Two months ago, Mr. Tano gave up an apartment in his native Dallas after losing his job. He sold his Toyota and sought opportunities in the Pacific Northwest.
He rented a room and set out with his résumé (expertise: fund-raising). But when his $2,000 in savings withered to nothing, "I ended up sleeping on the street for the first time in my life," he said. "I just kind of had to walk around and try to stay warm."
I'm very hesitant to critique someone who is making what he or she perceives as the best choice, especially as a mostly-anonymous commenter on the wild Internet, so I'll frame this as general advice that I think really needs to get out on the general Internet: Do a little research before making a move like this. Dallas is one of the lowest-cost large cities in the country. $2,000 would pay for three months of rent and utilities in several areas of the Metroplex. Denton is cheap, if you like public transit, even to Dallas or Fort Worth, and being in a college town; virtually anywhere in the Mid-Cities is also cheap but lacks transit. And, as the news will tell you, jobs are booming down there. Seattle, on the other hand, is one of the most expensive places to live outside of California or New York. $2k will last a month or two, tops, even down in Rainier Beach or Othello. Yes, Seattle is a virtual dream land of fairly nice people, decent weather (it doesn't rain _that_ much), and a different brand of politics, but at least someone in this situation can still eat in Dallas. Young wanderer, if you're ever in this boat and still feel the yearning to move, try Austin.
(I moved from Dallas to Seattle with a very good paying job and relocation benefits. My wallet still hurts every month. I can't imagine what it would be like for someone in these straits to do the same.)
This. In high school I was forced to take AP Human Geography (I was meeting a requirement) and I was genuinely shocked to discover just how much geography mattered.
Cost of living, cost of health care, job availability, industrial economics, EVERYTHING is a function of geography. Not in a subtle way, either: economic metrics that I thought would vary merely by 5% or 10% often varied by factors of 2 or 3 (health care) or 10 (for industry). If you are willing to optimize the geography function but haven't computed the value of doing so, you're missing out big time.
He rented a room and set out with his résumé (expertise: fund-raising). But when his $2,000 in savings withered to nothing, "I ended up sleeping on the street for the first time in my life," he said. "I just kind of had to walk around and try to stay warm."
I'm very hesitant to critique someone who is making what he or she perceives as the best choice, especially as a mostly-anonymous commenter on the wild Internet, so I'll frame this as general advice that I think really needs to get out on the general Internet: Do a little research before making a move like this. Dallas is one of the lowest-cost large cities in the country. $2,000 would pay for three months of rent and utilities in several areas of the Metroplex. Denton is cheap, if you like public transit, even to Dallas or Fort Worth, and being in a college town; virtually anywhere in the Mid-Cities is also cheap but lacks transit. And, as the news will tell you, jobs are booming down there. Seattle, on the other hand, is one of the most expensive places to live outside of California or New York. $2k will last a month or two, tops, even down in Rainier Beach or Othello. Yes, Seattle is a virtual dream land of fairly nice people, decent weather (it doesn't rain _that_ much), and a different brand of politics, but at least someone in this situation can still eat in Dallas. Young wanderer, if you're ever in this boat and still feel the yearning to move, try Austin.
(I moved from Dallas to Seattle with a very good paying job and relocation benefits. My wallet still hurts every month. I can't imagine what it would be like for someone in these straits to do the same.)