86k in North Carolina or 100k job in Dulles, VA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would choose Dulles or Sterling over Nortth Carolina any day. Your access to DC will not be as limited as some other posters suggest.

+1 some DC residents are so entitled.

Realistically while your kids are young, in a two full time working parent household, you will go to DC once a month, if that. With up to 1 hr or 1 hr plus commutes, just doing a 40-50 hr job sucks up so much time. But later, if you as a music teacher have a short commute, plus maybe don't need to do 40 hrs every soul sucking week, then you might enjoy what DC has to offer more. With 2 young kids and a 45 hr job with 45-70 min commute each way, my life is so confined to work home errands repeat that I have real resentment towards the mortgage and the 9,000/year in real estate property taxes we pay. I live near DC but do not benefit from what DC offers. We save very little due to COL. I was thinking we could be living in Podunk and our daily lives would be the same. Except Tysons mall. At least I have that nearby (sigh).

Exactly.

[Anonymous]

I would do NC.

Have you ever read about the theory that making less & spending less is better than making more & spending more (even if the difference is the same). So say in either case you are able to save 20k. In DC your salary is 100, but you spend 80 a year, and in Nc you salary is 86, but you spend 66 a year.

It's better to earn less/spend less. Taxes, other benefits like ACA, and less money overall spent on sales tax/property tax.

[Anonymous]

I'm sorry. My post above is difficult to comprehend, I think. I woke up from a nap not too long ago. Ummm..hopefully you can comprehend what my point is! Wowza.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would choose Dulles or Sterling over Nortth Carolina any day. Your access to DC will not be as limited as some other posters suggest.

+1 some DC residents are so entitled.

Realistically while your kids are young, in a two full time working parent household, you will go to DC once a month, if that. With up to 1 hr or 1 hr plus commutes, just doing a 40-50 hr job sucks up so much time. But later, if you as a music teacher have a short commute, plus maybe don't need to do 40 hrs every soul sucking week, then you might enjoy what DC has to offer more. With 2 young kids and a 45 hr job with 45-70 min commute each way, my life is so confined to work home errands repeat that I have real resentment towards the mortgage and the 9,000/year in real estate property taxes we pay. I live near DC but do not benefit from what DC offers. We save very little due to COL. I was thinking we could be living in Podunk and our daily lives would be the same. Except Tysons mall. At least I have that nearby (sigh).

Exactly.

Op here: I teach piano lessons from home. I will not be working full time.

[Anonymous]

Hi OP, I am poster 12:48 wo has lived both in RTP in NC and in the DC area currently. Some questions...

Do you already live in DC or have you spent a large amount of time in the DC area? Have you tried to take the metro from around the are you would be living into DC or drive into DC?

Have you read this current thread on DCUM? It may prove to be informative: http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/587750.page

My experience has been that the DC area offers (1) jobs (2) cultural opportunities. The downsides are (1) traffic / transportation (2) sucky mean people, who are probably mean and sucky because we are competing for limited resources for people who make under 150k or so a year.

My experience was the the Raleigh / Durham area of NC offered: (1) easy driving conditions, compared to DC (2) lower cost of living for higher quality lifestyle and greater ability to attend cultural events. The downsides were (1) super competitive job market (2) current political situation. There are lots of refugees from the DC area there.

Here, in the DC area, we use most of our money to pay mortgage and occasionaly brave the using the Metro to go to cultural events and museums. My friends who have kids never go to DC, and when they do they drive--it's cheaper than paying for their family to take the Metro.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi OP, I am poster 12:48 wo has lived both in RTP in NC and in the DC area currently. Some questions...

Do you already live in DC or have you spent a large amount of time in the DC area? Have you tried to take the metro from around the are you would be living into DC or drive into DC?

Have you read this current thread on DCUM? It may prove to be informative: http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/587750.page

My experience has been that the DC area offers (1) jobs (2) cultural opportunities. The downsides are (1) traffic / transportation (2) sucky mean people, who are probably mean and sucky because we are competing for limited resources for people who make under 150k or so a year.

