You'll never make it in California

U.S.A. California

Published

I am sick of people telling me this!! Its realy discouraging and when you hear it so many times you start to believe it. I'm going to be graduating from nursing school in may and I plan on moving to CA sometime before september to work as a new grad.

I live in pa right now and I'm going to pack up all my stuff and relocate. I might be moving with 2 friends, but I'm not really sure about it. I might end up just living by myself for a while. A lot of people tell me that I'll never make it because its sooo expensive.

I'm going to be living in the orange county area. When people start with all this negative talk about how expensive CA is and how congested it gets on my nerves.

It is possible for someone to live in an apartment and work at a hospital in Orange county and live comfortably correct? I won't be pinching pennies will I?

Specializes in critical care, PACU.

I've been poking around online looking for OC nursing jobs for the ER, and they're all 12 hour shifts! I have a 6 year old son who'd be coming with me, and I'm not sure how to swing a 12 hours shift with respect to daycare. Sure, the boyfriend'll pick him up from daycare, but what happens if we break up? In Minnesota, anyway, there's no such thing as a daycare that's open past 6 pm. What the Hell?

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Look at urgent care centers, doctor offices, and KAISER.

The first two dont pay as much, but I think Kaiser offers 8 hr shifts. Also some hospitals have daycare. You could call the HR people and ask.

I hope things work out for you and your son and your stalker ex doesnt cause you any harm. :chair:

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I went on an interview today that went well. I have another interview on Tuesday. I also have about 5 other interviews. I was complaining and now they are coming in.

12 hour shifts are hard regardless; However, you are only working for 3 days. I hate daycare and never put my kids in it. Have you thought of starting your own day care and maybe working on weekends until your son is old enough.That is what I did. I made pretty good money and was able to be home with my kids.

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Your payroll taxes depend on what tax bracket that you are in and also how many you claim whether it be just yourself, others or none. However you do it, you want to make sure that you have enough taken out in order not to owe a bunch at the end of the year. I would take a very serious look at this before going out there. I just completed a travel assignment out there and will be the first to tell you that I could not afford to live out there. The cost of living is phenomenal! Have you thouht about taking a travel position and let the company pay for housing, etc. which would give you a great opportunity to find out if this would be something that you could handle on your own? Just trying to give you some insight. Good luck!

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Have you thought of starting your own day care and maybe working on weekends until your son is old enough.

If you're talking to me, who would watch the kid on the weekend? He's in school and all that, the problem is what to do with him after school when, at least in MN, daycares close at 6 pm.

Right now I have a sweet deal. I work .9 9-5:30 pm and 11pm-7:30 am (where my mom watches him overnight). I only need to pay for afterschool daycare. I even chose a school that starts at 9 am so the 7:30 am ending time wouldn't interfere with anything. Abusive ex husband watches my son per court order on the weekends I work. It's a perfect set-up for me, which is why I'm all flustered about the probable need to move.

I need to work 36 hrs or more per week. I looked at Kaiser, and the ER near where I want to live only lists 12-hour shifts, and some of the other hospitals don't say whether they're 8 hr or 12 hr. I can't seem to find any hospitals in Orange County that advertise an on-site daycare. If anyone knows of one, tell me!

I suppose I could do 12 hours 3 days a week and rely on the boyfriend (he says he has no problem helping out) then switch to an urgent care center if there's a falling out. That would be okay.

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I just made a suggestion. I have no idea what your situation is. I had an abusive husband who nearly killed me. I spent 5 days in the hospital worrying about my kids. I left CA and went to Arkansas. I have just now moved back.

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Hi Kellyann

Have you thought of perhaps working the night shift? That way you could go to work and your BF could watch your son while he's off of work. Then you could be home with your son in the daytime. Plus you would be making a considerable amount more money. Just a thought.

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I wanted to clarify my response about the in home daycare. What I meant was that you could probably do that and not have to work outside and be with your son. I never did have to work weekends. Everyone wants to leave their child with a nurse. I am sorry that it came across wrong. I didn't want to leave my kids with my husband either. Just a suggestion. Good Luck.

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About Making it in California... i have to be honest... I have lived in California for 10 years now... and I am just getting ready to enter the nursing field here. and I Say GO for it... but be prepared... you will have to work alot to be able to enjoy things that you may have taken for granted in PA. I came here from the midwest and things are totally expensive... but you only live once. But as far as what everyone says.. is true. pick a place close to where you live..maybe find a job before you find a place to live.. cause the commute can be hell.. but for the most part california is a great place... One critical thing... though. the hospitals are big on graduating from accredited programs here.. BRN, NLN. I have a friend who can not get a job cause he did not grad from an NLN accredited program.

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One critical thing... though. the hospitals are big on graduating from accredited programs here.. BRN, NLN. I have a friend who can not get a job cause he did not grad from an NLN accredited program.

Huh?

My school is a community college that's not NLN accredited. Yet, when I organized my school's job fair, I didn't have enough room for all of the hospitals that wanted to attend.

The hospitals in my area at least could care less about whether the school is NLN accredited. All they care about is if the program is BRN accredited.

:typing

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Don't listen to others, just come! I've lived in California all of my 31 years of life and most likely I won't be moving to another state anytime soon. Before going back to nursing school, I lived and worked in San Francisco making $43,000 a year and I had my own nice studio apt. I wasn't rich but I had fun and was able to make ends meet. If I move back to SF and work as a nurse I will make a minimum of $80,000.

If you want to buy a house it's more difficult financially than renting. But don't worry about that now. Just move out here for the experience, overall it's a great place to live!:nuke:

I'm planning to live in Australia after a couple of years of nursing experience where I'll make quite a bit less than here in CA. But, I'm doing for the experience and because Australia is one of my favorite places!

Good luck!

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Specializes in Emergency Department, Neuro ICU.

Hey luv2shopp85...I really like your post because the exact same thing is happening to me. I am 21 and graduating in May and have wanted to move to California since I was a freshman in high school. I have lived in AZ my entire life and have only dreamt about getting away to a brand new place. I love Cali. I have been there many times since it is the next state over, but my family is extremely hard on me anytime I mention that I want to move. They are unsupportive and always tell me I will die in an earthquake if I move there (I don't think they mean that...they just don't want me to leave). They also tell me I won't be able to afford it there. It would be a little scary to move there because I wouldn't know a single person out there, and I was planning on going alone, but all of these posts have given me the confidence that it is very possible. What I would like to do is gain residency because I want to apply to USC for grad school to become a CRNA. Just out of curiousity...does anybody out there know how long it takes to gain residency in Cali? Also, is it a common occurence for hospitals out there to take a new grad for ER or ICU? I need at least a year of experience to apply to be a CRNA.

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I moved out here single, alone with no family or a friend to my name. Don't let it scare you. I had done it many times not just in Cali for other states. It's great for figuring out where you want to live.

When I first moved here I lived in San Francisco and, to me, that was the friendliest city in the world. People would literally stop and talk to you on the street ... sometimes even when you didn't want them to. :chuckle

In SoCal btw, not all of the hospitals hire into ICU or the ER but most of them do. You shouldn't have any problems there, especially if you're willing to work night shift although, you can still sometimes find day shifts with those jobs also.

:typing

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