40 hours/week when you are going to school full time. Also I think ID has a sales tax that includes groceries, so your food bill will be more expensive than in OR.
3: Marriage advice, but still related. I can tend to be a pretty materealistic person. (ex. I know that we make twice as much as the person down the street, so how come they have a boat and 3 ATV's and take their kids to Disneyland every year and I feel like we are just scraping by? and I stop appreciating the things I have.) John always has to remind me that those people who seem to be doing better than us on less money are either being helped by someone (speaking of which, can you imaging being 40 and still having your parents buy you stuff? Yikes!) or they are up to their eyeballs in debt. It has taken me a long tome to appreciate living like a miser and saving money, but I urge you to do it a lot sooner. It makes for a much happier marriage. If your husband knows your not going to blow his money as soon as he makes it, he will be much less stressed. Instead of seeing how nice you can live, make it a game to see how little you can live on. You would be surprised how much money you can save with just a little bit of work. But housing is a fixed expense. So get the cheapest housing that you think you can stand living in. And in college, no one really cares. We had friends who lived in really terrible complexes, but we would go over and have dinner, or play games and just have fun being together and inside it felt like a home. It's not the quality of the building, it's the quality of the people who love there.
That's all for now, If I come with anything more I'll let you know.