My experience was the the Raleigh / Durham area of NC offered: (1) easy driving conditions, compared to DC (2) lower cost of living for higher quality lifestyle and greater ability to attend cultural events. The downsides were (1) super competitive job market (2) current political situation. There are lots of refugees from the DC area there.

Here, in the DC area, we use most of our money to pay mortgage and occasionaly brave the using the Metro to go to cultural events and museums. My friends who have kids never go to DC, and when they do they drive--it's cheaper than paying for their family to take the Metro.

Yes we lived in NOVA 5 years ago. We were fine using the metro then. No issues. BTW, we're both Turkish.

[Anonymous]

Wait a minute, OP, you said you are a piano teacher currently in NC and making 86K now? Just trying to get the facts straight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wait a minute, OP, you said you are a piano teacher currently in NC and making 86K now? Just trying to get the facts straight.

No. 35k is my salary. Dh got 2 offers. One in NC for 86k (university position ) and 100k in Dulles, VA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait a minute, OP, you said you are a piano teacher currently in NC and making 86K now? Just trying to get the facts straight.

No. 35k is my salary. Dh got 2 offers. One in NC for 86k (university position ) and 100k in Dulles, VA.

Understood, thanks.

[Anonymous]

Definitely NC no question.

[Anonymous]

Moved from DC (in the city, not Dulles) to NC. Hate it. Can't wait to move back to DC.

[Anonymous]

We moved here for DH's job. His increase was both a jump in hierarchy and pay (about a 40% increase). His goal is to climb, so it made sense in that regard too. How about your DH's job change? Does it come with possibilities for advancement too?

Added benefit for us is that while I don't work now (young kids at home), it will hopefully be relatively easy for me to find something in the DC area if I decide to start working again, vs elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We moved here for DH's job. His increase was both a jump in hierarchy and pay (about a 40% increase). His goal is to climb, so it made sense in that regard too. How about your DH's job change? Does it come with possibilities for advancement too?

Added benefit for us is that while I don't work now (young kids at home), it will hopefully be relatively easy for me to find something in the DC area if I decide to start working again, vs elsewhere.

Yes definitely. Dh is a statistician. The job in nc has little advancement as the university doesn't have a ms or PhD program. It's a small liberal arts university.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We moved here for DH's job. His increase was both a jump in hierarchy and pay (about a 40% increase). His goal is to climb, so it made sense in that regard too. How about your DH's job change? Does it come with possibilities for advancement too?

Added benefit for us is that while I don't work now (young kids at home), it will hopefully be relatively easy for me to find something in the DC area if I decide to start working again, vs elsewhere.

Yes definitely. Dh is a statistician. The job in nc has little advancement as the university doesn't have a ms or PhD program. It's a small liberal arts university.

Then I think, if his goals are to advance and the DC job offers him that opportunity and the NC one does not, then that is a big non-monetary reason to move here and take the hit in finances and COL as a sacrifice for the long run. It will definitely be tight though. Mostly because of housing + childcare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would choose Dulles or Sterling over Nortth Carolina any day. Your access to DC will not be as limited as some other posters suggest.

+1 some DC residents are so entitled.

Realistically while your kids are young, in a two full time working parent household, you will go to DC once a month, if that. With up to 1 hr or 1 hr plus commutes, just doing a 40-50 hr job sucks up so much time. But later, if you as a music teacher have a short commute, plus maybe don't need to do 40 hrs every soul sucking week, then you might enjoy what DC has to offer more. With 2 young kids and a 45 hr job with 45-70 min commute each way, my life is so confined to work home errands repeat that I have real resentment towards the mortgage and the 9,000/year in real estate property taxes we pay. I live near DC but do not benefit from what DC offers. We save very little due to COL. I was thinking we could be living in Podunk and our daily lives would be the same. Except Tysons mall. At least I have that nearby (sigh).

This. I work in Dulles and live in DC. I hate my commute. I would never live in Dulles.

I would rather take the lower paying job in NC.