Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Little Name Atheist on July 23, 2010 at 11:41pm

If you'd like for your some of your tags to show as phrases rather than individual words, enclose them in quotation marks, like so: "affordable living around pinetop arizona", "blah blah", "alex moving", etc...

I think Arizona is a good, wholesome place to live if you aren't brown. I know a couple of people in Arizona, I'll point out your post to them and see what people who actually live there have to say.

Permalink Reply by Alex Tyler on July 24, 2010 at 1:30am

Thanks Grundgetta. Yeah, I heard about their newest law.... I'm pale as the snow though so I'll be okay. Hmmmm, not for too much longer though. I got a sunburn 2 days ago so within 24 hours I should have a good base-tan.

Permalink Reply by Jo Jerome on July 24, 2010 at 12:09pm

I've lived in AZ for 8 years now: Verde Valley, Page and currently Flagstaff. Flag and Verde Valley are both about 3-4 hours from Pinetop.

Flagstaff is a college town and as such, kind of expensive for a small town, but that's a very relative term talking to someone from SoCal. We joke about the Califormication of Arizona: People moving here because it's too expensive to live in California. Anyway, I'd expect ok-apartments to be in the $700/month range.

Verde Valley is a number of little towns. Sedona of course, being a huge tourist spot, is outrageously expensive; average $900/month with average salaries around $24k/year. But the surrounding little towns can be very reasonable; Cottonwood, Rimrock, Cornville, Camp Verde.

There are plenty of other small towns between Flag and Pinetop as well. Of course here, like most anywhere I imagine, the problem is always that discrepancy between how much you make versus how much more an apartment costs. Me; I live in a beater RV off the grid. LOTS of national forest/BLM in Arizona and Flagstaff is surrounded by it. Makes it much easier for us homeless hobos living off the grid!

As for weather, elevation is the indicator. Flagstaff does get real winters at 7,000 feet, but just slightly less harsh than Pinetop which is like 8,500. You get out of the elevation like in Verde Valley and it's still cold in the winter - right around freezing, not a lot of snow, but there can be cold snaps down to zero. But Summer, plan on 100 degree temps.

If you truly need to be out of the cold altogether, Phoenix. But a lot more humid and well over 100 every day in the summer. Don't know about your mom but for me, humidity is more of a culprit on my joints than cold. Flag and Verde Valley and most everything in between is very, very dry.

Permalink Reply by Alex Tyler on July 25, 2010 at 1:57am

Thank you for the information Jo, I'll be sure to keep that in mind. My mom lived in Flagstaff in the 80's for a few years so I think she can re-adapt to the weather. For her it's the cold or if it gets really cold then really hot within 48 hours like it does here in SoCal sometimes, more frequent these days for some reason.

Personally we're not moving due to the costs of living, we want to move because SoCal is just well.... a giant piece of crap to us. My grandparents have had this house paid off for 35 years or more. My grandpa bought it all on his own as a honeymoon present to my grandma, he was best person I ever knew and ever will know. As much as this house means to me though a lot of memories go with it............. some good, some bad and others I dare not speak of let alone type/write about.

Permalink Reply by Jo Jerome on July 25, 2010 at 10:45pm

Noticing your age on your profile, if you're thinking college, Flagstaff is a college town. The local community college is very good, very inexpensive, and works hand-in-hand with Northern AZ University.

But whether you're thinking of going to school or not, college town has its perks, especially in this red state. Flag is one of two cities in Arizona that immediately voted NOT to enforce SB1070 (Arizona's new breathing-while-brown, shittiest immigration law ever). Arizona may be a red state, but there are lots of little pockets of sanity!

Permalink Reply by Alex Tyler on July 25, 2010 at 11:40pm

"community college, very good, very inexpensive" - MUSIC TO MY EARS! But first I still need my ID so I can get my GED which I'm sure I'll get on the first go.

What is a "Red State" though? If that means it's got a lot of Rednecks I think I'll fit in... lived in Kentuckey before and loved it.

Permalink Reply by The Big Blue Frog on July 26, 2010 at 9:02am

Red States are states that traditionally elect conservative or Republican candidates. It comes from Tim Russert's analysis of the 2000 presidential election, where he marked states in red for Republicans and blue for Democrats.

Permalink Reply by Alex Tyler on July 26, 2010 at 9:18am

Oh is that all? Eh, I don't vote for any party anyways so it's all the same to me. I personally don't care much for politics because every politician is a conartist by trade, I'd just vote for who I think is the most suited and trained for the given task. In fact... I need to sign up so I can vote. I can't even believe I finally can.