I want to move to Texas

[~Palomino~]

Ever since I was about a freshman in high school I have wanted to move to Texas! I love the whole life style, and I really love that there are so many miniature horse farms down there and the town I want to move to is Austin. Im only 19 now and my parents pretty much tell me they don't think I can survive on my own and I'll just be lonely and pretty much just put me down for it.

All I can say is I HATE Utah in the winter. It is cold, dark and down right depressing. So I was wondering if any of y'all ever moved at a young age away from your family? I want to go to Austin and work on music and go to school, ect. Another thing is do you think it would be hard to find a job down there? It's over 24 hours away from where I live but I really want to move there.

Am I being totally unrealistic or do you think this is something I could do? Im just tired of living in Utah, I feel like its a whole other world here. I love it here in the summer, but summer is only about 3 months here. I work in Park City so get a lot of visitors from Texas and everyone is just soooo nice and I feel like everyone there would be such a uplifter on my spirit! I hope I can do it and soon. Also how long does it take to get residency in Texas?

 

[Field-of-Dreams]

I love Texas! I moved from PA for the same reason you did- I HATE cold and snow! I'm in Fort Worth, though.

Now, I moved when I was 40, not 19 so I don't know how that would be compared to you, but I am very close to my family. I do miss them terribly all the time.

Residency begins the moment you get a permanent address and driver's license.

But I tell ya- there are a TON of shows down here. You can go pretty much every weekend if you like.

 

[Al B]

Born here and lived here all my life. Wouldn't know what its like to live anywhere else. Austin is a very active place. Home of TU. Lots of things to do. Right next to the beautiful hill country. Lakes for water sports. Don't know about jobs.

Residency is immediate but to become a Texan you have to adopt a way of life. We're friendly people. Today its supposed to be 85 degrees.

As far as mini horse shows you would be right in the middle and could easily go to 8-10 AMHA shows and 6-8 AMHR show without driving over 200 miles. The AMHA World Show is right up the road in Ft Worth. Also ADS events in three different areas.

As Bob Barker used to say "Come on down!"

 

[txminipinto]

Born and Breed Texan here too! Al is right, to be a Texan, you have to adopt a way of life and attitude. Within 5 minutes of meeting someone, I can tell if they were born here or not.

Austin is very pretty and has a really good music scene. Living in Texas is pretty affordable with a good job. Have you thought about college? My advice would be to go to school to get a degree in music and then focus on wanting to move to Austin.

At 19, its going to be hard to get a good paying job to support yourself without some help from family. As a parent, I have to agree with your parents in discouraging you from moving 24 hours away. Its not like they can drop whatever is going on and come to the rescue from Utah. It is an excellent goal though....and as some bumper stickers say "I wasn't born a Texan but I got here as fast as I could" may apply in your case!

At 19, my best advice to you is to focus on your education so that you can afford your goals and dreams at 29.

 

[wildoak]

Good advice Carin.

From a parent's point of view - and having a daughter just a couple of hundred miles away - I appreciate those thoughts. We've had to drop everything a few times for her, and it would have been very difficult had she been more than an easy drive away. I have lived in Texas all my life, with a few brief stints elsewhere and back again, and in/around Austin for over 40 years. It's a great place, nowhere like it, but lots of people know that and the job market here can be tough. With UT's presence and the Austin music scene, there are lots of hungry college students and wanna be musicians willing to work cheap. If you decide to make the move, have a plan first. Have a job lined up and some savings to fall back on when you hit a bump in the road. You have a great goal, just think it through first and your odds of success will be much greater.

Jan

 

[txminipinto]

It's a great place, nowhere like it, but lots of people know that and the job market here can be tough. With UT's presence and the Austin music scene, there are lots of hungry college students and wanna be musicians willing to work cheap.

Wanted to add, I live near College Station, the home of Texas A&M University. Like Jan said, thousands of college students willing to work cheap so finding a job in this town is extremely difficult. We've lived out here for 4 years now and my husband still hasn't found a job that pays enough. He commutes to Tomball, TX a hour and half away. Not sure what commute times in Utah are, but here in TX, it takes at least 30 minutes just to get to a grocery store.

 

[ohmt]

Get into a college there and stay in the dorms, get your financial aid squared away and don't worry about work. Focus on school, getting good grades, and finding yourself. This is the only time you're going to have the chance to do it. Get a job when you're ready, but start by exploring and getting to know texas. You have your whole life to work and you're going to be in debt coming out of college no matter what (unless your parents are paying for it, in which case you are lucky!) So might as well get as much of your 'wish list' stuff out of the way now

good luck! It is really not hard going off on your own if you're in school. If you don't like texas or your school you can always transfer!

 

[Marty]

Slow it down. Get a good plan in place first. Once you are out of the house, you'll proably be working so dang hard to keep up with your bills the last thing on your agenda would be spending money on showing horses or being able to support owning them. You will need to get pencil and paper and run some figures of income VS expenses as that is going to be huge in your decisions. If you get in a hurry and move out prematurely, it could be devastating for you.

Don't want to discourage you on purpose but you really need to expect the unexpected because sometimes things do not go as planned and "stuff happens" and once you are out of the house, you have to be prepared for anything.

Dan moved out at 19 about 50 miles away from home. A trailer park owned by the mayor of the town with two deputys residing there so what could go wrong, right? The first week, his truck tires were slashed and to replace them took all the money he had saved for back up. Over $800. The following month, the house next door to him caught on fire and caused all the electrical stuff on his truck to melt. It was a shared driveway, he wasn't home to move it and by the time the fire department shoved it over it was already melted. He only had liability insurance which didn't cover any damage. About $1,000. A couple of weeks after that his place burned down to the ground while he was out due to an electrical short behind the refridgerator. He lost every single thing he owned and did not have renters insurance. He had adopted a kitten for his "baby" from the Humane Society the previous week, just had her spayed the day before and loosing her broke his heart in half. Needless to say, he had to come home. Took him over a year just to replace his wardrobe but he still doesn't have his stereo stuff, tv, etc. replaced yet. He'll move out again but this time he is going to be way more prepared emotinally and financially and have plenty of insurance.

 

[ohmt]

Send me a pm if you need help figuring out expences and fafsa. I'm in my 3 rd year of college and I live in an apartment and take care of everything and i'm currently not working so i can focus on school. It's not that bad. Yes you need to be prepared but if you live in the dorms your fafsa covers it along with a meal plan (depending on how much your parent make) and you won't want to bring a car anyway. I rode the bus around all year my freshman year. Most colleges have free bus transportation and will take you anywhere.

I have my car now but my mom still pays insurance on it as long as I stay ticket free. I pay for the rest. So far i'm only $25000 in debt and that's pretty good for almost 3 years under my belt.

Just let me know if you'd like help.